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Home › Articles › Toddler Health › Nervous About Ticks?

Nervous About Ticks?

Keeping Young Explorers Safe Outdoors

By Laurie L. Dove

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Preventing Tick Bites
If the idea of having a tick attach itself to your child makes you want to stay indoors indefinitely, don't worry. There are several strategies that can minimize the risk of receiving a tick bite, so you can still enjoy the great outdoors.

"Try to limit exposure during the summer months by limiting activities where ticks are prevalent, such as woodlands and woodland edges," Dr. Falco says. "Personal protection measures should be taken if there is risk of exposure to ticks. These include tucking pants into socks and shirts into pants to keep ticks off the body, using insect repellents and checking the entire body every night to promptly remove ticks that may be attached."

If you are going to walk or hike, stay on a trail rather than venturing through tall grasses, trees with low branches or piles of dry leaves. These are the equivalent of a shopping mall for tick teenagers; they practically live there. Enjoy your outing by walking through areas that get plenty of sun and which have little grass or very short grass. Stay in the center of the path and don't sit directly on the ground.

"Kerry does not roll around in the leaves anymore, and when she wants to go into the woods behind our house (which isn't often anymore), she wears a hat, pants, long sleeves and shoes and socks," Bush says. "Whenever she does play outside where ticks might be, we do a very careful head-to-toe examination to make sure no ticks are on her."

If you have pets that spend time outside, be sure to use a pes deterrent on them and regularly check them for ticks. Why? Keeping pets tick-free can help protect your pet's health as well as your child's health. Young children often are chummy with dogs and cats, and this means ticks can easily make the transition from furry creature to intrepid toddler.


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