mosquito repellent while pregnant?

[ying423]

i am a bit worried about this because it suddenly occured to me to check about using mosquito repellers and you shouldnt because of the deet apparently. its rainy season now in thailand and there are so many mosquitoes! its horrible to be bitten so many times and then be itching like mad all day. back in first trimester i used the lotion repellents - probably with deet in, a few times so now freaking out that ive caused some kind of deformity. in the third and fourth month we plugged a liquid repeller into the room and it worked well but again i didnt even think about pregnancy! does anyone know if they are safe to use? there are alwaysmosquitoes that find their way into the room otherwise!

 

[domesticdiva]

no idea but I remember reading they are very attracted to pregnant women too because of the higher blood.volume. Not sure of any truth behined it. If you want to use a spray on maybe put it on your clothing instead of on your skin? I always avoid it when pregnant but we had a campfire one time during my last pregnancy when it was really buggy out and i did hqve to spray some on my clothes.It was some sort od mild stuff and was spritz spray instead of aeresol so less fumes spraying around to inhale. Sorry no help here, didnt wanna read and run.

 

[try4girl2]

I know there are some natural ones that you can make.

 

[Sunshine12]

It should say to avoid during pregnancy if there is an issue. Ive been using insect repellent but Im not worried about it. x

 

[ying423]

its written in thai- my husband didnt think its a problem because its a plug in rather than applying to skin. i managed to find some info that saidit was safe and some that said it wasnt... argh!

 

[ying423]

so as an update it said not to put the plugin in a babys room. does that mean pregnancy is a bad idea too?

 

[littleangel]

I wouldn't worry about having used the spray. It also doesn't follow that just because it says the plug in is not safe for use in baby's room it's dangerous in pregnancy.

Since you shouldn't be at risk of malaria in Thailand unless you're very near the borders, I wouldn't use a DEET based insect repellant. If you are aware of other insect borne diseases like dengue fever being a problem in your area however, the benefits of using an insect repellant probably outweigh the risks.

I imagine you are aware of the non-chemical approach to bite protection? This would involve wearing long sleeves and long trousers, particularly in the evening, starting at dusk. Tuck your trousers into your socks for extra protection. Clear the room down before you go to bed and if you can, seal it up and put on the air con. If you can't seal the room, use a mosquito net. Citronella candles might be worth a try.

It's a bit of an old wives tail, but it wouldn't do any harm to try Vit B supplements, if you're not already taking something containing it.

 

[armywife11]

According to my midwife if it has DEET spray onto your clothing only, just to be safe. I have used it once since getting pregnant and didn't notice any issues from it.

I have since bought spray without DEET because I want to use spray all the time and wearing long sleeves and pants are not an option for me in this heat.

I also have been told skin so soft works for bug repellent.

 

[ying423]

thanks guys, i appreciate it because the info online was very vague. i checked the bottles i had used back in february/march and they are only 13% deet. also i tried to think through it logically and the risks seemed to be respiratory if you have it plugged in to the room with a (born) baby in it, but baby is not inhaling his own air yet so that shouldnt be the issue. im not 100% sure what chemical is in this brand i have for the plug in, but it didnt say deet explicitly. nevertheless, DH started freaking out when he read "dont use in the baby room" in thai, and we decided to switch it off until we notice lots of mosquitoes again and maybe not have it on while we are sleeping at night. armywife, i agree with you - no way can i wear long sleeves all the time in this heat and humidity! no matter how much i follow precautions they always seem to get me the buggers! i will try citronella though...

 

[littlesmile]

Hi Ying - I know it's been years now since this post, but I'm an expecting mother concerned about use of DEET-based insect repellent in my first trimester (during the first few weeks after conception) all over my legs. I didn't know I was pregnant at that time. Did you have any problems with your pregnancy/delivery? I hope you're a happy mother of beautiful healthy babies by now! It seems that there has been NO study done looking at possible effects of DEET-based insect repellent use during the FIRST trimester - so, doctors are saying to AVOID using it as much as possible. That's all well and good, but I've ALREADY used it during my first trimester! Now I'm really worried.... Any insight or word of assurance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[carebear1981]

I talked to my pharmacist when I was going camping. She said as long as it contains less than 30% deet, it was fine. I didn't like that response so I bought one for children that contained less than 10%.
It didn't do much about the mosquitoes... I was still a yummy meal to them.