Help! Huge Bug Bite on Small Child?

[JennifersLost]

I'm at my sister's house and my dd (6) got a two bug bites that have turned into these huge red circular welts. They are not the big lyme-disease bulls-eyes, but the bigger one is more than two inches wide!

 

Is it just a severe reaction to a mosquito, do you think? Or something else. I just gave her a dose of Benadryl and put her to bed. I'll check again in an hour. There are no red lines running off of them - but boy, they're so big!!!!

 

Should I be calling the doctor? Or is this all right. I seem to remember her younger cousin having some pretty big bites like this, but I'm not sure.

[TraceyS/FL]

I get that way - wanna see the picture of the "golf ball" on my forehead?!

 

If the Benedryl isn't doing anything for her (it doesn't for me), then you might want to take a trip to the Urgent Care/ER. Mine stay that way until i get some prednisone (or about 7 days if i'm out).

 

The key they told me to watch for in my first trip to the ER for them was redness, watching for infection basically. Then i'd need to start the antibiotics (that they gave me a script for).

 

Hopefully the Benedryl will work for her - but if it's NOT, i'd take mine because well, it's miserable. I literally feel like i'm being poisoned with mine. Sick to my stomach, dizzy and other fun stuff.

 

:grouphug:

[MicheleB]

When I was a child, I used to develop HUGE mosquito bites, like what you're describing. My parents used a baking soda paste on them, which seemed to help. Do you have any kind of steroid or hydrocortisone cream on hand?

[Paz]

This happens to both my kids. Has happened since they were little. I have used hydrocortisone(sp?) or benadryl cream. It should be fine, especially if you can get some cream on it later. I did take my ds with a bite the size of a golf ball. They just recommended the cream.

[beansprouts]

My 4 year old ds used to have more-than-normal swelling with mosquito bites. FOr him, they eventually went away on their own.

[Holly IN]

My dd is severely allergic to mosquitos. She had a huge golf ball on her head and two on her arms this summer. She looked like she was growing a third eye. :D

 

We just start her on Benedryl and cortisoid cream. It usually takes about a month to disappear.

 

Holly

[LadyR]

Sometimes my dd's mosquito bites get really huge like that. But one summer she got a bug bite on her elbow (something flying but not a mosquito) and the next day it swelled so much it hurt to bend her arm. It was red and hot to the touch. She was taken to a children's hospital and the doctor said it wasn't a reaction but an infection. She said to watch for fever and she started my dd on antibiotics. Sure enough, the next day she got a fever which lasted a few days.

 

So if it's swollen, red, and hot to the touch, I'd bring her to your pediatrician.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Google "cellulitis" - it is a skin infection that can get very, very nasty (I just had it last weekend - caused by a mosquito bite!) Look at the pictures on the sites - that and the descriptions of symptoms should help you to know if it is something that needs to be looked at down at the ER or it is more of a run -of-the- mill nasty mosquito bite.

 

BTW - I was able to turn my infection around with very liberal applications of tea-tree oil. I stank to high heaven but didn't have to go to the ER. But my dh is a nurse and monitored it very carefully and we would have gone in a heart-beat if it had spread further (it got about 5 inches in diameter before it started to get better).

[Once]

Looks like you've got some good suggestions. I wanted to add my experience. Once when I was biten by a spider and the thing kept growing so they were concerned about blood poisoning or infecton. The emergecy room personel drew a circle around it with a blue pen and sent me home for a few hours. When I returned they checked the cirlce and discovered that the growing had stopped and sent me home with a diagnosis of a really bad bug bite. Presumably, if it had grown while I was at home they would have persued other concerns.

 

Now, whenever my kids get a really big one....and they do....I just draw a circle around it and go back later to see if it growing fast and large.

 

I hope all works out for your little one. I have one kid that has actually had an eye swollen shut due to a mosquito bite. He gets bad ones!!:eek:

[dragons in the flower bed]

I'm at my sister's house and my dd (6) got a two bug bites that have turned into these huge red circular welts. They are not the big lyme-disease bulls-eyes, but the bigger one is more than two inches wide!

 

This happens to me and my kids, too. We're just more sensitive than usual, and it goes away. I'd say, if it's not even slightly smaller tomorrow, or if she has any other symptoms, worry. Otherwise, just wait and see. Apply some ice.

[Scuff]

My dd does this with mosquitos too. A dab of tea tree oil works wonders.

[shell in SC]

Jennifer,

Are you in a different part of the country than where you live? I ask b/c here in SC we have Black Widows and Brown Recluses. Bites from both wil irritate skin. I'm originally from PA. Black Widows seemed like an exotic bug and I had never even heard of Brown Recluses.

 

There may be some type of insect where you are now that is unfamiliar to you. If it spreads outside the pen ring or starts changing color I would probably get a medical opinion.

 

HTH!

shell

[mcconnellboys]

Yes, one of my sons and I both get reactions like this to mosquito and some other type bites. The best thing I've found for an almost immediate cure is a product called Sting Kill, which you can get at most drug stores. It's in little green tubes. You break the vial inside the tube and the medicine soaks into a cotton swab at one end. We dab this on and usually just one application will begin to take the swelling down within about 10 minutes, reducing it completely within about 20 minutes.

[abbeyej]

In addition to smearing with a baking soda paste, try using cold packs on the site -- they can reduce the swelling.

[lighthouseacademy]

I have used plantain leaves (not the banana) Plantago major or Plantago lanceolata on bug bites with great success.

[She]

Okay, I'm going to go the opposite of the ice pack/swelling theory. I've recently heard that hot water pulls the "poison" out of the mosquito bites and spider bites too (including brown recluse). Basically run hot water over the bite for a minute or two. Be careful not to get it too hot. You don't want to burn the skin. Repeat if itching or pain starts back in.

 

My daughter (11) has been doing this when her's itch and it has worked well. When it starts itching again she repeats it. It usually takes 2 or 3 times and then she's set. It does seep when she does it. She also used to have terrible reactions to mosquito bites. When she was 4 or 5 she got one on the back of her hand, and her entire hand swelled. We gave her benedryl then. All of my girls swelled pretty bad with mosquito bites, but Kaylee was the worst. Oh, they all outgrew it too.

 

Anyway it's worth a try, and doesn't cost anything.

 

It's probably just a reaction to a mosquito or spider bite. Some people are more sensitive than others.

[Sharon H in IL]

My son (the one with exzema issues) developed this reaction to what was probably just a mosquito bite. First time we tried benadryl cream, and it hurt, so we had to wash it off. It kept growing for a couple of days, before I tried a baking soda paste -- the old standby for insect bites. I was seriously considering a visit to the pediatrician. Whoever heard of a mosquito bite doing that?

 

It was almost gone the next day. (Whew!)

 

Second time we went right for the baking soda paste, and the next day, again, almost gone.

 

So, some people just seem to have a bad reaction to some types of mosquitos. DS has had plenty of normal mosquito bites, so I figure this must be one type that doesn't agree with his system.