These are bed bug bites aren't they?

[heebie]

Dd came up in bite welt type things on her leg that came apparent Sunday afternoon. Didn't think much of it as she has sensitive skin and we'd been outside all weekend.

Monday night we noticed two on her stomach and my heart sunk. This morning three on her back.

No-one else has bites and ex gave her a teddy from the charity shop that she had in her bed. I never thought to ask if he'd boil washed as I thought that would be a given. Nothing else new has been in the house.

We have bed bugs right? I feel like weeping and have gutted her room. Now 6 black bin bags of teddys and linen to be washed in the garage.

Nope - they look like gnats.

(If they came after you've been outside all weekend, she's probably been bitten there! They look nothing like bedbug bites)

How would she get gnat bites under t-shirt, jumper and coat? (Was cold here over the weekend) although I'm tentatively pleased to hear people it doesn't look like them. Just after the nit nightmare of last school term!

Could be harvest bugs, I woke up with a load of bites (i.e. 50) after being in the garden one day and were paranoid they were bed bugs after someone mentioned it and due to their positioning under areas covered by clothes.

But I did a thorough search of the bedroom and never found any evidence, never got any more bites and read that harvest bugs go for areas where there are clothing constrictions e.g. knicker line, inside of elbow etc.

Thanks soulrider (why I can't I find the stars to bold on my new phone?). I'm just worried that it seems to be every day there's more, not all at once.

Why are there so many different insects

Bed bug bites are smaller and for some weird reason tend to be on lower arms and legs not torso and in straight lines. IME anyway.

Dd gets bad reactions to bites for some reason, I can't judge size of bites and reactions with her. She got nits last year and broke out in a weird huge rash all over her head and neck .. took her to gp and he just said allergic reaction to something (before any of us realised nits).

She's doesn't like to wear PJ's in bed, just pants. Not covered in bed.

Am actually quite pleased no-one thinks bed bugs though. Not gonna stop me boiling everything in sight however!

No, far too big for bed bugs.

I thought the main sign of bed bugs were spots of blood on the sheets

Yeah i think bed bug bites are smaller (although u mentioned the possibiltity of a reaction) and typically in a line. Hopefully just something else..maybe even a spider?

I got loads of bites last year and was convinced it was bed bugs...even they were in a line but it was over a couple of days then nothing like that ever again. But i was distraught at first so i sympathise! Definitely a good sign that no one thinks its bed bugs :)

Uurgg, fancy putting an unwashed tedddy from a charity shop in her bed! Bloody ex!

I don’t by anything from charity shops after two near me were infested.

Things need to be in a hot wash or else frozen for 24 or 48 hours to kill bed bugs.

Does she have wooden bed slats or a divan? Either way you want to lift the mattress and get a torch light right into the wooden bed slats meeting the frame, or if divan accessing (tearing the fabric ) to check between the wood joints as that's where they hide.

In the middle of dealing with these!! My bites are usually arms. Feet and lower legs. They are usually in threes in a line.
Have traced them now to the wooden bed frames in crevices.
Apparently they are common!!
I keep washing on 60 or a 90 and tumbling for more heat, they aren’t in the covers but I worry about eggs.
You can see the bugs. Not tiny unless brand new. Half a small nail size. I have found them on sheets in the morning (before I found them under bed/ bed drawers)
I have been using a steamer to get in
The crevices.
Just wash all your stuff and make sure no clothes or books and toys directly on floor . Put them on bags etc.
The bites are incredibly itchy!!!!

SunnySummerDays you really must call in a professional company! You won’t be able to get rid of an infestation that bad on your own. You need fumigation and an experienced professional approach.

They don’t just live in beds and everyone who comes to your house is at risk of taking them back home.

They are becjmkng more common, yes. Cool washing, charity shops, more travel all contribute.

But they are very unpleasant and multiply like mad very quickly.

Hi!
I have a huge amount of experience dealing with bedbugs at the inlaws in recent months and have sadly become all too familiar.
The bites in your photo do seem a little large. Typically the bites do go in a line of three usually getting smaller as the bug is sated on blood and the bites are about 1cm apart. The dead give away for bedbugs is their poo. Does your daughter's bedding have small blackish dots on in groups of dots or singlely or On the soft toy? If so, then it is definitely bedbugs. The dots look like black poster paint and tend to concentrate around the area that the bugs hide during daylight hours. Check the seams of the toy - if it looks blackish, then it's bugs. Once in a new home the bedbugs will move into soft furnishings such as cloth headboards and mattresses etc. Check seams and tiny holes in the mattress & down including behind buttons and fixings etc as they only need a tiny hole to hide in. If you can't find the black dots after a week then it isn't bedbugs as the poo really builds up after a few days.

If you do have black faeces then you need to act quickly. The only way to get rid of bedbugs is to fumigate and wash all clothing and bedding in a washing machine at 60degrees minimum and then treat everything in a tumble dryer on highest temp for 30mins when clothes have dried. Tumbledrying on high for 60mins can be used for items hard to wash such as curtains. Any items not suitable for washing can be sealed in a bag and put in the freezer for 24/48 hours ie. shoes, curtains. We dealt with it by getting a council recommended pest controller in. Get them in in the morning as you must leave the house for 6 hours. They will treat the entire house by spraying ALL carpets, beds, sofas and soft furnishings as the whole house will need doing. Also have the skirting boards sprayed the room of the original infection. The worst bit is that you must return home after spraying and sleep in the beds the same night as the bugs find humans by the carbon dioxide they breathe out at night and by body temp. This draws the bugs out of hiding and makes them walk through the pesticide to kill them - very gross I know but vital. Meanwhile, wash all clothing, bedding, towels and soft toys as per above and hopefully it will work.

Hopefully it will work first time. We had to have two treatments done at £280 each time but it cost Fil a lot more as the second infection was entirely his fault as he refused to take all the clothes to the launderette and the bugs reinfected the house from the bags of clothes he should have dealt with but my Fil is a whole different thread as he's a hoarder. It ended up costing him new beds, mattresses and bedding and we threw out 80% of the in-laws clothes so it was good to declutter them at the same time. After the second treatment we have not had any more issues.

Hope this helps. If you are still unsure as to what is causing the bites, have you tried sleeping in the bed overnight to see if you get bites? I hope that it's not bedbugs as they are buggers to get rid of and distressing. Fil hid the issue until Mil collapsed one night from heart palpitations caused by having too much blood sucked out by the bugs! She ended up in hospital for 2 weeks as we and social services wouldn't let her return home until Fil had sorted the problem.
Good luck!

Omg my pet!!!
We’ve had no bites now for a few nights.
I vac the best every day
Change all sheets every other...
I’ve managed to get surgical spirit and squirted that in wood too on kids beds. I’m going replace with metal bed frames. I binned quilts and mattress protectors.
They weren’t there one day and it seemed like they were suddenly three. Crawling under mattress. Bleaugh. Our bed at tip! I’m in mattress on floor. I won’t buy another until I’m sure all gone.
Bizzarly no bites on kids despite finding loads under beds. Me hubby bit to bits!!!

After an awful experience on holiday one year I buy cans of bed bug spray on Amazon and always thoroughly spray the beds/mattresses/ bed area whenever I go away. You could try the same SunnySummer. It reeks though and gets into the back of my throat so we have to vacate the room after doing it.

Sunny: not everyone reacts to the bites. The kids will have been being bitten but no reaction.

In your shoes I would not attempt to tackle this on your own. I wouldn't be happy with squirting highly flammable liquids into your kids beds!

Call the council!

@SunnySummerDays, @heebie, how did you get on, did you get rid of them?

I got covered in bites yesterday night and am terrified about bedbugs. We went into London on the tube a couple of times over Christmas, so maybe that was it. Haven't seen any yet and have ordered some traps...

Worst New Year so far :-(