Babies are what you eat…and what you put on your skin. Whether in utero or nursing, infants develop with the fuel you provide. Where would they be without all those antibodies to protect them, and all those proteins and nutrients to help build muscles, strong bones, and healthy systems. Mothers pass 75 gallons of blood through the placenta by the 4th month of pregnancy. By the 8th month, it’s more like 300 gallons a day.

Unfortunately, it’s not just antibodies and proteins. It was once thought that the placenta shielded the baby from industrial chemicals and pollutants. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that belief was wrong. A recent study by the Environmental Working Group found 287 industrial synthetics in umbilical cord blood, and an average of over 200 such chemicals in babies. Of the 287 chemicals, 180 are carcinogenic, 217 are toxic to the brain, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development.

While people pay a lot of attention to what they eat and drink, there is a lot less attention paid to what goes on their skin. Many synthetics in skin care products have been shown to permeate the skin and enter the blood stream. Certain technologies like nanotechnology amplify the possibility of systemic exposure. Certain realities, like bio-accumulation, make it very hard to remove risk altogether.

Babies are particularly vulnerable to systemic reaction and long term impact for a range of reasons. They’re also resilient little buggers, but it makes sense to do what you can to stay away from synthetics and pesticides in what you eat and put on your body. Going all-natural and all-organic is one place to start…

Sun Protection Factor is simply an equation for measuring what percentage of UVB (not UVA) rays will be blocked. The equation is (SPF-1)/SPF = “Percent UVB Blocked”.

So…SPF 53 blocks 98% of the sun’s rays (52/53 = 98.1%).

Where does that leave us? Well to figure out how long you can stay in the sun, you need to figure out how strong the sun is (look at the UV Index) and how sensitive your skin is. Here’s how it works: take the time it takes your skin to get pink without protection, and multiply that number by the SPF. If it takes 10 minutes, then an SPF of 53 will keep you from getting pink for 530 minutes, or a nearly 9 hours – if it stays on your skin completely the entire time.

Not sure how helpful that is. Who wants to go out and see how long it takes to burn (since that involves letting yourself burn)? And there are a bunch of problems with the equation. First, the strength of the sun changes all day long. Second, in order to get full SPF protection, the sunscreen has to be applied in sufficient amount and works only if it doesn’t wash or rub off (a huge “if” for many sunscreens). Third, SPF only relates to UVB rays and burning…UVA may be causing real harm without your sunscreen lifting a finger to help and without you even knowing it.

For all of these reasons, and others, the CDC recommends erring on the side of caution. SPF isn’t meaningless, of course. The FDA and EPA recommend using an SPF of at least 15. We agree. We,and others, think you should also use a sunscreen that blocks UVA light and stays put when you don’t. And given recent research on common synthetic sunscreen agents, keeping it natural is a good thing, too! Did we mention Sana’s sunscreens have the highest natural SPF on the market, full UVA protection, the highest level of water resistance, and no synthetic ingredients at all? That’s what we call erring on the side of caution!

Babies have remarkably beautiful, smooth, soft skin. It’s also far more delicate than adult skin.

Why? For one, neonatal skin is one-fifth the thickness of adult skin. The thickness of skin grows proportionally with age, reaching maximum thickness at around age 20. The thin barrier makes it harder for babies to retain moisture in their skin, and to keep bad stuff out.

Not only is it thinner, babies’ skin architecture is also less tightly packed, making the barrier function even less effective. Plus, sebum production stops very early and does not re-start until puberty. Sebum has important anti-microbial properties…without it, the skin’s ability to handle foreign agents, irritating substances, and toxins is compromised. All of this helps explain why babies are prone to dry skin, rashes, sensitivity, permeability and infection.

Babies can react to all sorts of mildly irritating topically applied ingredients that would never bother an adult, and are vulnerable to external contaminants and synthetics in many personal care products. Sana is designed to support the skin’s natural barrier naturally. That means providing heavily nourishing products containing light lipids and waxes to help keep moisture in and bad stuff out.

The goal is to help the situation, not worsen it – so Sana also avoids things found in many personal care products, including common irritants or synthetics, known as endocrine disrupters, toxins or carcinogens.