Question:
With the summer season upon us and camping with our infant son just
around the corner, I would like to collect the net.wisdom on insect
repellents for infants/small children.
What would/wouldn't you recommend?
Have you used Formula 339 (all natural) sold in The Right Start
Catalog? Was it effective?
Answer:
-I used "cutters" liquid on my kids and it worked just fine. It did'nt bother
them at all and they got no insect bites. Although one of them said it tasted
*bad* when he licked his treated hand.
-The only thing that works for us is commercial repellents with DEET. However,
we try not to apply it to Ben's skin - we dress him in long sleeves, long
pants, and apply the repellent to the clothes. This still seems to work OK
for keeping them off the face and hands.
-There was a good discussion of Skin-So-Soft on the net a few years
back. One article that was posted was a reprint from a medical
journal. (Sorry, I don't have the original article, nor even a
reference to the journal. Maybe someone else on the net can help out
here.) It stated that that when SSS is applied directly to the skin
(as opposed to being used as a bath or shower gell) in quantities
necessary to act as an insect repellant, it can cause health problems.
The article listed all the possible effects, but the only one I can
remember now is that there was the potential for liver damage. I have
no idea (nor did the article state) the health problems caused by SSS
relative to the health problems caused by DEET, but it certainly made
me wonder if I was doing my kids any favour by using it.
Other articles I've read on SSS as an insect repellant have stated
that it does have some effectiveness (but nowhere near the
effectiveness of DEET) but that the effect is short lived and it must
be repeatedly applied.
Personally, I generally apply small amounts of DEET to their clothing
and hats, and dress them in long sleeves and pants if the insects are
bad.
