non-toxic moquito repellant / how to keep mosquitoes away

[P.J.]

My 27 month old son has been waking up with what I can only assume are mosquito bites. I did hear one buzzing around the other night, although I haven't gotten bitten yet myself. Does anyone have a recommendation for a non-toxic mosquito repellant, or how to keep them out of our bedroom, as well as what to treat the bites with? I wanted to put some baking soda paste on his bites but he wouldn't let me. BTW we do not live in the US, so certain products may not be available here, but please recommend them anyway. More helpful would be homemade products I could whip up myself. Thanks!

[tooraloora]

We use Theraneem Herbal Outdoor Spray. It works better than anything we have ever used to keep the mosquitoes off of DS and it seems to soothe the bites he already has. Oat baths do wonders to soothe the itching when I forget to spray him and he gets bit up. When we're out of the spray and haven't been able to get more yet (we can only find it in one store in the next town over), I rub citronella leaves on him, which works okay. The spray is more effective, though. As for how to keep them out of the bedroom, I haven't had much luck with that, but mosquito netting helps prevent you from being eaten while you sleep.

[4evermom]

My grandmother always put a drop of Windex on a fresh bite to minimize the itching. Evidently it's the the ammonia in window cleaning products that does something to the mosquito saliva or whatever that irritates the skin. It only works on a fresh bite.

So how are the mosquitoes getting in the bedroom? Make sure there aren't any holes around the windows or in the screens. At our house, they follow us in when we come in the doors. We try not to hang out by the doors, attracting them, before we go in. I've mixed up homemade yard sprays, in the past, and sprayed the bushes and yard near the door. I just google for recipes and see what I have... 

I'd put a mosquito netting around the beds, too.

[MaryMarg]

We use Badger Anti-Bug Balm and recently, this--http://www.herbariasoap.com/other-products/citronella-mist.html.  This last company has a BAR SOAP for camping that you can bathe in that supposedly repels bugs.  I don't know if you'd want to use it on a regular basis on a child, but the spray only contains essential oils and water and the soap looks pretty harmless, too.  http://www.herbariasoap.com/soaps/campers-choice-soap.html.   They also ship internationally.  I will say the spray works, but we find ourselves reapplying often.  I'd be willing to try the soap or try to make my own similar cream/rub.  They list all ingredients on their site. 

For treatment, I heard Dr. Aviva Romm do an herbal presentation for children about bug bites and for mosquitoes, she recommended plantain or chickweed poultices (pound, roll or chew the leaves if you have them fresh), aloe, calendula oil, or making a salve with calendula, plantain, or chickweed.  I made a chickweed salve for our family (olive oil infused with dried chickweed then melt with beeswax; 1 oz wax by weight to 1 c. oil by volume) and it works well.  The BEST thing Romm recommends is using green clay.  You make a paste with a small amount of the clay and water and put it on the bite and it works promptly.  The clay is not inexpensive but a little is all you need for each application.  [Plus it works great as a facial mask or anywhere you need to draw out impurities.]  Mountain Rose Herbs has a great website with newsletter archives and other resources on how to make lots of products if you aren't already familiar--http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/newsletter-archive/index.php and here's how to make a salve from Mt. Rose Herbs--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqDq_VnZ8Ok

Lastly, Romm recommends straight witch hazel, which we have found to work as well.  Hope these hope--we have such a problem with mosquitoes here!