My ds attracts every bug known to man...mosquitoes, ants, chiggers, etc. I would like to know what you moms put on your kids to prevent these "attacks" and what do you put on the bites themselves? For some reason my ds gets a lot of his bites on the groin, hip and buttocks area. Last year he was covered with bites and they were leaving dark marks on him instead of healing. I took him to the dr and it turned out to be chigger bites. The bites have faded since then. I am putting afterbite cream and hydrocortisone on him right now but if anyone else knows of something else I could use for prevention and treatment, please share. Thanks in advance. ......edit...for someone that asked he is 3 1/2.
How old is he?
My son is 8 and we plan on trying those clip on repellents this year.
Skin so soft from Avon. They actually make a spray that works much better- and gives them nice soft skin!
Hope this helps!
We live in Georgia and the humidity brings out all sorts of bugs. At my son's last check-up (4 months) the pediatrician recommended that we start spraying insect repellent on his clothes and on the stroller before going outside. The spray could irritate the skin at a young age but spraying the clothes and stroller still get the job done. We use off family care which seems to work and does not smell as toxic as other sprays can.
Well, my son gets bitten often as well ... we put roll on deoderant on the bites ... it calms the itching in our house ... I get it at the dollar store.
Well there is Tea Tree Oil. It comes in a very small vial and you can research on the internet on how much to use to make up your own type of medication. The tea tree oil is a natural alternative to bug spray instead of all those chemicals plus it has so many many uses! I am currently using it on my dog for his skin reaction he had to some fleas. I put about 1 tsp per 1 cup of water and mixed it into a spray bottle. About once a day I spray him down really good avoiding his mouth area and eye area. After one application he already looks so much better! You can add it into some lotion and apply it that way if you like but I'm not sure how much per what but I'm sure the info is somewhere on the internet or go to your local herb/vitamin all-natural store. You can find it just about anywhere now days and a little goes a long way for the most part. It is a natual antiseptic for the skin and promotes healing but from what I have researched bugs don't like it either. Some people use it as a flea protectant for their animals but you have to be really careful with that because if it's too strong then it can actually worsen the problem and in fact cause your poor animals to get sick. I don't know about humans but there is a bunch of infor on it. I was getting mine from melaleuca at one time and matter of fact the tea tree oil is one of their main ingredients in all the products they carry. You can add it to shampoo you can add it for gum disease you can add it to just about anything your heart could imagine but just be careful and do your research about how much to add for certain things you want to use it for. I think another momma on here...."mimi" is with melaleuca-she post on here quite often but you can find the tea tree oil anywhere but melaleuca I would love to join up with them again if I could afford to but right now we are doing the Dave Ramsey Debt Reduction plan so I can't justify doing it right now.
My DS gets horrible reactions to mosquito bites. We've had some pretty good success with natural bug repellent bracelets. I couldn't find the ones we used (made using marigold?), but these are similar, and look like they might even be a little better- I think I'll order some.
http://www.bugbam.com/
(Check out the section titled "the facts")
Good luck, I'll be interested to see your other responses :)
I've got the same problem with the chiggers with my kids. I have to spray them with bugspray to play outside, and beg them not to go into the areas of our yard with pinestraw/mulch/leaves. This is where the chiggers live. If they don't get sprayed, they don't go out. They're ok if they stay in the grass. I usually do a combo of alcohol to clean it, hydrocortisone cream to calm it, and then a thick coat of good old calamine lotion. It usually helps the itching stop within a day or two. I've gotten the chigger bites as well, and they do take a long time to fade. I've heard that clear fingernail polish works on those as well. Good luck!
