Reaction to Mosquitos - Alternatives to Antihistamines & steroid creams??

[Roche]

Does anyone know of an alternative to antihistamise & steroid creams for a child who reacts to mosquito bites?

My 3 year old DD is very sensitive to bites. She had one mozzie bite on her calf the other week, and her whole leg below the knee swelled up to twice its normal size, went bright red, and an area 2 inches in diameter centered on the bite started to ooze a clear liquid. 10 days later there is still a dark red area a good 1 1/2 inches across that is hard to the touch and slightly swollen.

The bites also get infected really easily, which means antibiotics, and as DD1 & I are both allergic to penicillin I am quite reluctant to give my other girls more antibiotics than absolutely essential.

The only thing we have found that does any good is immediate application of a hydrocortisone cream, and massive doses of antihistamines. Even then she still gets a large red swelling, but at least it doesn't ooze and scar the same way.

I am horrified at what all these chemicals could be doing to her little system, but am at a loss to know what else to give her to help.:

We keep her indoors as much as possible, have screens on all our doors and windows, and a net on her bed - but we are visiting family on the coast over Christmas, and not only is it mozzie central, but they don't have screens, and as we are in Australia it will be summer then and peak mozzie season.

Oh, and insect repellant sprays/lotions give both dd2 & myself a nasty excema-type rash. And they make me sneeze n wheeze.

Short of keeping her completely doped up on antihistamine over the holidays I don't know what to do.:

Help!!

[Arduinna]

That is not a normal reaction, have you discussed this with an allergist?

[Panserbjorne]

My dd is like that. I give homeopathic ledum30c immediately and do it acutely (1 dose every 15 minutes for 6 doses) and then do a poultice of rescue remedy tincure, pascalite clay and water until it dries...you can't even tell she's been bitten.

[moonlitemama]

I know this is an old thread, but I was just browsing around and came across it.

My DS (now 8) has always had reactions like this. Not quite as bad, but nearly.
We started using tea tree oil on the bites, which seems to help with the duration and the infection.

I asked an allergist about it this summer and he said it's usually nothing to worry about. Most kids outgrow it. And it's not likely to escalate into a worse (anaphylactic sp?) reaction.

[Thystle]

Mine does this too.


One doc said it was a "toxic" reaction to the bites and they did not think it was an allergy to them.

I am not so sure.



We have been looking for better ideas too, and want to be better prepared for next year!

[tankgirl73]

I read up on this issue a couple years ago because DS was the same way. It's not a 'common' reaction but it is a 'normal' reaction, and it does lessen over time.

DS got 5 bites on his face once, one right beside his eye. He reacts worse to mosquito bites than bee stings! And no, he's not allergic to bee stings. Some kids are just more sensitive to the stuff in mosquito bites -- as I recall, it's the stuff that the mosquito 'injects' to keep the blood flowing (not clotting) that they're sensitive to.

I gave DS antihistamines when it was really bad, not sure how much it helped. They just cleared up over time. Not sure why yours would be so prone to infection -- maybe just put an ointment like polysporin on and a band-aid to help keep it clean?

ETA -- he doesn't react like this anymore, just gets the 'normal' red welts or little bumps. Not the loonie-sized hard swollen freaky things. So there's some 'real-life' anecdotes for you. At age 7, he was definitely still having those reactions, at age 9, he's not.

[Panserbjorne]

IT is an indication of an overactive immune system and it generally happens in kids with allergies, asthma and other autoimmune diseases. It isn't at all normal but it is common. Kids generally don't grow out of it, the reactions just go deeper so it appears as though they have grown out of it. Dd is like this. Homeopathy given acutely (ledum 30c every fifteen minutes for 6 doses) as soon as she's bitten completely takes care of it.