Mosquito Bite Allergy

A few months before A1 turned 3 she got a bite mark on her leg. At first it just looked like a normal mosquito bite, but it didn’t want to go away. I tried putting on some bug cream, but it made no difference. She had a fever as well, but I never thought it could be from the bite. At the same time I noticed on her finger something that looked like a burn. We were sure the school would’ve told us if she burned, and we also didn’t know that she burned at home. After a few days the ‘mosquito bite’ started making small blisters that eventually turned into a seeping open sore. Her finger and her leg started looking the same, and the wounds got infected. She ended up with 2 bite marks on her face as well and no matter what I tried we couldn’t prevent it from turning into big sores. At least the facial ones didn’t get infected. I searched everywhere for what it could be and thought it might be sand fleas from the sand pit as school, and even considered that she might have had a reaction to one of the creams I used to try and fix the bite. The doctor wasn’t much help, and only treated the sores.

On her 3rd birthday she still had the big red marks on her face, and it took almost a year to go away.

After posting to the online peadiatrician we discovered it was a mosquito bite allergy. Fits all the symptoms. He suggested using Allecet syrup and Phenergan cream for the bites, but I’ve found that Allergex seems to work better than the Allecet.

She is now 4 and a half and recently she got her first mosquito bite for the season, and had no reaction, so I was very happy that she outgrew the allergy, but then she got a second bite a few days later, and she was back on her original reaction. She just had a slightly larger than normal bump for a few days, and then got a blister, and now it is a sore. I’m still looking for a cream that will help. For now I’m mostly just trying to prevent any other bites.

Here is a badly taken cellphone pic of the orginal bites on her finger and leg.

Sleeping

At this stage sleeping is the only thing I’m thinking about. We had it lucky with A1 being a great sleeper right from the start. There were some difficult times, but mostly it went very well. She had colic, but only during the day. It felt during the first few months like she would start screaming from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, and then she would stop when she fell asleep in the evenings, but then she would sleep right until the next morning.

Then A2 was born, and in every way he is the opposite of A1. He would rarely cry during the day, and when he does it is always for a reason (tiredness, getting hurt etc). But during the night we would be lucky if we get 2 hours of continuous sleeping.

I tried the No-cry sleep solution, where you go to them immediately when they start crying (not fretting, but crying), but by that stage I was so tired that sometimes I would not wake properly when he cried, so many times I would have dreams where his crying was part of my dream, so I wasn’t always there to console him quickly. After 2 months I gave up on that.

When he turned a year I tried the sleep training, where you increase the length of time before consoling. The first night was horrible, the second night a bit better, and the third night he slept through. I was ecstatic, but that lasted for a week, then he got flu and an ear infection, and after that I think he slept through twice. He is now 17 months.

I had him at the paediatrician for a full checkup, and he also gave us a list of things to do/check. We’ve done everything but it makes no difference. I might’ve been okay if I didn’t have to get up at 5 to go to work, and only get into bed past 10. I usually only function if I’ve had 8 hours of sleep. Now in the 7 hours that I possibly can get I still get up 4 or 5 times, and if I don’t get up, but leave him to cry I lie in bed feeling terrible and hating myself. Last night I was up 5 times.