Simple Remedy for Mosquito Bites

While on holiday at Tanjong Jara, I discovered a remedy for mosquito bites that I never knew was so effective.  Okay, okay, so say that I discovered it is incorrect.  It was one of the hubby’s teachers from school who told it to him first, although my cousin did tell me a long time ago that she found this rather effective against mosquito bites.

So what is it?

Toothpaste.

Yup.  It really works.  And fast, too!  I had a couple of bites, too, so I tried it on myself.

According to the hubby’s teacher it’s got to do with the fact that toothpaste is alkaline and it helps to neutralise the acidity of the bite and that helps to stop the itch.  I was trying to verify this information and based on a writer on eHow it is due to the fluoride in toothpaste that acts as an antihistamine which takes away the itch.

So does that mean that if I use a non-fluoridated toothpaste, it won’t work?  Interesting… I’ll have to test out this hypothesis.

Nevertheless, I thought this was a good remedy to pass on, especially for anyone who’s got a toddler with an itchy mosquito bite.

When Gavin was a baby, he never seem to be bothered by the itchiness from the mosquito bites he received – or perhaps it did bother him but he just never had the manual dexterity to scratch at them.  Now that he’s a toddler, they bother him to no end and sometimes he’ll wake up in the middle of the night crying because he’s so itchy.

When the hubby was hunting around for a balm to soothe the bites at Tanjong Jara, he discovered that most of the usual ointments we use (Mopiko and Tiger Balm) aren’t suitable for children aged below two.  In fact, they’re potentially very dangerous because they can cause fits (or so the MSDS sheets say).

So there you go… the next time your toddler is fussing over an itchy mosquito bite, you already have a simple remedy on hand.

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