Why does DS keep getting bitten?

[LordGarmadon]

DS is constantly getting bitten. He's covered in bite marks all of the time for about a month or more (definitely getting bitten as far back as Feb half term).

They appear both during the day and during the night.

No one else is getting bitten.

I've checked his bed and there's no evidence of bed bugs or fleas.

I've washed everything.

We hoover and clean. The house isn't cluttered.

I've sprayed the house with Indorex and raid despite seeing no evidence of bugs/fleas.

I've had to give him antihistamine on a few occasions because they've been so bad.

So... what is it? What more can I do?

I’m watching this with interest. We’ve had a similar problem over the last week or so. Same initial thoughts as you, fleas or bed bugs.

Have treated the cat, sprayed the house, moved him into the spare room hot washed everything. No bites in the last few days. We’ve also had to use antihistamines.

The pharmacist suggested it could be an allergic reaction coming out over the course of a few days. At a bit of a loss with it and just hoping now it doesn’t start coming through again...

Allergic reaction?

DS does have allergies but usually it presents as hives (or anaphylaxis).

His face is covered today... am currently hot washing his bedding, all his pjs, blankets etc and have sprayed indorex in his room again!

We have cats but they're treated and I've checked them over. They have no signs of fleas.

I can't understand it.

Ok, it sounds like it could be something similar - DS’s looked like hives as well. And that’s what the pharmacist also thought. Have you recently changed washing detergent, soaps, anything like that?

I realise it’s not ideal timing, but if you’re able to take him to your local pharmacy they’ll be able to take a look. I’ve done this several times with DS and his weird rashes. They’ll tell you if they think a Dr appt is necessary.

I also drove myself mad hoovering and hot washing everything and checking the cat obsessively....

Have you 'bombed' the house? Like a smoke bomb thing that kills insects, fumigates everything. Only trouble is you have to leave the property for some time for it to do its job. Not easy at the moment! It will definitely kill all bugs so you can rule those out if it keeps happening.

Hives are not a separate thing to bites, both are a reaction to something. Some people have a strong immune reaction to insect bites. It is commin for one familyy member to not know they have been biiten by fleas or mosquitos and another to have huge bumps. I would really keep at it with flea traetments esp Indorex as there will be new hatchlings all the time. Change his pillow. Finetooth come the cat to look for flea dirt. You may well not find signs of either in the bed but ocasionally black specks of dirt. Bed bugs are notoriously good at hiding. Take care with too many chemicals which can also be problematic

If you do have fleas they can get into the cracks in the floorboards and survive hoovering. Hoovering activity in fact seems to wake them up. You might need to flea bomb. Check under the beds. You can also spot them at night by shining a torch along the cracks of the floorboards with lights off.

I would treat the cats regardless of your thinking they don't have fleas.
I would also remove any soft toys, mats or rugs, cushions, any soft furnishing, wash and then freeze once they have dried.

I would use the flea bombs in all rooms.

And get your child to have antihistamine daily.

If the bites are on his face, it is more likely to be bedbugs.

Fleas find humans a bit too warm and so tend to bite the cooler parts of us- hands, feet, bony parts like your shin or elbow.

Bed bugs tend to bite the face, neck and arms. If there are straight lines of bites, that is another sign of bed bugs. You said your DS has bite on his face? Do they have a dark red center?

Bed bugs are very hard to get rid of. You probably will want to get a professional in.

This NHS website has photos of different bites so you can try and see what your DS bites are from. It also shows mite bites which I had not thought of but could be causing the bites.
www.nhs.uk/conditions/insect-bites-and-stings/symptoms/

Sure it’s not a heat or sweat rash?

Veterinary nurse here: If you have cats/dogs, even if they are indoor cats.. they need to be treated religiously every month with pescription flea treatment NOT off the shelf. Advocate is very good. Also worming once every 3 months for both cats and dogs although indoor cats can go every 6 months.

Treating the house and the animals should get rid of possible fleas but you need to repeat to get the missed eggs that hatch... Like you would with headline/threadworms.

But that's if it is actually fleas.

You could order a flea lamp for DS's room to see if you can spot anything?

The cat's on prinovox which we give them 3 weekly due to them having fleas last autumn. We bombed the house then.

If it's bedbugs, would we all have them? His bed is about 50cm away from his sister's bed. He's always coming into our bed too.

There's no residue on his sheets or mattress and I keep hot washing and tumble drying.

They're random. Today they're on his face but they've been on his abdomen and back, head, all limbs...

I'll see if I can get a bomb from the internet but it's not ideal timing!!

Where would he have got bedbugs from???

Would it be worth buying a new mattress and sheets?

I was going to suggest midges, but February seems far too early for them... but I do know, from personal experience, that if you are allergic to midges they tend to target you. My record was 27 bites in one go 😱

If you are in London, the tube is infested with bedbugs.

“Cain’s firm has identified hot spots for the bugs in London, including infections running roughly parallel to the Central Line, as well as between Elephant and Castle and New Cross and Lewisham in the south east, and Brixton to the south west.

Cain said he now advises that people do not sit on public transport in order to avoid inadvertently picking up the bugs and bringing them home.”
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dont-sit-on-buses-or-the-tube-bed-bugs-are-thriving-after-heatwave_uk_5b795abce4b0a5b1febc1e20?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIHQtdEunCPqPyJg4lNRSmgkimv4a03rKGfdmPBxDqs5qCf3EkPCRidT0zXhRfP7hgl7oTMzWlg_VF23AK5yuLaNUGrqgLXbGKpEmz8mhH08kizfu4TSwvT9-wWeUBCoMSNKHuBQZaDnTFH4GOe284IE9MvAo3frkownoWk-NlKR

My ds had/has something similar. We thought it was a trapped mosquito, then bed bugs, then worried about fleas. Treated the whole room, set traps, boiled all beddi g etc etc. Eventually realised it was blocked hair ducts. He's 12 with eczema (& other allergies) and seems its quite common as the creams can block the ducts. He had antibiotics in the end which helped and we got on top of his eczema, so we're nog slathering as many creams on. It's so much better now. Might not be relevant to you but thought it was worth mentioning, as they looked just like bites.

We have had migdies around here... not at the moment but during the mild, wet winter we had a few.

We're going to Indorex and Raid the house weekly until we can get a professional in.

Is he playing in a garden because he’s at home and getting chigger/harvest mite bites? They’re usually a bigger problem in the summer but I used to get bitten any time I had been in grass. Others in family didn’t seem to get bitten at all. They’re so tiny you wouldn’t see them.

We live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. No livestock out at the minute.

We did go to London in January... I guess we could've picked them up then... but wouldn't we all have marks? I'm hideous for getting bitten! I can raise your 27 bites by over 50 on one leg... we were in the Amazon at the time though

I got destroyed by them a few weeks ago. Again checked cat and for about 5 nights had the uv light (we get nits) out looking for bed bugs before I went to bed and about 3am when I inevitably got bitten. Nothing!

I closed the window in the afternoon (instead of leaving it open) and fingers crossed no bites for a few weeks now. Weird one but air the room out (to leg the little biting shits out) but close up before dusk. I reckon it was migis but who knows.

They were the worst bites I ever had though and I've traveled a lot and been bitten by most things (they just seem to love my blood), but these were so itchy for days afterwards.

He's constantly in the field and garden!

Right,

Indorex and raid weekly.

Keep hot washing and tumble drying.

Air the rooms, close windows at dusk.

Set the mosquito plug ins.

Teddy bears in the freezer for 4 days.

Cut down on the creams.

Daily antihistamine.

Luckily, there's not much else going on right now

I think fleas. Just this last week I've started getting bitten again, and I'm the only one out of 4 of us! My legs were covered in bites last summer and they'd only just started to fade