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I really should write a book called (Mis)adventures in Babysitters because I've had poor luck finding good babysitters... we've had 4 in the last 2 months: the first I posted about (my 4-year-old drove her out of Dodge), the 2nd one's car broke down and she had no $ to fix it so she's back in Chicago and my carseats are who knows where; the 3rd was going great for 3 days until her father-in-law threatened domestic violence so SHE left the state; and now we finally have someone who seems reliable... Hope this one lasts past the week!!
But I digress! The 3rd babysitter, who left the state, had a dog who apparently shared our children's carseats. When she called me to say she was leaving town, she thought it was funny that her pitbull mix would sit in the carseat, but the day after she left for good, we found FLEA BITES on my son! It was my mother-in-law who made the diagnosis because the bites looked hard and red unlike mosquito bites but DH and I had no idea about fleas! We put anti-itch cream on them and vaccuumed his room repeatedly, sprayed carefully in his room, and checked/washed bedding, mattress, etc. We hoped we didn't need to fumigate his room and thank goodness no more bites after that first night so we think he got them in the carseat she had used, which we cleaned... But he had 5 or 6 bites on his body... Ugh... Horrible.
Now, the toddler playground at his preschool seems to have a mosquito problem so he came home last night with 7 bites on his leg and arm. They're doing heavy-duty spraying of the area this weekend, but seriously??? He looks like he's been put through the ringer and now he's scratching the bites until they bleed. I gave him Benadryl and put some neosporin on the bites, but the combination sunscreen/bug spray isn't heavy duty enough, with his swimming and sweating.
Anything stronger I can use? I know this was long-winded for a bug spray recommendation but I just had to vent... lol... Thanks.
We use the sunscreen/repellent spray as well and it works well for everyone but my wife and DD1, who seem to not only be very sensitive to the bites (HUGE red welts) they also seem to attract mosquitos like a magnet. My wife decided to try some of the patches they sell now and found that the patch in combination with the spray worked really well.
She used the Skeet-X ones, but there are many on the market. They are non-chemical and safe for all ages. May be worth a try.
I would call your ped and see what they recommend but we just use regular bug spray for our toddlers. There is an OFF Skin So Soft one that has a nicer smell. They do make organic "kid" friendly ones but to be honest I watched the mosquitos eat up my girl with it on. I think it was Jason's organic or Earth's Best. However if you put it on in the am by the time they go out in the afternoon after eating, washing hands etc....there won't be much protection left unless they respray.
Our daycare center has the Mosquito Squad coming out regularly and I haven't noticed any bites on my kids. They go out 2x a day in the hot muggy south!
My doctor said my 19-month-old was fine to use regular spray, but to limit the amount of DEET it in, so no OFF Deep Woods or anything.
I have Off Family Care Smooth and Dry.
I had an interesting experience with OFF Deep Woods the other day. We have a bunch of trees in the back of our house and get some pretty serious mosquitoes. I was on the back porch steps where I have some flower pots with a bunch of hot pink million bells mini petunias in - and I sprayed myself with a light spray of OFF.
The next morning, a large amount of my flowers had little strange spots all over them where they had turned brown and dead in dots - I figured out that anywhere the spray had hit the flower, that that little spot died instantly.
It was really weird. Now I know we aren't flowers, but I'll never put that stuff on my skin again.
So I'm glad you started the thread OP, because I was going to ask the same question.
We use Cactus Juice and think it's the best thing ever. Discovered it on Sanibel Island and it was the first thing we found that worked against no seeums, now we use it at home in the summers to keep the skeeters off. Smells great, no harsh chemicals. Great stuff.
For the baby sitting problem - Get a local teen. Why does the baby sitter need to put your kid in their car?
Can't really help on the mossie issue. We have mossie nets over our beds in summer to keep the mossies away. As far as I know all the mossie repellants (Aeorguard, Rid, 'OFF' etc) have anti itch stuff in them. I also understand that you can take lots and lots of vitamin B ? or is it D and then the mossies leave you alone. Makes your pee turn bright yellow though. I did this when I was going bush for several weeks toward the end of high school. No idea if you can do it to little kids though.
I have used SOS bath oil with good success...but read that product-not lotion etc, just the oil works best
Quote:
Originally Posted by JennyMominRI
Skin So soft by Avon
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