best kind of bug spray to use on a 1 year old

[maybebabysoon]

i would like to know which is the best bug spray for my lo to use. the misquitos are really bad and we cant go outside without my little guy getting eaten alive.

[MountainMamaGC]

Organic soybean oil. Just rub on the skin. Thats if there is no soy allergy of course.

[sparklebean]

[belltree]

Soybean oil does nothing for us, except nice skin

We've been better with lemon eucalyptus oil and long sleeves during moskito times.

[Lauren31]

You can rub lemon balm herbs on the baby too... it does not really work that well though.

[JessieBird]

2 drops of citronella essential oil, 2 drops of lemongrass essential oil, water - shake it up in a travel size hair spray bottle and voila! Works like a charm in our mosquito & black fly infested neck of the woods. Even DH who gets eaten alive has converted away from the deet dope.

[laohaire]

I love Burt's Bees insect repellent. It has lemongrass and other things. It actually smells nice, imho. I think effectiveness depends on a number of factors including your chemistry and the types of bugs you encounter, but I've found it to be quite efffective for our mosquitos. Just the other day we were getting eaten alive, I applied it to myself and DD, and after that I only got 1 more bite and DD said she got no more.

[sarahdavida]

Originally Posted by JessieBird

2 drops of citronella essential oil, 2 drops of lemongrass essential oil, water - shake it up in a travel size hair spray bottle and voila! Works like a charm in our mosquito & black fly infested neck of the woods. Even DH who gets eaten alive has converted away from the deet dope.

I am definitely going to try this the next time summer rolls around down here...DS gets bitten ALL the time. They don´t put screens on windows here either - or have air co., so open screenless windows at night - it´s awful. And he reacts SO strongly to the bites...really big welts and if he scratches, it takes forever to heal them...ugh!

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I love Burt's Bees insect repellent. It has lemongrass and other things. It actually smells nice, imho. I think effectiveness depends on a number of factors including your chemistry and the types of bugs you encounter, but I've found it to be quite efffective for our mosquitos. Just the other day we were getting eaten alive, I applied it to myself and DD, and after that I only got 1 more bite and DD said she got no more.

Can you use it on little babies? I have a 3 month old...

[JessieBird]

I'm pretty sure Burt's Bees is the same as or really close to my recipe above. Friends of mine swear by BB but I couldn't find it anywhere at the time (now I see it everywhere), that's why I made up my own. I don't know for sure about using it on wee ones but a friend of mine who knows her oils gave me the go-ahead. I didn't do any research myself though just used it very lightly and cautiously at first (last summer, DS was about 7 mos).

Saradavida, I CAN'T IMAGINE not having screens on the windows. We don't have air conditioning either and would go absolutely insane for two months every year if we didn't have screens. I hope you at least have bed nets!

[Xavismom]

You could also try cooking an infusion of rosemary and lemons in a big pot of water, and then put it into a spray bottle, or use tea tree oil in some water and spray.

I want to try the citronella/lemongrass idea, sounds like it smells good!

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

Can you use it on little babies? I have a 3 month old...

I would... and certainly I would long before I would any other commercial product. Here's info on the ingredients, which as a PP said, is basically like the homemade recipe of lemongrass and citronella (and rosemary too):

http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-pro...repellent.html

And it does smell terrific (not merely tolerable but actively pleasant) to my nose. (Though not necessarily to everyone's).

[wrenb]

I use Four Elements Herbal Insect Repellant. It's a local company and it was the only bug spray in the store that didn't say "Keep out of reach of children". We just used it last week in the tropics and it worked well. I like that it's not in an oil base, so you don't feel greasy. It's so pleasant that we sprayed ourselves before bed so we didn't get bug bites in the night.

[Jaesun's Dad]

Originally Posted by JessieBird

Saradavida, I CAN'T IMAGINE not having screens on the windows.

I never had screens on my windows the nearly 20 years I lived in San Francisco. It's pretty common there too, mostly because there aren't many flying bugs around (they apparently don't exactly thrive in coastal fog). Right across the bay in Oakland though I'm glad I have them now. I wish I had air conditioning some days now too, which is another thing I never needed living five miles to the west.

I like the oil recipe ^^ thanks for that :o)

[sarahdavida]

Originally Posted by JessieBird

Saradavida, I CAN'T IMAGINE not having screens on the windows. We don't have air conditioning either and would go absolutely insane for two months every year if we didn't have screens. I hope you at least have bed nets!

we don´t have bed nets, actually...and we live in a city that doesn´t get a lot of flying bugs (maybe for the same reason as San Fran. - Lima is a very foggy coastal city), but the bugs that do come around seem to go right for DS. I´m thinking about having screens made that fit into the window frame in time for next summer, though - at least, in DS´ bedroom...

[Contrariety]

We use Burt's Bees, too. Works decently well, and it's not poison.