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A few weeks ago a national news item really squicked me out and made me a little bit nervous to let my son outside. How did you react when you read this?

What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy’s ear - “like Rice Krispies” - ended up as an earache, and the doctor’s diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear.

The boy had spiders in his ear! It gives me chills just to type that out.

But it does make me stop and think. Fuller has severe reactions to insect bites, a trait he inherited from his father. Once he is bitten by a bug (probably a mosquito) a welt forms that can get to be about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. It is shocking to see, especially on a two year old. The good news is that the swelling goes down with in a half hour to an hour to a normal bite size.

Yet, do you even want your child bitten by a mosquito? In today’s world, with West Nile Virus lurking around and spiders being discovered in a nine year old boy’s ear, it makes my head spin. How do I protect my baby?

I think we all want to reach for the Off! when insect season arrives. But you have to be careful of what you put on your kids’ skin. The FDA weighs in on that subject and offers relevant links to other government websites, like the CDC.

The biggest issue seems to be DEET, which is considered the most effective in repelling insects like mosquitoes and ticks. The American Academy of Pediatrics say that DEET should not be used on children two months or younger and should only be at a maximum concentration of 30%.

The reason that DEET is considered dangerous for children have been reports of seizures in children who have had DEET applied to their skin. This article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal explains those claims have been blown a bit out of proportion and offer this advice:

Given the lack of evidence of increased toxicity of low-concentration DEET in young children, a second application of DEET may be warranted if the child is outdoors for more than 4 hours and WNV infection is a serious concern. Similarly, it may be prudent to reapply DEET after a session of swimming. In areas of high risk where WNV is present and mosquitoes are abundant, the risk of infection must be balanced against potential toxic effects.

I do use Off! products on my family when mosquito season is high. But I think now I will be checking the labels a bit more carefully to see what the concentration of DEET is before squirting the bottle.

mosquito season, proctecting children from mosquitose, DEET, West Nile Virus