malaria tablets for kids

[bagpussmice]

anyone know much about this? going to gambia for a wedding in July. unfortunately we are going to France June which was booked ages ago so it looks like all of us will be taking malaria tablets while we are on holiday there if you hvae to take them for a month before you go?
side effects?

I think malerone will probably be the most appropriate but you will have to check with the travel clinic.
Malerone only needs to be taken 1-2 days before entering the area, and between 1-4 weeks after leaving.
I used doxycycline and it was fab but not suitable for children under 12, this is also great for preventing travelers tummy as it is an antibiotic too. I took this a week before going and 2 weeks after I cam back IIRC.

Prophylaxis is not absolute, and breakthrough infection can occur with any of the drugs recommended. Personal protection against being bitten is very important. Mosquito nets impregnated with permethrin provide the most effective barrier protection against insects (infants should sleep with a mosquito net stretched over the cot or baby carrier); coils, mats and vaporised insecticides are also useful. Diethyltoluamide (DEET) in lotions, sprays or roll-on formulations is safe and effective in children over 2 months of age when applied to the skin but the protective effect only lasts for a few hours. Long sleeves and trousers worn after dusk also provide protection.
We got some great nets and sprays from the travel clinic, additionally you will need to start the appropriate immunisation programe ASAP

We live in Nigeria so not far from The Gambia. We take Malarone, inc 10yo dd. For children the dose is weight-related and your travel clinic should be able to advise you. You only need to take it a day or two before you enter the malarial area and a week afterwards. The only side effect we've had is mouth ulcers, which dd and I have had but dh hasn't.

There seems to be a lot of variation in advice about Deet. Our travel clinic categorically said it should not be used on under-12's yet other sources recommend it from 6yrs so I really don't know about that one.

Forgot to say, we only started getting mouth ulcers after we'd been taking malarone for a while, so I would hope you'd avoid them if you're doing a short trip.

the deet thing I got from the brittish national formula, I absolutely under no cicumstances would use 50-100% deet on a 2 month old!!!
However like you say the travel clinic would be able to advise you about strengths etc.