My Summer Fear: Mosquitoes

I never thought about mosquitoes other than how much of a pain they were until AJ joined our family. Mosquitoes are not attracted to me unless there is no one else around to bite. For some reason they gravitate toward my husband and gnaw on his legs and the back of his neck.

Even more scary is that mosquitoes absolutely adore AJ and unfortunately, as we found out last fall, he has a mosquito allergy.

Most people who get mosquito bites will develop small (dime sized), itchy reactions that will last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. AJ’s reactions are the size of half dollars and will remain for almost a week, red, swollen, and itchy. Some allergic reactions can blister, turn into hives, or cause anaphylaxis, although none of his have yet.

We did, however, have one emergency room visit last fall because of a bug bite to his hand. We do not know if it was a bee sting, a rose thorn, or a mosquito. His entire thumb and forearm swelled to almost three times the size but there was no entry site for a bee sting or rose bush prick. We treated with topical and oral Benadryl as well as antibiotics for a possible infection but found none in his system via blood testing. My gut now tells me that because of his sensory issues he did not feel a mosquito biting him and that he was having an allergic reaction.

I worry about it constantly during the summer because our pediatrician told us that the more he is exposed the worse the allergy will get. However, all of the research I have found states that he will “grow out of it” so I don’t know who to believe.

Anyone know?

Don’t forget to check out Thrifty Mom’s post from LAST year…10 Thrifty Ways to Deal with Mosquitoes and I have a post tomorrow about how to treat Mosquito Allergies.