DEET for kids

[LoopyLoopsCorgiPoops]

Moving to KL soon (5 weeks!!!). When having our jabs, the nurse recommended that we use insect repellent with DEET for the children (baby and toddler). Isn't DEET harmful? How long should they use it for? Forever?

many DEET free options available in any watsons pharmacy.

Citronella scented patches and sprays and a new product with wild tomato extract and eucalyptus, called mosquitout.
they have bracelts too

Johnsons do a baby mozzie repellent. It is a green liquid.

I dont use DEET on DS- just use the citronella patches that Laptop refers to- stick it on the back of their shirt between their shoulder blades is the easiest way (as then they cant peel them off).

None of the natural insect repellents work at all on our Canadian Rockies mosquitos, but maybe do in other parts of the world where the little bastards are a bit less persistent?

We use Sawyer Controlled Release on the whole family: www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Premium-Controlled-Release-Repellent/dp/B0078ZMR8I/ref=pd_sim_lg_1 and it is brilliant.

Even though it states "20% DEET", your skin gets exposed to far less than with other (shorter acting) repellents of the same concentration because the DEET is contained in micro-capsules that melt and release the DEET over time, but the protein capsule itself forms a barrier between your skin and the DEET, if you see what I mean?

Doubt you can order from Amazon.com, but before we left the UK we always ordered it from REI.com who will ship internationally (at a price!)

Ooops - link should be: www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Premium-Controlled-Release-Repellent/dp/B0078ZMR8I/ref=pd_sim_lg_1

Thank you :)

Yeah, I used to worry about putting DEET on my kids, but I do anyway. Everyone here does - mosquitos are sometimes very bad, although no malaria. Not much help, just saying that lots of people do.

Glad I wasn't the one who questioned the efficacy of natural repellents.
In Thailand, we had the double threat of malaria and dengue fever. DEET was the only way to go IMO.

What you do is use the DEET and wash it off thoroughly in the shower (not a bath as you end up swimming in it) before bed. It's better than mosquito bites.

thanks lazydog will look for that in the drugstore. We use OFF at the moment.

can't always shower it off - camping for example...tricky

Napiers herbalist (uk) do a very effective and nice smelling cream called Bug buster which doesn't contain deet. I brought several tubes of it out
to Canada and haven't been bitten by a single mosquito. The one time I forgot to put it on I was eaten alive. It's safe for toddler ds to use and I see it's available on amazon now for about £7 a tube.

howcomes - Thanks, I have actually already tried that exact product on my kids after a friend it the UK recommended it as being wonderful and it didn't work for us at all. It deterred them a bit for a short while (no longer than various other herbal/natural repellents we tried) but soon wore off and even freshly applied, some just didn't seem bothered by it. With West Nile Fever heading into BC now, I'll stick with what works for us. I think the mozzies in the Rocky Mountains are just a totally different beast to everywhere else. If nothing else, they're not far off the size of what we'd call "daddy long legs" back in the UK and their spikes are about 10mm long - it looks like they could reach down to bone, nevermind just sucking blood!!

Ok, so the size thing was a slight exaggeration, but one of the common species of mozzies out here is much bigger than any I've ever seen elsewhere, and they are all definitely much more determined.

Natural repellents would probably be fine in an urban environment where there are far fewer bugs and far more people for them to choose from, so they can afford to be picky!

Yeah, that's probably true- in HK they can just find someone not wearing a Citronella patch!