Last Wednesday the twinsies were at my mom and dads house while I took Natalee and Emily to the doctors. My mom took the girls outside to play for a few minutes until she noticed the girls were getting eaten alive by mosquitos. She immediately brought them inside and when I got there she showed me where Claire had been bitten. It didn't seem to bother her much so we went on with our evening. The next morning I noticed the bite but it wasn't much of anything. When she woke up after nap, the bite had become red and hot and was greatly swollen. It felt like she had a tumor hanging down from her ear to her chin. She was itching it and clearly it was bothering her. I gave her some bendryl and put some hydrocortizone cream on it to help with the itching but it just kept looking worse and worse. I put a call into the doctor and she said to come in the next day but if Claire developed a fever to take her to the ER.
I thought it would start looking better and I asked my MIL to come over and take a look at it too. When Tim got home he even said how weird it looked and how he didn't like it all, which of course made me way more nervous because he always seems to never freak out about anything so since he was worried, I became ten times more worried!
The next few hours, the area got worse and worse and by 9pm, Claire had developed a low fever, but a fever none-the-less. I called the doctors answering service and waited for the doctor to call back and she said to go to the ER. We just couldn't take the chance that it wasn't a big infection and could be possibly affecting her breathing since it was right on her neck/throat/lymph nodes. Claire was acting fine other than the occasional itching at the site.
We arrived at the ER a little before 11pm to a packed waiting room and it wasn't until five minutes before 1:00AM that we were brought back. By this time the redness was all over her chin and inching up to her other ear and spreading down her neck. She had scratched it so badly that she now had marks from that too.
Finally when the doctor came in he felt the area, looked in her throat and felt all around in her mouth and determined that her breathing was okay. He confirmed that the bite had developed an infection and was most likely cellulitis. He said he couldn't believe how much swollen tissue was infected...lovely, rihgt!? He put her on an anti-biotic twice daily and said to keep giving her the benadryl and tylenol to stay comfortable. He also said that there have been so many cases of just really bad bug bite infections this year and she just may be prone to them! :(
Playing with Grandma in the wee hours of the morning in the ER....
After a few days, she was back to normal. However, on Monday night we went outside to do chalk and go for a walk (of course had plenty of bug spray on) and when we came inside Claire had 9, yes NINE, bug bites on her! Three on her face, 2 on her arms, 2 on her leg and 2 on her hand!!!
By Tuesday morning they were all red, hot and swelled up! I couldn't believe it! I called the doctor and since we have an appointment already for today (Wed) scheduled for flu shots, if she doesn't get a fever before then, the doctor will take a look.
Last week we were at the doctors twice, the ER once and now the doctors again today! I told them they should just put a room in our name. I swear I don't go three days without talking to either the nurse or a doctors about something...and trust me, I am NOT the first one to freak out about every small thing, it's just having four kids makes so many issues that come up!
My poor girl! I hope she is not going to be one of those little one's that just gets eaten alive while playing outside. What do ya'll use for bug spray on little ones? Anything good out there? I have been told that Avon has a really good one with no deet in it...? Apparently the stuff I have isn't nearly strong enough to keep the bugs from not wanting my sweet girl! I kept telling her the bugs bit her because she is constantly biting her sisters still...but apparently that didn't scare her because she is still biting them and the bugs are still biting her!
Use avons skin so soft. Works like a charm smells good too! I feel so bad for her (and you!)
ReplyDeleteI had to take our baby last week to the doc over a bug bite and had a really lengthy discussion about bug spray (which I can't stand the idea of). However, after talking with her and doing my own research I've gone with the off with deet(I'm still shocked). There just seems to be too much West Nile right now to risk it. I'm ready for the cold just to get rid of these awful things. Hope it gets better for you!!
ReplyDeleteCalifornia baby had an all natural bug spray made from citranilla and a few other things. It works wonders on my eldest! He can go outside and get eaten alive in a minute but if we spray that on him he is completely "bite-free" hours later. It also works on bees too, or at least for him.
ReplyDeleteLemongrass oil is a natural (chemical free) insect repellant. Some insect repellants sold in stores have lemongrass oil in them. highly recommended. I think Dove has a brand of bath soap that also has lemongrass in it. Do both in combination. My son has really sensitive skin and reacts very badly to mosquito bites, so much so that I've had to take him to urgent care for bites. He got one on his ear one time and his whole ear swelled up more than twice the normal size and was very red and hot and angry. We now use the lemongrass soap on him as well as bug spray with lemongrass oil in it and it works wonders.
ReplyDeleteI know people hate the idea of using DEET on babies and kids but if you are able to spray a hat that the child is wearing or their shoes or on the backside of their pants/shorts - I would think that would be ok. Maybe even spraying the sun visor of a stroller would help. Ask the DR about using DEET and spraying it on clothing NOT directly onto the skin. From what I have read the only person to die from DEET was someone that drank it from the bottle! I too have heard about West Nile being around.
ReplyDeleteThey have those clip on rings now that people clip on their belt loops, it's supposed to protect the person who's wearing it from bug bites. I've never used them, so I'm not sure of their effectiveness, but it might be worth a try. The DEET is the only thing that will protect from west nile, which peaks this time of year. Good luck!
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