Miami

[Pinkpeanut27]

After being given a brief for our summer holiday DH has ignored it totally and booked the USA . I'm not unhappy but totally out of my comfort zone ! Part of it is 5 days on Miami Beach . We have an apartment hotel with a pool in North Beach . So my question is what sort of clothing do I need for us and kids ( boys and girls)
It may be a stupid question but I've never done this with kids and no washing machine and I'm worried about the mosquitos, I've been told I'm mad going with the Zika virus being around . No pregnancies planned by the way .

Can anyone give me some tips ? My dad refuses to wear anything other than short shorts and best tops !

You are not mad going to Miami. When are you going there?

You just need the normal sort of beachwear; t-shirts and shorts for the children.

Do not worry yourself unduly about mosquitoes whilst you are there; just avoid any standing water if you happen to see that. Wear light coloured loose fitting clothing; mosquitoes like black and navy blue clothing.

We are going in August .
Good tip about navy and black and my long loose clothes are all navy and black !!
Do mosquitos usually come out at dusk or is it an all day risk !

For most species of mosquito in the United States, their activity peaks during the dusk hours.

No you're not mad! I'm a semi paranoid parent and as we're off to Central America this summer I've done a lot of research on Zika. Also not planning on more babies but as there is a (very) small risk of Gullian Barr (sic?) I want to be prepared.
The Aedes mosquito (the Zika carrier) is day biting and is around from dawn to sundown. The official advice is head to toe light clothing sprayed with a special insect repellant for clothes (I've bought this). Use deet based mosquito repellant (max 30% for kids) on top of sun cream.
I'm personally going to play things by ear a bit and takes shorts and frocks as well as the harem pants. If you want any info on insect repellant let me know - I've spent a boring amount of time researching the best ones!!
Miami's interesting but try and get out to the Everglades and to Key West. Have fun!!

That's interesting and yes any info you have would be great .
Does that mean we are likely to get mossies on the beach and by the pool . Can't see the kids being hsppy when j tell them they need to be covered head to toe !

Honestly pinkpeanut, think the 1st thing you need to do is just google Zika and Miami. If it's already there it's probably only a tiny number of cases and it might just be a 'likely to happen' thing. Just keep an eye on it if I were you - we're off to Costa Rica where there is a small amount of Zika (but more dengue) so it's more of a threat. Perhaps just take the shorts and t-shirts but deet yourselves up, just in case? If it is there already or there are cases before you go (depending on how many)maybe take some cover up stuff for Everglades trips or trips into town. The Aedes mosquito breeds more in urban areas, beaches are OK apparently but don't sit under trees!

Personally I'm taking cover up stuff for rainforest walks and town trips but shorts for the beach and dresses for nights out after this mosquito is supposed to sleep! Like you, really can't see my DD in head to toe gear all the time! I've spent ages reading repellant reviews/forums as the stuff in Costa Rica is supposed to be duff! For the day (all off Amazon I think) I've got Ultrathon Insect Repellant for us (lasts 12 hours and is water resistant) and Bens family Insect repellant for my daughter (the max of 30% deet. I've also got PowerPlast insect repellant wipes 30% for my handbag. Deets not a nice chemical and you need to be careful how often you use it - it's what all the health sites recommend though. For nightime, I've got Mosi-guard natural which has no deet (if this mosquito is asleep I'd like my kids skin to have a deet break!). For clothes, I've bought Sawyers Premium insect repellant for clothing.

As above, if I were you Id probably only go with deet repellant and permethrin clothes spray and keep to shorts and t-shirts if it's not really a current issue! It's a good place and you will all have fun!!

I am going to Miami in August (I also went last year) - my daughter was 1 last year and we travel the day after her 2nd birthday this year.
We were very lucky and got bitten very little (LG didn't get bitten at all) but I was spraying her every few hours - but night time and near water is where you'll get bitten more - so watch out!
In regards to clothing, when your outside it is very warm, so my LG was literally in swimming costume or thin dress/tshirt - it's too hot for anything else
In regards to you, anything you like that will keep you cool, however if you are going spend evenings inside, pretty much everywhere is air conditioned so I ended up taking cardigans for me and her. You will use them! That also goes for shopping malls.
Hope this helps? Any questions let me know