My friend Kelli’s youngest child is a little girl adopted from China. Kelli and her husband have 3 older children of their own, but since Sarah is their first child from another country, they have occasionally experienced challenges and adjustments based on the inherent cultural and genetic differences.
One such challenge is Sarah’s extreme reaction to mosquito bites which apparently is not uncommon for those of Chinese heritage. As such, using an effective natural mosquito repellent is important, but doesn’t always work in every situation.
Living in Florida and being very sensitive to mosquito bites can pose a challenge. Mosquitoes can be a year-round problem particularly if the winter is rather warm as it has been so far this season. Even with spraying by mosquito control, getting nasty bites is a common occurrence.
Telling a young child not to scratch is a losing battle most of the time! Unfortunately, Kelli did not find any of the Western style remedies for mosquito bites to work very well for Sarah.
As a result, just a few mosquito bites could send Sarah to the doctor for examination as they would sometimes get infected from her scratching. The picture above is of Sarah’s leg after a recent run-in with a hungry mozzie!
Besides being a busy Mom of four, Kelli is also an Adoption Specialist, so with her international connections, she was able to consult with her Chinese friends about Sarah’s problem with mosquito bites.
Their suggestion?
An old Chinese mosquito bite remedy that is rubbing the bites with the inside of a banana peel!
I asked Kelli to let me know if the banana peel remedy worked the next time Sarah was bitten, and within a few days, Kelli reported back that the banana peel worked! The picture to the right shows Kelli applying the inside of a banana peel to Sarah’s bite. The peel is folded over backward which is why the inside of the peel is also facing the camera.
The banana peel not only worked, but it also worked FAST!
Here is Kelli’s email to me about her experience with this mosquito bite remedy:
Well, sure enough Sarah got 2 bites this evening….They immediately began to swell and the area all around the bite was quite red, of course some of that was from her itching.I applied the banana peel, as advised by my Chinese friends, and within 2 minutes the bite stopped itching. About 5 or 7 minutes later, the site was significantly less red. When I glanced at it again before bed, though I could still see the bite, her skin was no longer red. Best of all, she didn’t seem bothered by it.Since she is so young it is hard for her not to scratch, and I will forward you a picture of a current bite which landed us at the doctor’s office out of fear of infection (we’re in the clear for now). She has been on antibiotics once before from a bug bite getting infected after her scratching it, and I try to avoid antibiotics so was not happy when this recent bite started looking so bad.From now on, we will honor this Chinese remedy…I wish I had known this secret years ago!
The most interesting thing about this mosquito bite remedy to me is that it is fairly well known that eating bananas is a surefire way to be a prime mozzie target at sundown. While eating bananas seems to attract mosquitoes, rubbing the bites with the inside of the peel heals them!
Does your child have problems with mosquito bites too? The next time the mozzies leave their calling card on your child’s skin, skip the ammonia sticks and other chemical-based remedies that will end up in your child’s bloodstream and simply try the inside of a banana peel!
Do you know another mosquito bite remedy that works well too? We’ve often used this homemade herbal salve which is incredible for all types of skin irritations, rashes, and bites. Dabbing witch hazel on bug bites is a remedy that my Grandmother used.
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We use a drop of tea tree oil straight out of the bottle on a q-Tip or applicator. If I treat within the first 20 minutes it goes away! It works so well I have never tried anything else. Living in Louisiana, we have plenty of opportunities to test the results. It also works well on fire ant bites. Same thing, if I treat promptly, the bite will not develop a white head. The first time we tried it on ant bites, my older son walked through a bed while mowing and had about 20 bites. He developed one white head and it was probably one that I missed.
The vinegar is only giving me an hour of relief. So trying this one tomorrow – thanks!
Banana peel was the only thing that helped my husband when he had poison ivy.
In my family we wet a washcloth with the hottest water the tap will produce – in other words, not boiling. Hold it on the bite. It will make the itch much worse for a second or two but after a few (2 or 3) applications – one right after the other – the itching will subside. It can get slightly uncomfortable because it is hot but it sure is better than the itching and takes less than a minute.
PS – she is scratching…not itching the bites.
Real vinegar works too!
Will try this and the ACV this summer!
Heat works also. I have a little device that heats up, you hold it on the area for about a minute (I do like two) and voila! It was $13. I’m sorry I’m just blanking on the name at the moment. When I’m anywhere and and I don’t have it I grab a compress as hot as I can stand and use that instead.
Odd. I have my 6 year old sitting with an ice cube wrapped in flannel on her enormous, red bite, right now. Whenever she takes it off and the bite warms up it starts itching like crazy. She said “Mommy, it feels soooo good with the ice on it”. I have her hold the ice cube on it after applying a drop of tea tree oil. For her, warm= crazy itch, but, cold= instant cooling relief.
P.S. My poor kiddo does not fare well with mosquito bites. Never has 🙁
I put FCLO on my daughter’s osquito bites and it brings down the inflammation quite well =)
I hate abbreviations — what is FCLO?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=FCLO
Fermented Cod Liver Oil
Ammonia works too.
Wonderful collection of remedies accumulating here!