Bed bugs help

[elm26]

I’ve just discovered we have bed bugs and I’m beside myself.

I have around 16-20 bites on my upper body and assumed it was mosquitos or gnats in the night, DH has no bites at all.

This has been going on for a few weeks, I’ve checked mattress multiple times (less than 18 months old and bought new). I’m 34 weeks pregnant and have had enough of the biting and itching so I called a local pest control company today and explained, he said that a bed bug infestation is quite rare considering we haven’t travelled in the last year and said he will come out tomorrow to take a look but his betting is a mosquito infestation that we can’t see.

I was pottering about in the bedroom this evening and dusted behind the headboard, I saw lots and lots of black/brown bugs crawling up the back like something out of a horror movie. Took a picture, sent to him and he confirmed definitely bedbugs.

I haven’t stopped crying and my heart is racing. It’s a fabric headboard but DH has wrapped it up in old dust sheets and taken it outside.

Can anyone give me any idea of what I’ve got to do/ what extent I need to wash and remove things before I see him tomorrow to get information.

My pillows and duvet are almost brand new and cost £300, will a launderette be enough or do I need to get rid?

Do clothes in our wardrobe need to all be washed on a high heat?

What about our sofa? I’m really freaking out and heavily pregnant with a 2 year old.

I’ve checked DD’s mattress and cannot see anything and she never sleeps in our bed so what do I do about that? Do I replace her mattress anyway?

Please help!

Weirdly (or coincidentally) we were a motorway a yesterday and saw this van with detection dogs for household pests.

Never heard of this this sort of thing before!

merlinenvironmental.co.uk/bed-bug-detection/

Poor you, that sounds awful. I wonder how they came in your house?? Glad you have someone coming to sort it out.

Do not move anything more from that room, leave everything exactly how it is as you can transfer them into another room.
Also do not sleep in another room (I know it's difficult) as that will encourage them in other areas of the house.
Let the pest people deal with it, they will know what to do.

Try not to panic. Take advice from the pest controller, but during treatment I got all my bedding incl feather pillows and duvets laundered at the laundrette on a hot over 60 degrees service wash, and tumble dried on a hot heat.

You can get mattress covers that encase the mattress fully which means any bugs in the mattress die and new ones can't get in. They're available online and very effective, better than getting new mattresses. You should do your daughters mattress too.

I bundled up the bed clothes I had worn and other clothes I thought might have become hosts and packed them in a vacuum packed plastic bag, double bagging them. I put them in the garage where they stayed for 18 months. A year is the maximum a bug can live without a host.

You'll be fine.

Oh you poor thing. I would imagine you will have to be very careful regarding what chemicals they use given that you are pregnant.

I'd be hoovering every nook and cranny, until the hoover wore out.

I think freezing the pillows and duvet in a big chest freezer for a couple of days does kill the little bastards.

Any progress @elm26?

Great advice !