Kids & Mosquitos

[Boo]

We recently moved back to Thailand with out 2 & half year old & being a normal toddler boy spends a lot of time up here at mil's house in Khon Kaen on the floor, covered in dirt & usually pants less. Not sure why boys like to let it all hang out but as we are also potty training he has his trousers off a lot.

As a result his little legs are covered in mossie bites, this is after smothering him in repellent but it is just too hard to keep them off him.

I keep the bites as clean as I can but like I said, he likes the floor so I am putting calamine & antiseptic cream on them after his night shower to stop the itch but is there any tips or product suggestions on how to protect him more & what to use as an a afterbite to take the itch off him?

[too true]

Hi Boo,

Have you tried the Johsnon's baby mosquito lotion?

My husband always rubbed fresh turmeric on my boys' bites. Can stain clothes, but they haven't got any scars from the bites they got as babies.

Must be a big change being back...

cheers,

tt

[languageexpress]

Poor little mites! I worry about putting chemicals on little kids. Even ‘natural’ repellants like citronella oil sometimes carry warnings for infants although my mum used it on all her kids and none of seem to have suffered. You may already know this, but avoid using scented soaps, lotions, shampoos etc on your kids if they’re going to be in mozzie territory. It attracts them.

When I get a load of bites around my ankles I soak them in a really hot bath (as hot as I can stand) It works a wonder but obviously isn’t going to be good for kids. My sister swears that rubbing a bar of plain, dry soap over her kid’s bites alleviates the itch. I have no idea why this works. And I have heard that toothpaste has similar effect!

Something for older kids is to “cross hatch” the bite. You do this by firmly pressing your thumb nail into the bump to make a shallow indentation that quarters it so it looks like the top of a hot cross bun. You don’t actually break the skin, just make a temporary, but visible ‘cross’ on it. Try it yourself, it works on adults too. Admittedly it doesn’t actually remove all of the itchiness, but it does seem to reduce it. Again, I have no idea why. This is actually a pretty good treatment because you can use it when you don’t have any calamine lotion to hand, and when used on kids, seems to have a placebo effect - a bit like putting a band aid on a cut…they seem to feel better that you’re actually doing something.

[bina]

the cross hatching just causes pain and most people prefer pain to itching for some reason. same as very hot water. that causes pain, easier to deal witht hen itching.

here we get some kind of antihistamine gel that is made for babies to be used on the mossie bites. i saw that my sis in law's kids got some horrible cream meant for reducing scarring and shrinking blood vessels (like hemroid cream) put on them, all over, all the time. the small print says it is absorbed through the skin, and can cause problems with the liver. but my comments obvoiusly fell on deaf ears there and they arent my kids so...

i would think just keeping the sores clean by using mild soap and water, plus keeping the skin moistureized since dry skin seems to get infected/wounded easier, by using some kind of body oil or lotion non scented. i use palm oil, nonscented, i found it works wonders on wounded skin (im a cook now and wash hands constantly, also works on daughter's allergic, itching excema skin, she also attracts all biting insects).

what is antisepteic cream? maybe that makes his skin itchier? i think that soap and water are more then enough to clean most mild sores.

boo, on animals we often recommended to use mild saline solution (one teaspoon table salt, one cup of hot water, let cool) to rinse off mildly infected skin sores; its what i did for anon when he got some leg infection when we were there in april, three times a day i took some cotton wool, dipped in the water, then squeezed it over the infected area (dont use the cotton on the sores, the cotton sticks>) . it doesnt sting if u dont put in too much salt. (measure the amount). it doeas act as antiseptic. also camomile or sage leaves soaked in hot water, left to cool. (if can be found in thailand). both are very good antiseptic rinses, we use them here in the baby house for mild external infections on babies skin and eyes.

no ideas for anti mosquito things though.

bina

[sinbin]

They could well be "tick" bites if the MIL has a dog or cat, hence why the mozzie repellant doesn't seem to be working. To stop itching from bites use menthol toothpaste. It works. Google 10 other uses for toothpaste and up it'll come.

[Comehome]

Hi!

We have a 2 and a half year old daughter and we use "Fenistil" whenever she gets mosquito bites and they dissapear in a couple of days.

I have been told that "Fenistil" is mild but still effective and can be used on young children.

Fenistil costs 55 baht in Boots or Watsons, other private pharmacies can take up to 120baht on our island and it is still the same cream.

Other than that we let her wear long pants in the evenings when she is out playing around.

We tried "mosquito tissues", i think "Pigeon" is the brand, but she didn't like them at all.

Havn't tried the johnsons, but will go and have a look tomorrow.

Thanks for good advice btw, it is good to be able to share advice with other parents.

Take care,

/comehome

[bina]

Fenistil

ah, boo, thats the one: fenistil. we use it here also (israel) on young children, its what the clinic gives us to use. its a mild anti histamine applied directly to the itchy area.

bina

[Boo]

awesome advice from the parents of thaivisa as usual

I will go find fenistil today. Bought some antihistamine syrup for him when it was really bad but he didn't like the taste. They seem to have at least mostly scabbed over now & new bites don't seem to be bothering him so much now but I like the idea of a cream that helps scarring too.

comehome, I will send you a pm as we are off to Samui this week for a few months so want to tap you for kid friendly thing to do

[Boo]

btw bought fenistil gel at the boots inside tesco lamai & it was 55baht