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.Â
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. Â 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. Â 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….ÂThey immediately began to swell and the area all around the bite was quite red, of course some of that was from her itching.ÂI 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.ÂSince 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.ÂFrom 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. Â 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? Â 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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Kathleen Lyon for Bethany
Sandy~ just an FYI, I have taken a high potency B complex and extra C for years and I get chewed up every year. I’ll have 20 bites to everyone else’s 5. Maybe the mosquitos are lacking those nutrients in my area. LOL
I make a mixture of witch hazel and aloe vera with lavender and bergamot essential oils and put it in a spray bottle. It does wonders at soothing the itch and healing quickly on bug bites and even poison ivy breakouts. It’s easy to make for yourself but is also available on my website. It’s called Hydrating Spritzer. I love the banana peel idea but it sounds messy and inconvenient. I’ll try it though…I love natural remedies.
Debbie,
There is absolutely NO mess with the banana peel. When I used it for my poison ivy, I rubbed the peel on the area in circles for a minute and it left no visible residue on the skin. In fact I used this because the poison ivy was on my face and I didn’t want anything noticeable or irritating to the skin. I put the whole banana peel in a zip lock bag and kept it in the refrigerator so I could use it to reapply as needed.
The itch relief lasted for about 6 hours.
Amazing the results with EGA Therapeutic Oil and AFT. Nothing like it.
Crystal Newman – not natural but when you are desperate…Absorbine Jr really helps me with the itch. Not a permanent fix but…
This is amazing!! Does it have to be an organic banana?
Good to know!
I used to react terribly to bites until i found out that taking a daily B complex vitamin with C added in helped enormously. It actually prevented me from even getting bit in the first place. Mosquitos can carry disease, so the less appealing she is to them the better. Put her on a B complex that also includes a C vintamin.
I start taking a B1 tablet a day in early spring (my 18yr old son does also). We would both be eaten alive day or night by mosquitos. Now I can make it through a whole Spring, Summer and Fall and not get bitten at all. When we do get bitten, it’s the whole huge red welt, fever and itch that drives you crazy. I realize that this doesn’t work for everyone and wish my grand-daughters were old enough to take a B1, but not yet!
having 2 adopted from China, i can attest to bad reactions to mosquito bites – just miserable. We have found great relief using a drop of tea tree oil. We use it straight up, but others would recommend diluting it with a carrier oil…
yes, we also use tea tree oil and lavender oil for bites and it works pretty good
ei Sarah,
i am from the Philippines, and yes, we have been doing this for a long time and i can see that my kids’ mosquito bites gets less and less itchy. keep it up!