Baby being bitten!!! By what?

[Staggeringthrough2023]

For a couple of nights we have undressed my DC in the morning to find little rashes which we were obviously concerned about. The GP was stumped. It now transpires it's bites. We've been away for a few days and nothing, then back in their own bed last night and as you can see, they were ravaged. I'm absolutely beside myself. We've got washed all the bedding, hovered the room....I wouldn't hesitate to get rentokil out but that we have no idea what's causing it. If anyone has any ideas what it might be, please help.

We have also just found this in the bed. No idea what it is. Not a great pic but it's definitely a big and it seems to have red markings.

Bed bugs

Yep that's a bed bug.

That is definitely Not a bed bug.

It's not a bed bug. Bed bugs are bown and a flattish round shape.

I just searched and carpet beatles came up, some are mottled others have yellow spots. If you think it could be these, I'd hoover every inch of room and keep doing it every few days and see what happens. Putting bedding on a hot wash.

If you're not sure it's these, then one interesting thing to do would be to sleep in the room for a few nights, to see if you get the same reaction- tgatcway you know if it's an internal or external factor.

We're sure it's not bedbugs. There's no spot of blood in her clothes or on the sheets and it doesn't look like what I've seen.
Whiskers, that's a good idea-not sure I'll fit in the cot but I'll try anything at this point!!

The rash doesn’t look like bites, looks like sweat rash or eczema.

That does look like a carpet beetle to me.

have you got pets? Fleas? We had similar and found no trace of anything. Treated it with indorex anyway, slept in our bed for two weeks no bites. Back in her room, bitten again, exterminator found nothing and wouldn’t treat without evidence first. A flea landed on my foot a few weeks after, sprayed the house again and fingers crossed nothing since.

Also antihistamine cream will help take the redness down

I know it looks like it but promise it isn't, the redness fades quickly and you can see the puncture of the bite. And it only happens when she sleeps on her cot. It's so awful undressing her and seeing it.

If this is repeatedly occurring in her cot, stop putting her in there until you find the cause. The insect looks like a beer bug.

Throw her cot mattress away and get a new one, Hoover and indorex the entire house.

What does your baby sleep in at night? I would be worried about bedbugs but with so many bites, I imagine you would have spotted other signs. The fact there are quite a few in the warm spots (behind knees) means it could be fleas, but I presume they wear pyjamas?

The bug is definitely a carpet beetle, we've been finding some in our house this year for the first time too (and we don't even have carpet) We all occasionally wake up with the odd spot and rash, it drives me crazy as I then get paranoid about bed bugs, but then I'll find one of those in the bedroom. So maybe it's caused by them but your baby is particularly sensitive? They're not meant to bite though, but can cause more of a hive type of reaction.

I'm so sorry, I know I would be distraught discovering this on my baby every morning too.

I would probably pay for a pest control visit to be honest as they'll know what to look for and at least it will put your mind at ease.

The photo isn’t that clear but does it look like a ladybird OP? Two years ago we had loads of black ladybirds for some weird reason and our DD had bites from them.

She has a vest, a babygro and a sleep sack so whatever it is is clearly working its way in.

The Royal entomological society says it's a beetle, the sort that lives in bark and will be there accidentally, it isn't responsible. So, somewhat helpful, I guess. I'm sure it's not fleas, I've checked the cat and she definitely doesn't have them. But I'll informed anyway.

@BellaBlossoms yes I think you're right-I will call pest control. I just have to do SOMETHING

They’ll be waking up from hibernation around now, we found lots coming out from under the windowsill when DD got bitten. Pest control told us it’s common for them to bite when they waken up. I hope you get it sorted OP.