A mum has issued a warning after her son suffered severe sunburn despite her “continuously” reapplying sun cream.

Natalie Harvey and her 10-year-old son Hector went on a trip to Cape Verde with the rest of the family last month.

She says Hector was having fun in the swimming pool for two hours in the 29C heat.

But, by the time the family had flown back to the UK and returned to their home in Nottingham, Hector had developed painful burns and huge blisters on his shoulders, upper chest, and back.

Natalie then took Hector to the hospital where he underwent surgery to burst the blisters and have them cleaned,

She recalled: “I couldn’t believe he was sunburned. He had been wearing the highest sun cream factor I had ever seen [SPF 90] and he was burnt.”

Natalie said that the family ran out of cream on the last day of the holiday, so her husband bought a fresh bottle.

But the doctors said the cream could have been out of date.

Natalie added: “I popped down into the sun for about 30 minutes and didn’t wear the cream and I didn’t have any issues but my partner Ben who also wore the sun cream was terribly burnt too,

“I felt sick when I saw the blisters and I wished it was me.

“I couldn’t understand what had gone wrong.

“I knew I had reapplied the sun cream and done everything right and while I’m still beating myself up, it is incredibly unfair as I purchased something in good faith and it didn’t work.’”

Hector had to be bandaged up and kept in hospital for almost a week.

Natalie continued: “I knew I had reapplied the sun cream and done everything right and while I’m still beating myself up, it is incredibly unfair as I purchased something in good faith and it didn’t work.

“I’m always careful with my children wearing sun cream which is the heartbreaking thing about the situation.

“My children’s health and wellbeing is paramount and there is nothing more important, especially in the sun.”