Do you and your family enjoy spending time outdoors during the evening hours? When it is nice outside, I love letting my children play outside in the backyard while I watch them. I always notice that as soon as I sit down outside it never fails the mosquitoes, other flying insects, or even ticks seem to sense that you are outside and decided to join you. Bug bites can cause serious problems, especially, if the insect is carrying harmful diseases. It is important that you protect you and your family from potentially harmful bug bites.
Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes only and should never replace talking to your child’s doctor about their bug bites or protecting them from getting bug bites.
Why Do Bug Bites Cause You To Itch and Swell?
Most people when they are bitten by pesky bugs they typically are left with a huge, red welt. The huge, red welts often begin itching. When a bug bite itches it usually leads to scratching, which can lead to infections and scaring. Typically, when a bug bites you the bug injects poison or they leave their saliva behind. The poison or saliva left behind causes your body to react and attempt to protect you from the foreign matter. As your body begins reacting to the bug bite, your body triggers a response to the foreign material, such as mosquito saliva, and creates histamine causing the bite wound to itch. Without itching, you would never know that you were even bitten. If you realize or know that you have been bitten, you can watch for signs and symptoms of health related illnesses that bugs can transmit when they bite you. If you notice that your bug bite is swollen, it means that you are allergic to the saliva or foreign material that the bug injected inside of you.
Can You Get Sick or Harmful Diseases From Bug Bites?
Insect bites not only cause a mild skin reactions but some people can get very ill. Some insects also transmit and carry harmful diseases such as Lyme’s Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, West Nile Virus, Malaria, ect. If you begin feeling ill or have flu-like symptoms, see a doctor immediately to rule out possible complications from potential diseases that insects can carry. It is possible to get bitten by a bug that is carrying a harmful disease. In fact, babies and elderly people are more at risk for getting bitten by bugs because they can’t defend themselves.
Use Precautions to Protect You and Your Family from Pesky Bugs?
If you plan on spending any time outdoors with your family, you should take precautions to protect your family from pesky bug bites, especially, if you have an infant. In fact, infants and children are more likely to get bitten by bugs because they typically play out in the yard while the adults are keeping an eye on them from the porch or they have protected themselves using bug spray or other types of [amazon_link id=”B000BQK4YA” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]mosquito repelling techniques[/amazon_link].
Continue Reading: 9 Ways to Protect You and Your Family From Bug Bites
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20 comments
Screens are a must!
Yes, if you are lucky to be able to open your windows. It’s too hot here to open the windows most of the time.
My son and I have been using the same insect repellent brand for the past four years. I love that it’s made of organic, homegrown materials, and how every purchase of the product helps local farmers earn a living.
That sounds awesome, I love supporting small businesses now that I have my own blog.
Great tips! I am very sensitive to mosquito bites myself so I am very diligent about this with my own family 🙂
Thank you for sharing Heidi.
Christy,
I was just watching a medicinial herb video and she took fresh yarrow tincture sprayed it on herself for a natural repellent. I thought this was brilliant!
Great article!
xo
Jodi
Jodi that is interesting. I know that I personally don’t like using insect repellent and haven’t thought of looking into alternative solutions until I was writing this post. Thank you for sharing.
These are some great tips! Luckily the mosquitoes aren’t too bad where we live, but where we lived before they were horrible! As much as I hated spraying bug spray on my little ones, it was a necessity I couldn’t afford to skip! Thanks for the great tips!
I am glad that you don’t have a huge problem with mosquitoes Nicole. I don’t let my youngest play outside too often in the evenings because I hate exposing him to the chemicals at a young age.
I am so grateful that we have a screened porch… the mosquitos are awful this year. We’ve tried many all natural things we found while searching the interwebs, but so far we haven’t had much luck. I just planted a bunch of differnt plants that I’ve read that will help repel… we shall see. Thank you for sharing.
I hope the plants work out and keep the bugs away. I would love to screen in my back porch. Then we could actually enjoy our patio without the bugs.
Excellent post. Our skin is the largest organ in our body so it is well to remember that anything you put on it will be absorbed into the body. Using a more healthy, less toxic way to prevent and deal with insect bites is preferable… especially if used on a regular basis. That said… enjoy your time outdoors!!
I agree Meli. I am thankful more companies are finding ways to create new products that work just as well without all of the harmful chemicals.
Great information. I will remember it for my grandchildren though followed a lot of it with my kids. One was a red head whose bites really swelled. We found aloe helpful.
Thank you for passing along my tips Terry, I appreciate it.
hi,
Great article!
Here’s a tip I recently discovered – that actually works!!
Cut a lime in half, and fill each segment with 2-3 cloves.
Mosquitoes will instantly vanish. When the lime dries out and they come back replace lime and they instantly disappear again.
I love this!!
Interesting. I might have to try that when we are sitting outside this spring/summer. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you for posting this informative article. Have a lovely day.
Thank you Shannon, hope you have a great day too. I appreciate all of your lovely comments.