Best mosquito repellant for children (who have bad reaction to bites)?

[Goneshopping]

Hi, we are off to France soon and DD had a dreadful reaction to mozzie bites last time we were there (her whole face was swollen). Can anyone recommend a really effective product to use on children? Thanks

I bought the jungle spray formula but with the 50% Deet. There were three of us on holiday, and I was the only one who used it religiously- and the only one without bites. Its really stinky tho.

Just brought ' smidge that midge' supposed to be great, from amazon

I would be careful using anything with deet on children. A few years ago dp spilt some jungle fever on jeans and it corroded huge holes into them!

I agree with sleepymum jungle gel spray formula 50% is the best or the boots own version is a good alternative and I think it can be used on young children. I am terribly allergic and just returned from France where I was a target for the mozzies - local spray just not strong enough, you need 30 - 50% deet. I had to ask my mum who joined us after a few days to bring some jungle gel spray out with her.

Before I used jungle gel I had some awful bites which became infected. Local pharmacy in France was really helpful and recommended some topical steroid cream to take swelling down and Zirtec each night - not sure what age you can take this from but it was most effective for me.

I recommend that you put the spray on late afternoon - most of the bites I had were about 6pm in the evening before I remembered to spray. Also stock up on the coils that you burn and put them out around / under the table if you eat outside in the evening and also you can buy plug-in repellent (liquid) in all of the supermarkets for inside the house.

Good luck!

Boots own brand high level deet says is allowed for over 3s. Effective if stinky. To deal with bites, take antihistamine cream,, piriton (fine for small children, added advantage that makes them sleepy, so if bites are bothersome, can help at night) and hydrocortisone ointment which is available OTC. IMO easier to take stuff with you as instructions in english and also pharmacies in france variable (some are herbal only and personally, if i have horrible bites, i want proper modern medicine!)

DS swells up horribly and his paediatrician recommended that he takes an antihistamine syrup once a day as a precaution. We did it for last two holidays and although he still got bitten, the bites never went up to the size they where before (as in his whole foot doubling in size or eye totally shut etc). IIRC it was Aerius which had diloratidine in it (and you can get it in France, on px though).

Avon - Skin so Soft. Amazing stuff, works for mozzies and midgies too. Don't forget to take citronella candles!

Thank you very much, there's some really useful tips here. Has anyone tried GreenBaby mosquito patches?

Its funny as I saw this thread title and was coming on to recommend the greenbaby patches then saw you'd asked about them.

We use them and for the last few years we have stuck them to the side of DDs pram On holiday and they have worked brilliantly with none of us getting bitten.

However they smell of very very strong citronella and i thought they stank when i first used them but it soon wears off or you get used to it. They are easy to use - you squash the patch in your fingers to crack the capsule in the patch but i think they still smell quite strongly before you 'activate' them so always make sure I wrap them well in the case so I don't contaminate all the clothes

I got mossie guard from amazon for my ds and have used it the last couple of times in Sri Lanka and he wasn't bitten bit more expensive but well worth it.