Protecting baby and mum-to-be from mosquitoes, without chemicals
Camille VidalTo protect your baby and mum-to-be from mosquitoes, the safest answer is also the gentlest: a physical barrier. A fly screen fitted to the nursery window lets the cool air in and keeps mosquitoes out, with no spray, no plug-in diffuser and no chemicals at all in the air your child breathes. What remains is knowing where to fit it, which habits to adopt day to day and how to react to a bite: here is the room-by-room guide.
When you are expecting a baby or have just brought a newborn home, the faintest buzz at night feels like a full-scale alert. The good news: there is no need to turn the house into a bunker or to stack up products. A few simple habits are enough to give the whole family genuinely peaceful summer nights.
Why babies and pregnant women attract more mosquitoes
It is not your imagination: mosquitoes do not bite at random. To find their target, they follow two main signals, body heat and the carbon dioxide we breathe out. Pregnancy happens to come with a slightly higher body temperature and heavier breathing. The mum-to-be becomes, entirely against her will, an easier target to locate, especially at night when the air in the bedroom is still.
For the very youngest, the issue is less about attracting mosquitoes than about putting up with them. A newborn's skin is thin and reactive: a mosquito bite often leaves a more pronounced patch than on an adult, and the itching alone is enough to cut a whole night to pieces. A baby can neither shoo the intruder away nor resist scratching: it is up to their environment to protect them.
No need to worry unduly, though: bites are usually harmless. But between the night-time waking, the cheeks dotted with bumps and the parents' anxiety, they deserve better than a resigned "it will pass".
Sprays, diffusers, essential oils: why to do without them in a nursery
Faced with mosquitoes, the first instinct is often to reach for a repellent or plug in a diffuser. In a newborn's room, it is worth thinking twice: these products release active substances into a room that is often closed, where your baby spends every night and a good part of the day. As a precaution, they are best kept well away from children's bedrooms, and you should ask a healthcare professional (doctor, midwife, pharmacist) before applying anything to the skin. Official guidance from the health authorities points the same way: for the youngest children, protection comes first from covering clothing and a fly screen.
And what about essential oils, so often presented as the natural alternative? That is the classic trap. Natural does not mean harmless: concentrated and powerful, essential oils are not recommended for pregnant women or babies, whether diffused or applied. We explain why in detail in our article on essential oils to repel mosquitoes.
The golden rule is simple: in a nursery, the fewer products in the air, the better everyone breathes. So the real question is not "which repellent should I choose?", but "how do I stop mosquitoes getting in?".
Mechanical protection, room by room
The winning strategy is not to chase mosquitoes once they are in the house, but to close the door on them. In practice, it all comes down to two or three well-chosen openings.
The bedroom window: the priority
Most mosquitoes let themselves in through the window left ajar in the evening. A magnetic window fly screen settles the matter once and for all: it goes up without drilling, in about ten minutes and without tools, and its fibreglass mesh lets air and light through while blocking insects. The room stays cool, baby sleeps, the mosquitoes stay outside. Since every window has its own dimensions, a made-to-measure screen gives you a perfectly fitted panel if yours falls outside the standard sizes.
The patio door in the living room: the opening everyone forgets
People fit out the nursery and stop there. Yet the patio door left wide open during dinner or the evening bath is a motorway: mosquitoes slip into the house, wait, then head for the bedrooms at bedtime. A magnetic door fly screen opens with one hand, even with a baby in your arms, and closes itself again thanks to its magnets: the way through stays clear for the family, not for the uninvited.
Airing at night, finally without a second thought
In summer, airing the bedroom is essential to keep the temperature bearable. That is precisely where a fly screen changes everything: window open all night, air renewed, nothing getting in. Protecting your baby from mosquitoes at night then takes no effort at all, the barrier works while everyone sleeps. To go further, we have gathered our best tips in this guide to keeping mosquitoes away at night naturally.
Baby's summer sleep: the right habits
A protected bedroom is the main thing. A few habits round out the plan. Temperature first: aim for a fairly cool room, airing early in the morning and late in the evening, with the shutters or blinds half closed during the hottest hours. A baby who is too warm sleeps badly, perspires more and gives off more heat: all signals that interest mosquitoes.
As for clothing, a light cotton bodysuit is plenty on warm nights, there is no need to pile on layers. And if you go out at the end of the day, when mosquitoes are at their most active, choose loose, covering clothes: at that age, it is safer and more effective than any product applied to the skin.
Finally, get into the habit of a quick check on waking and after naps: a look at the face, the hands and the ankles lets you spot a bite early, and act before your baby starts scratching.
Your baby got bitten anyway? Take a breath
Despite every precaution, a bite can happen, and in the vast majority of cases it is nothing serious. Wash the area with soap and water, apply a cool cloth to calm the itching, keep your baby's nails short to limit scratching, then simply keep an eye on how it develops. If the reaction looks unusual to you (significant swelling, fever, an inconsolable baby), ask your doctor or your pharmacist for advice. All the right steps are set out in our article on what to do if you get a mosquito bite.
The checklist before summer
- Fit a fly screen to the nursery window.
- Fit the living room patio door too, and the parents' bedroom window if your baby sleeps there for the first few months.
- Check the panels already in place: the smallest snag is a way in.
- Take sprays, diffusers and plug-in devices out of the nursery.
- Empty any standing water on the balcony or terrace (saucers, watering cans, toys), where mosquitoes breed.
- Get in light bodysuits and a summer sleeping bag, and trim your baby's nails regularly.
Frequently asked questions
Cot net or window fly screen for a baby?
A window fly screen protects the whole room continuously, with no fabric near the cot, whereas a canopy can slip or sag. So fit the window first, and keep the cot net for occasional situations such as holidays.
From what age can you use a fly screen?
From birth. Fitted to the window frame, it is out of your child's reach and releases nothing into the air of the room. That is exactly why it is the protection to favour for babies, ahead of any repellent product.
Is a fan enough to keep mosquitoes away?
The airflow disturbs their flight and scatters the signals that guide them: it is a useful addition, but it does not stop them getting into the room. And it should never blow directly onto your baby. The fly screen remains the reliable barrier.
Why am I bitten more now that I am pregnant?
Pregnancy slightly increases body heat and the carbon dioxide you breathe out, two of the cues mosquitoes use to find their target. Nothing abnormal, then, but a good reason to rely on mechanical protection rather than repellents.
Does the mesh stand up to little hands?
Yes. Fibreglass mesh takes everyday contact in its stride, and the fixing sits on the window frame, out of a toddler's reach. And if a snag does appear after a few years, the panel is easy to replace.
First, in Australia: a fly screen will not stop a child falling from a window
We would rather say this ourselves than have you assume otherwise, because it is the single most important thing on this page for an Australian household and it applies to our product as much as to anyone else's.
"Don't be fooled by fly screens, they are not strong enough to stop your child falling out of an open window." Kidsafe NSW, window and balcony safety.
NSW Health runs the same message under the name Kids Don't Fly. The reasoning is simple: an insect screen is held by adhesive, or by a light frame and a plastic spline meant to be removed by hand for cleaning. It is engineered to exclude insects, and it gives way under a child's weight. Nothing on this page, and nothing else we make, is a fall protection device or should ever be treated as one.
What actually does that job
Fall protection at a window is a restrictor or a lock that stops the sash opening far enough for a child to pass, or a screen specifically built and tested to resist a load. In New South Wales, strata buildings must ensure windows above the ground floor do not open more than 12.5 cm. Requirements vary between states and between new and existing buildings, so check the rule that applies where you live rather than assuming ours covers you. Whatever you fit, the other half of it is furniture: a cot, a bed or a chest of drawers under a window is the step that gets a toddler up to it.
The two problems are separate, and so are the answers
A restrictor solves the fall. It does not solve the mosquito, because a window held open 12.5 cm is still open all night, and that gap is an unobstructed doorway for anything flying. That is the honest place a fly screen occupies in an Australian nursery: behind the restrictor, never instead of it. The two are complementary and neither one substitutes for the other, which is worth knowing before you decide you have dealt with the window.
Why the window is open at all here
Because in an Australian summer it has to be. A nursery kept shut through a January night in Sydney or Brisbane gets hot and stays hot, and the usual answer, airing early in the morning and late in the evening with the blinds down through the worst of the day, only works if the opening is usable after dark. That is the whole of what the screen is for: it makes the restricted, open window liveable rather than a trade against bites.
When to fit it
The difficult evenings in the southern states are December and January, and further north they follow the rain rather than the calendar. That makes September and October the sensible window for getting it up, before the season rather than during it, and it is also the point at which a made to measure panel has time to be produced and shipped before you need it.
What we are not going to tell you
We are not going to tell you what mosquitoes carry in your part of Australia, or what a bite means for your child, or what to put on their skin. Those are questions for your GP, your child and family health nurse, or your state health service, and they will give you a better answer than a company that makes screens. What we can tell you is the mechanical part: a mesh across the opening keeps insects out of the room, with nothing released into the air your baby breathes. That is the whole of our claim and we are not going to stretch it.