Mosquito Bites! - Denver,CO

I kn ow this will sound crazy, but my sister was at my house and my daughter was itching hers and my sister circled the bite and red area with a ball point pen. For some reason, that keeps it from spreading and itching. Now, my daughter does this and it seems to work. Maybe it is psychological but hey, it keeps them from itching and getting bigger.
Good luck.

I work for Motherlove Herbal Co. www.motherlove.com We make a product called green salve which helps with all skin irritations. It is 100% USDA certified organic. It is a life saver, I use it on bug bites all the time. It contains plantain which helps draw out infection and poisons in the skin. Give it a try. Hope it helps.

Be very careful of West Nile Virus. I don't know where you are, but here in IDaho it's very bad. Last year we had one of the highest if not the highest amount of reported cases in the country.

I know that Avon Skin So Soft works as a repellant for a lot of people. Also taking one of the B vitimins is supposed to really help, but I can't remember which one.

Hi K., an easy remedy for the itching is a paste made out of baking soda & water. Just mix the two together making a paste, wipe it on the bites with your finger and tell the kiddos to let it dry on its own. The baking soda pulls the venom from the bite out of the body & it removes the sting & itch.
Also, get an empty cobalt blue or brown glass bottle with a sprayer in it from the natural living section of a store. Put 10 drops of lavender oil in it and fill the rest of the bottle with water. Spray it on your kids and it will help keep the mosquitos away. Good luck, J. Sexton www.tag-youre-it.com

I used to get eaten alive when I was little. It was awful. My mom used to make me take these garlic pills that were supposed to help. I'm sure you could find something at a Health food store to help. For remedies, you can make a paste out of baking soda and water and put it on the bites and that will help some. That was my best natural one. A word of warning about itching. My nephew itched his bites last year and actually got a staph infection because his fingernails were dirty and caused the infection. It was scary. Good luck!

Yes, we have a great natural bug repellant , but we got it in Montana. It is called "Kettle Care" herbal bugless repellent oil, and it contains soy oil and essential oils of patchouli, lavender, rosemary, citronella, and red cedarwood oil. There is a website: www.kettlecare.com but that seems like a lot of work. I'm sure you could probably find a comparable one at your local health food store.

As for the bug bite, lavender essential oil! You can put it right on the bite, and it works GREAT! Takes away the itching and the inflammation. We actually got a little spray bottle to put our lavender in, and we just spray it right on bugbite, sunburn...lavender is so versatile!

Melaleuca oil will help with the pain and inflammation. You may want to check out the company. I think you can just go to www.melaleuca.com they carry all natural products for pretty much everything.

I was sure someone would have mentioned this one but since not...vitamin B6. I used to go camping with a friend and her family who were avid campers/hikers and her mom would always make us take a B6 vitamin each day. We didn't use bug sprays. It worked. And we loved that our pee was a flourescant color. lol. also for the bites, baking soda and water. I've never come across anything that works better. It works great for bee stings and chicken pox itching...although kids these days get a shot so they don't get the pox...crazy world! lol.

K.,
I one of two things:
1st is a mix of Solumel , renew bath oil and melaleuca's moisturizing hand cream.

or 2nd for camping I use a mix of renew bath oil, solumel, tough and tender and t36-c5(or t40 c6) melaleuca oil (higher grade than can be found anywhere I have looked)

and for the already bites you have the t36-c5 dabbed on with some melagel works wonders for relievign the itch/pain and also that might be starting an infection.

But, that is what I personally use, i'm looking forward to more answers. (I only use natural products with my family as we have some severe allergies, and I worked in a lot of places where I had to read msds sheets on everyday products)

garlic eaten and grown works. benedril for bites. rubbing alcohol helps it stop itching too

Forget about using a natural repellent, they are not as effective. Just use something with DEET, the risk of it harming you or your children is not as great as the risks involved in getting bitten, protect your family from West Nile virus, it is a very serious disease!

West Nile Virus is a serious threat in Idaho. My neighbor got it last year and she is not outdoorsy at all. She is sure she got the bite in her own backyard. The only sure repellant for mosquitos is the stuff with Deet or the Pic... stuff. (don't remember how to spell it). We recently went to a girls camp and the forestry people STRONGLY urged us to use the chemical stuff and not the home recipe repellants to avoid West Nile. Good Luck!

Lavender is a natural mosquito repellant. You can also eat garlic, vitamin B and zinc. It takes about a month, but works great. My son did this before he left for Costa Rica to hike in the jungle for ten days. The kids he went with had hundreds of bites and he had only 10. Cedar soap also helps. And health food stores have natural repellants.

Good luck!
K. Loidolt
Author Shopper's Guide to Healthy Living

try using a paste mixture of baking sode and water and just get it thick enough to stick like a paste and rub it over the bite and let it dry it helps with the burning and itch

belive it or not amonia works very well on taking the itch and the swelling out of mosquito bites. we just dip a q-tip in the amonia and dab on the bite. It is the same stuff as in the after-bite stuff they sell in the store. It's really not organic or natural but it works great! Also, over the counter cortizn cream works well to.

My niece used to have terrible reactions to mosquito bites. She would instantly get red and swollen at the site of the bite. Avon's skin so soft was a great product to use to repell them ,but when biten we would use an astringent to help with the swelling. It worked great!

I have two active girls who love to fish. We use Arbonne Awaken Aromatherapy spray and or body lotion to help ward off the mosquitos. If they forget that, we use Arbonne Diaper Rash Creme to stop the itch and dry it up. Works great for chicken pox too.

Also use Bounty fabric softener sheets and put one in their pockets. Bugs hate the smell of those! I don't use on the clothes due to the toxic chemicals seeping through their skin but put one in the pocket before they go fishing. We also used when watching a movie outside at a park. Worked great!

R.
www.upwithwellness.myarbonne.com

My parents live next to a ditch that always has mosquitos. My dad rubs on Vanilla Extract to discourage the pests and it smells good. You can also get some Listerine mouth wash and put it in a spray bottle and spray it around the yard that also wards them off. You can even spray that on the kids and yourself and it won't hurt anything.

As for the bite that is really swollen, I rub alchohol on mine frequently and it seems to help or use some calamine lotion for the itching.

Good luck.

I haven't tried it myself yet, but I have had two different people tell me that if you spray listerine around the yard in the area where you are planning on being, it keeps the mosquitos away very well. You just put it full strength into a spray bottle, and spray the ground...not yourself!! It's cheaper than bug spray, smells minty fresh, and they both swear it works great.

Hello. I have 4 grandchildren-ages 9,8,7,6. They are at my house daily. I spray them with Young Living Purification oil. I put 15 drops oil to about one eighths cup distilled water. Reapply about every 2 hours. Totally nontoxic and has a fresh lemon smell. The oil is great applied undiluted to any bite.Young living oil is the only steam distilled, theaputic grade oil you will find. Look online at youngliving.com P.S. Use a small spray bottle or if you want a larger amount, just double or triple amounts.

I actually am allergic to mosquito bites. Without touching them they swell up huge and itch like you wouldn't believe. Things that have helped me are Ice packs, or cold towels. I use to rub an ice cube on it but that just made it swell more. I did take a prescription drub that would help with the itch and made it go away a lot quicker, it was Periactin (sp). I had tried Benedryl but it just made me sleepy. Caladryl creams worked sometimes also.

Picaridin needs to be in the insect repellant especially if you live in a place that has the West Nile Virus. Your kids could get really sick. Deet or Picaridin are the only things proven to protect against mosquitos. Keep them inside from dusk to dawn if possible if you don't want to use those.

My daughter got a bite on her face the other day and it swelled a ton. I took her to the doctor and they did nothing (waste of a $20 copay) Anyway, don't worry about the swelling, redness or warm to the touch around the bite unless it is extremely painful when you touch it. The doctor said if it were truly infected she wouldn't even let me near it because it would hurt so bad. If it is or a fever develops then you may want to take her to the doctor. I have been using calamine lotion to ease the itching.

Tee tree oil works really good, also white vineger takes the itch away. When I get bit the swell so bad and I just put tee tree oil on and the itching stops and the swelling goes down. Good Luck

K.,

I have found a mixture of pure vanilla extract and water works well. Here is a recipe I found on another site: The best blend so far is to dilute the single fold pure, sugarless vanilla with 50% water so that you will have a blend of 17% alcohol and then spray on exposed skin.

Make sure you reapply often.

We always use Campho Phenique. It's a little green bottle found in the medicine aisle in your local grocer. My family has used it for generations! Sorry, it's not an herbal remedy.
-K. Littau, B.

Witch hazel takes the itch away from bites.

Bull frog makes a really great deet free reppelent. I use it on my girls. Also skin so soft is a great one

Hi K.,
We've used lavendar essential oil (therapeutic grade) for years now. It isn't very good as a repellant but it is fabulous for bites. I react strongly to mosquito bites (usually get 1-2 inches across), but if I can put a drop of lavendar oil on it soon after I'm bitten it disappears within an hour. I LOVE this stuff! We take it to our annual family reunion/camping trip and I'm constantly on call to dispense it. It makes believers of everyone who tries it.
HTH,
B.

Look at Climb On products online. They are all natural and there is a great "bug drug" that uses catnip for a repellant and it really works well. I love all their products and feel good about using a natural remedy on my kiddos. Let me know if you have any problems finding them. Good luck!

baking soda paste. add a little water until it makes a paste. cheap, edible (but I wouldn't eat it!) and natural. works better then lotions. otherwise, i think the Aveeno with the calmine similar ingredient (pink color) works best for over the conter.

Oh, and there is a cintronela based bug preventative lotion for babies (can't remeber the name but got it at Walgreens) It worked well in Crested Butte on hikes. we had to apply it all the time and went through a lot but were not eaten up as much as my husband using the Deep woods

My brother just got attacked by mosquitos and he welted, they put on a product by band aid its like a bug bite gel or something. THe swelling went down in 15 minutes.

Hello K.,
The Listerine in the spray bottle really does work. I spray it around the kids swing set, and it keeps the mosiquitos away. I repeat the spray about every hour. For the bites i also use baking soda and little bit of water. I hope this helps

L.

i am from the southeast and very familiar with the little monsters; some joked they were our state bird. i will attest that avon's skin-so-soft works well as a personal repellent. i also just received an email from family members who swear by listerine. yes, the mouth antiseptic. apparently you put listerine in a spray bottle and douse the perimeter of the area and the mosquitos stay away. it's cheap too! i haven't tried it, but read numerous testimonials singing its praises. to answer your other question, once the bite has happened, i have tried the "X" thing too and have found it oddly successful for stopping the itch. vinegar, while stinky, is excellent for anti-itch. rub it on the itchy area with a cotton ball. good luck!

Buzz away makes a natural liquid spray that works well. It is on sale a Vitamin Cottage right now. The best anti-itch I have found is sting stoothe by Quantum, and I use clay mask on the bites to reduce swelling and itchiness. I also make a past of raw honey and yellow-dock and cover the bite and then put a bandaid on it and leave it overnight. This helps my littlest one who gets bad reactions to bites of any kind.
Enjoy the summer-

As a kid I was allergic to them actually, calamine lotion did a great job taking the itch and burn out of them. There is something at Whole Foods, lemongrass or lemon something I think, some natural smell that mosquitos don't like ask someone there what that is, I just read about it, it is all natural. The main thing is living near water, don't let the kids play outside in the mornings or evenings, when they are most active. With West Nile and all the other diseases it is safer keeping them in and checking with your city to put in mosquito egg killer fish or something in the water to prevent them from hatching.

I would like to mention that I saw on the today show last yeat a test done (I think by consumer reports) of multiple types of mosquito repellent, including deet and deet alternatives (ie natural remedies). None performed as well as deet, but picardin and lemon eucalyptus based repellents were very successful. Tea tree oil was the next most successful. The Avon skin so soft was found to not be repellent at all. Just thought I'd throw that out there for you. I try to go natural on most things I use, but I have yet to find an all natural alternative that works well enough for me to feel safe. So for mine and my families health I give in and use the picardin based Off, for normal days, and 10% deet Off when we are camping and hiking - picardin is successful against mosquitos, but doesn't seem to repel very many other no-see-ums like sand fleas and ticks. I have many friends who use tea tree oil around home, but also use 10% deet when they are hiking or camping too.

Benadryl cream (OTC) is a life saver for us on the actual bites. As for repellent, tea tree oil has been what my sis-in-law keeps telling me to use....

I am an avon representative and know that for a fact skin so soft works very well,
it is the origonal bath oil and not made specifically for the bugs. We also carry a whole line for kids and adults too. Some of them also include an spf. Let me know if i can place an order for you.
God bless and good luck

As far as something to put on it, my mom used to make a paste made of baking soda and water -- i do this when I don't have anything else on hand. This is something simple that should help with itching.

As a kid I was allergic to mosquitos. My parents used Skin So Soft on me. I think it's by Avon. As for the bites. baking soda and water paste, calamine lotion, or rubbing alchohol., but not in combination

Avon Skin So Soft.
It is the best repellant there is. If you spray around your yard it will keep them at bay.
Good Luck

I know one natural bug repellent is oil of lemon eucalyptus but according to the center for disease control website you shouldn't use it on children under 3. It is most commonly sold as an essential oil used a lot of the time in spas and by massage therapist. You should be able to find it in any beauty supply store or most health food stores would probably carry it.

As far as how to ease irritation of the bites I would recomend Benadryl topical cream.

Hi K.,
I use a natural mosquito repellant by JASON--most health food stores. I think Burt's Bees might also have one. As for the bite, my son has one that made his hand swell up--my friend, an ER nurse, said to try Benedryl( I don't know of any natural form of it) to see if that helps take down the swelling (it did); if so, it's probably an irritated allergic reaction made worse by scratching, and will go away. If not and if it continues to get worse or starts "streaking" up her arm, she needs to see a doctor (they'll want to know if you've given her anything that helped). It could be a spider bite, so watch it closely. Also, check if she has a fever. This will indicate bite infection.
J.

I have used vanilla lotions or even imation vanilla as a natural rememdy for mosiquitos. it might be something you can try on yourself and the children.

Hi K.,

Annoying little things mosquitos are!! First thing that comes to mind is what my mom always did, and subsquently myself as well is to cleanse the bite area, then using your finger get the area wet with water, then rub salt into the bite...let it dry, the salt will fall off when it dries. It does work!!

Hello, I've been told that if you put listerine in a spray bottle and spray it around the area you're in it keeps them out side the area you sprayed. you just can't spray in on wood. I haven't tried it yet but i've heard it works from a few diferent people.

K.--

The skin so soft works great as a repellent. Also there is a product I have used for years (one tube has lasted that long--I am not sure where to buy the product) called sting stop. The tube just says Natural Homeopathic Sting Stop. It is great. It has echinacea, comfrey, etc... and when you put the gel on and let it dry, the sting goes away until you scratch it again. It is so nice and helpful for mosquito bites.

Good luck!

M.

Avon's Skin So Soft seems to keep most bugs away. Badger Balm also makes a bug balm. I only know of one small place that carried Badger, and I can't remember the website right now. E-mail me if you want more. :)
The best thing to prevent bites is to avoid being out near dawn and dusk, when the bugs are most active, and wear longs sleeves, pants, socks and shoes, when you have to be. Mosquitos need standing or slow moving water, so eliminate these from your yard and work with neighbors to follow suit. This may seem like a hassle, but with West Nile Virsu moving in, mosquito bites are more than just a nuisance now.
For itching, calamine lotion like Caladryl is good. I've also heard of an oatmeal paste.

K., ALOE VERA gel is also a good help !!

I've never had success with anything that doesn't have DEET in it, and being allergic to them and growing up in New England with black fly season I never put the time into anything else because this just worked. It's not as harmful as everyone says, and in fact has done more damage in the east after having not been used. But that's another story entirely. A good remedy is Benedryl Cream though. It does wonders with ich associated with bugbites.

I buy the SSS (skin so soft) aerosol spray from Avon. It does not have any DEET in it and it still repels the mosquitoes. As for the swollen bite you could use neosporin or hydrocortizone cream. Or you could use a baking soda paste or mint toothpaste- What you would use for a bee sting. I have tried all of these and they have all worked. I just use what is handy where I'm at :) Good Luck.

If you have an Avon representative you know, or you can get it online, I am a huge fan of Skin So Soft bath oil and that line of repellants for my kids. For the bug bites, I would recomend Vick Vapor rub on the bite. Also, ice on them can help.

We use tea tree oil. It can be used for the bites just dab it on. You can all so put about 10 drops in 16oz of water in a spray bottle Spray it on you. I have sprayed it on outside door frame. It keeps them out of the house or camper. I have all so heard that you can spray Listerine mouth wash full strength on door frame, patios and any where you are. I don’t know if this works but I’m going to try it.

Burt's Bees makes a repellant which I suspect is mostly, if not all, natural. Good luck with those mosquitos--they can be terrible!

I have the same problem when i get bites. They get huge and red and have a big swollen circle around them. I was told to put rubbing alcohol on the a few times a day. It works well for me.

when these pesky critters bite we itch it gets bigger,take u're thumb nail press down on it one direction then another direction ull see kinda like a cross with ure thumb nail inprint,it stops the itchen.some times i do 4 croses with thumb nail so u may need too experiemtent.
i cant explain how i learn this but i was a kid and mom didnt provide very well.
only natural remedy i recall was smoke from fires we stand in it then walk away be ok for a few.we always had a fire going,now that im a mom "i make sure my kids have a roof" but i use barbaque and sticks laying around,newspaper.

For the bite, put hydrocortisone cream 1% on. Its inexpensive and available at any store with a pharmacy type area.

An investment in a bug zapper would help too, expecially if you are living in an area that has water near by.

Kind Regards,
TRUDI