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It's HOT outside, record highs every day this week in fact! If you don't have air conditioning, which let's face it, we live in Colorado, so not all of us do, we head to the nearest pool to escape the heat. It's important to take precautions to protect your littlest family members too.

Sunscreen generally should not be used on infants before they are 6 months old, the Food and Drug Administration reminded parents today (June 25).

The best way to protect babies this young from the sun is keep them out of the sun altogether, the agency said in a statement.

Health News Daily reported, "Babies' skin is much thinner than the skin of adults, so it will absorb sunscreen chemicals more easily. In addition, infants have more surface area relative to their body weight than adults do. Both factors increase the risk of an allergic reaction or inflammation."

Sunscreens labeled as "organic" or "all natural" are no safer to use on babies than regular sunscreens

BEST IDEAS TO PROTECT YOUR BABY:

1. To protect babies from the sun, parents should keep them in the shade, or create shade with an umbrella or canopy, the FDA said.
2. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends dressing infants in lightweight pants, long-sleeved shirts and brimmed hats that shade the neck.
3. If there's no way to shield a baby from the sun, the FDA recommends parents apply a small amount of sunscreen to limited areas of the body, such as the face and back of the hands.
4. For all babies, parents should use products that contain physical sunscreens, such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, in order to avoid irritating babies' skin and eyes, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Sun protection in infants is important, Dr. Michele Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York said, because sunburns at a young age can be particularly dangerous, increase the risk of skin cancer.

"You have an infant with brand new skin," she said. "The last thing you would want to do is have that infant get burned."

Bottom-line: The best way to protect infants from the sun is to keep them out of it.