A 3-month-old baby was hospitalized for burns after his mother applied Peppa Pig sunscreen on his skin. She bought the product from Cancer Council Australia, which said that there will be no product recalls despite the incident.
Jessie Swan called out the charity organization on their Facebook page for what happened to her baby. She said that she applied the sunscreen on Thomas because the baby was outdoors but he wasn't under the sun. Yet the SPF+50 sunscreen burned his skin and he had to be treated at the hospital for three days so far.
"This is not sunburn," she wrote on Facebook. "This is a reaction to the cream," she added.
Soon after the public read her post, other parents also shared similar experiences with using the Peppa Pig sunscreen. They said that their children also ended up with burnt skin and realized that it was a reaction to the product.
"I would expect maybe one or two comments about similar reactions, but I'm appalled by the amount of others who have gone through this," Swan further wrote in the comments on Facebook. "This can't be right, a product aimed at children should be gentle and safe."
Some parents, however, pointed out the importance of doing a patch test first before fully utilizing a product meant for the skin, especially with babies who are still sensitive to this. "There's warning labels for a reason people react to many different creams or other cosmetic products," one commenter wrote.
According to Kidspot Australia, the Cancer Council has already gotten in touch with the Swans, but no product recall will be done. The company cited that the Peppa Pig sunscreen has been sold for years and most complaints have been about the packaging, with few reports regarding allergic or chemical reactions.
"Sunscreens in Australia are strictly regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)," Cancer Council said in its statement. "All Cancer Council sunscreens and their ingredients are fully compliant with these regulation."
Sunscreen allergy can happen in two ways, according to Dr. Anna Feldweg, via Everday Health. It can arise from a direct contact with the product or as a contact photoallergy.
"You get the rash where the sunscreen was applied but only once the skin has been exposed to the sun," she said, in explaining the latter type. See a dermatologist to determine what type of sunscreen would be best used if one has allergy tendencies.
