DD1 suffers terribly when bitten by Mosquitos. We've tried many things, and the only thing that truly seems to work for her is phenergan, but it knocks her our totally. Se has a particularly nasty one on the arch of her foot right now that has her foot hot, very swollen and obviously really itchy, and we're on day 3. Polaramine used to work, but doesn't seem to anymore. Amy suggestions for a non drowsy alternative to phenergan?

I used Zyrtec I think when I had glandular swelling from a tick bite and that helped. Not sure if it's suitable for kids.

Have you tried the kids Claratyne and kids Zyrtec? These '2nd generation' antihistamines sometimes aren't as good as the older ones like phenergan or Polaramine but they have the benefit of being non-drowsy.

Kids claratyne works well for us too but phenergen hypes my kids up.

My son's allergy specialist is a fan of Zyrtec for kids.

I had severe hayfever as a child - it was life impacting and soul destroying!

None of the non-drowsy antihistamines worked whatsover, it was like taking expensive sugar tablets.

For me only the old fashioned ones worked but they only lessened the severity not made it 100% gone. I did get used to them and after a while they didn't have any drowsy affect on me at all. I used to rotate through the different types as they would stop working after a couple of weeks. I think I took Phenergan, Polaramine and there was another one but I can't recall what it is called.

I now take rhinocort which works really really well for me. I only need a very small dose. Like 1 spray every second day.

I only have to take it when I go to the town I grew up in. (ie. to visit my parents) Obviously what I am allergic to is only present in FNQ! I could never live there again because of the hayfever.

My Ds is alergic to mozies to I used to use phenergan but it was knocking him around our allergist suggested kids Claratyne - we have been told to give it to him if I know he is gping to be in a place where mozies are going to be to lesson the affect of them (he ends up with server swelling and if not treated stright away will end up in hospital) and we also use a stop ich type of cream that has numbing affect on the sight that helps alot - sorry can't remember the name of it and he is currently at my parents house and has it with him - its available at the chemist.

Hope this helps

DS's pead prescribed a hydrocortisone acetate cream to apply to similar sounding mosquito bites since antihystamines didn't help him - it stops the area getting hot, swollen & itchy very quicly without the side effects of the antihistamine

Thanks for all the advice. We have tried Zyrtec and unfortunately it didn't work for her, and animine cream (calamine lotion with lignocaine) isn't helping either. I might have to look into the hydrocortisone acetate.

Poor girl is being woken at night by it, and I might even have to keep her home from school today - all for a stupid little mozzie bite!

We found the hyper thing happened with our kids as well.


We use polaramine liquid until they are old enough to take Zyrtec. Zyrtec works wonders for everyone in the house. The polaramine is great for working fast on the little ones.

We stay clear of phenergan in this house after trying it for car sickness on all 3 girls and ending up with 3 extremely hyper children.

We have tried polaramine liquid for DD2 but claratyne seems to work better for her.

aerius is good or zyrtec. Zyrtec is faster acting. My Sam is on daily antihistamines so aerius/claratyne and extra zyrtec if he flares. Our allergy specialist said to NEVER use phenergan on children. I believe it is because if they are having an anaphylactic reaction the drowsiness can be confused with part of the reaction.

I use aerius now as Sam likes the taste better than the claratyne.