Attack of The Killer Mosquitoes!
While we were up North visiting my family, Isaac and I discovered a frightening and rather itchy occurrence: For some reason, the Yankee mosquitoes seemed to prefer out sweet Southern blood as opposed to that of the local Northerner.
That’s right, my son and I became victims of the killer mosquitoes, but they didn’t appear as interested in my husband and stepdaughter…I wonder why?
The second we walked outside, regardless of the time of day or the weather, these vicious bloodsuckers zeroed in on us, formed a battle plan, circled, and attacked.
And you know how mosquitoes are; as soon as you notice one on you, it has already feasted and even if you manage to swat it or shoo it sway, you are left with an itchy red bump.
Or in our case, HUGE itchy red bumps, tons of them! I don’t know why I didn’t think to take pictures, because we both looked like we had the measles or some kind of severe allergic reaction.
When I complained to my mom, she replied that she never noticed any mosquitoes, and maybe it was just me, since no one who lived there got attacked. Weird…
Off I went in search of relief, or better yet, a way to repel these evil little beasts. In the past I used any old bug spray without thinking twice; the more Deet the better! But now that there is sensitive baby skin involved, I was on hunt for something safe, effective, and reasonably priced.
To my dismay, I found nothing that met all 3 requirements of my “mother-approved” criteria.
In the safe ingredient category we had citronella candles, which are obviously a no-no around toddlers, lavender and citrus oil, which smells nice but in my experience attracts more bugs than it repels, and some kind of insect zapper that clips into your belt, but of course the store was out of the inserts required for the thing to work!
In the beware category were a billion and one sprays and gels that contained unsafe chemicals, including Deet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEET). I know that Deet may not be deadly, but studies have shown that it can be toxic to humans as well as our environment, so I choose not to use it.
Come on now, anything that can dissolve plastic can’t be that safe, can it?
So basically I came home empty-handed but somewhat happy knowing I was not going to accidentally poison my son. Then my sister mentioned West Nile Virus! Arg! Where is my stay safe baby bubble when I need it?!
How do you keep the bugs away from your little one?
Nora and I use Avon skin so soft. It’s expensive, but it works and to me that makes it worth it.
Aha, do I have to find an Avon lady for this product? I’ll check into this, thanks for the suggestion! Hopefully the “my baby is safe and happy” thoughts will override the “can’t stop pinching pennies” thoughts on this one, haha