Look like bug bites but I don't think they are. Poor dd is really itchy. Any ideas?

[TinkerTailorSoldierLibrarian]

This has been going on for a few weeks. DD is getting what look like insect bites. On her legs, stomach, back, arms etc. Sometimes they appear in clusters (so look like something's got stuck in her sock or waistband) and other times they're spread out. They itch intensely for a couple of days and then fade and disappear.

We thought the hot weather might suggest insect bites and as we have a cat, thought we'd treat it as a possible flea/other infestation too. So we have treated the whole house with stuff from the vet which will apparently kill fleas, dust mites, lice etc. We have hot washed every single piece of bedding, rugs, curtains etc. DD's bed has been scrubbed, hoovered and cleaned, every single item of furniture moved daily and scrubbed/hoovered. Her bed's only a few months old (including mattress).

It's made no difference. Nobody else has been bitten, we went away for 4 days over the weekend and she still kept getting these 'bites'. I haven't seen a single bug or flea anywhere in our house or on dd. Last night we went to a friend's for dinner and in a few hours she had 7 of them on her back.

What else could it be? They look JUST like bug bites and are certainly itchy. Raised bumps with a little head sometimes, mainly white in the middle but red towards the outside.

DD is otherwise happy and well.

I've made an appointment with the GP but just wondered if anybody else had seen a similar thing? I pondered an allergic reaction but to what? Nothing's changed and it's not a rash, it's distinct spots which appear with no rhyme or reason. Currently it's her lower back, side and left leg which appear to be affected.

When she is playing outside what is 'outside' like in terms of vegetation and what not (and is she doing lots of blackberry picking?)

She plays in our garden while we clear it. It was a jungle when we moved in (just before Christmas). It's mainly thistles/bindweed/nettles/brambles and other non-specific weeds but she doesn't play in them. She digs in the soil areas we've cleared and plays on the patio mainly but we haven't been out there with her for at least a week (we've put weedkiller down in places and seeds in others so it's a no go area for a while) and she's still getting these bite type things.

Otherwise, it's the local park and it's all grass.

No blackberry picking.

The only other possible thing is that all our washing is line dried in the aforementioned jungle of a garden. The bites/bumps/whatever look a lot like nettle stings actually. I know nowt about nettles but it's not possible for spores to get onto drying washing? I'm clutching at nettle straws I think.

And we've been clearing the garden since Spring. This has only happened over the last few weeks at most. In fact, the garden is mostly cleared now.

The first time it happened, she woke up with about 8 little 'bites' in the waistband of her pyjamas (front and back) and I assumed something had got into her waistband overnight and bitten her. Next she got a few spaced out bites on her ankles and I thought the same bug had crawled into a sock. Hence the major de-bugging of the house. It then became more random, was nothing to do with where she was or what she was doing and it even happened when she slept over at my parent's house 20 miles away.

it could possibly be these little beasties the distribution on the body sounds about right. You could have some still about maybe, but its odd that they are still appearing.

The spots don't look like that at all. They're more like a nettle rash, no blistering.

And 7 bites appeared last night whilst having dinner in somebody else's house. And nobody else has been bitten, only dd. We've see no evidence of any bugs whatsoever in any part of the house, on her clothes or on her skin. We went away for 4 days and it still happened.

I'm starting to worry a bit tbh.

Sorry, but could it posibly be chickenpox? I posted about my DS last week, as he has what I first though were bug bites, as he had ha CP, but as they spread further I was not sure, so took him to GP, who has confirmed it is CP, not bug bites as first assumed.

watching with interest ds1 has similar

DD had really terrible chicken pox at Easter! And this has been going on for a few weeks with fresh spots popping up as recently as last night. And they don't have a fluid filled bit and they don't scab. Definitely not a repeat of chicken pox.

it does sound like rather mystery!

It would appear that the GP agrees with you OYBBK. He was very sure about what it isn't. Not insect bites, not an allergic reaction, not urticaria. His best guess was a viral skin infection or something to do with the chicken pox she had in April.

So she's a mystery.

Could it be molluscum contagiosum?

I've been googling molluscum and just mentioned it to dh (he took dd to the doctors) and he said 'oh yes the gp mentioned something which sounded like molluscs but said the lack of blisters didn't really tally'. Some of them do have a head but like insect bites, not like blisters iyswim.

I don't know much about molluscum but a friend's child had it and it seemed to take hold and stay there. The spots dd gets are itchy (is molluscum itchy?) and look a bit cross for a few days and then fade before getting more elsewhere on her body.

Molluscum can be itchy but it does sound as thought the blisters don't tally. Molluscum crops also tend to hang around for much longer than a few days before they disappear, although it is common for them to then reappear at another point on the body.

This is what a more experienced doc did for me and you could ask for the same thing. He started by prescribing hydrocortisone butate ointment as he said that is the first thing a dermatologist would try and then said he would refer me if it did not get better with that. It did not stop the marks randomly appearing but it did treat them when they did. Did he look at the marks under a UV light? Ringworm glows under UV. I did think from your description it could be scabies but if no one else in the house has it then its unlikely. If he hasn't a clue then ask to be referred.

Could it be shingles? Positioning sounds right.

Hives? I get them when I take certain medicines or eat certain foods. I notice them most on my arms, chest & tummy because they're in my line of vision, but DH has noticed them on my back, too. Sometimes just one, sometimes a little cluster of 4 or 5.

I am late 30s and have had this all my life with no ill effects apart from itching. :)

I also get hives when I am insanely stressed out - bereaved, operation, that kind of thing.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=hives&hl=en&sa=X&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&biw=1280&bih=511&tbm=isch&tbnid=MD2b_wychrgg5M:&imgrefurl=www.stressaffect.com/stress-induced-hives.html&docid=16mdm3LudvJPLM&w=475&h=356&ei=rvtfTpm0NcrD8QP3sNnQDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=235&page=3&tbnh=173&tbnw=227&start=20&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:20&tx=137&ty=94" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this is the kind of thing I get

Pretty sure it's not shingles. No other markers/symptoms and the gp said it wasn't shingles anyway. Likewise I'm sure it's not ringworm or scabies (I've had ringworm and it doesn't look like scabies and is in the wrong places). No to uv light at the gp. He said to give it a couple of weeks and go back if it hasn't passed. I might ask for a referral. I had a skin problem as a child and it took 9 months to diagnose in the end.

The thing is I did think hives because they appear suddenly and itch before fading. But the gp said it definitely wasn't urticaria. I did look at hives on google images and a couple of the pics looked really similar but most pics show raised patches as opposed to isolated, bug bite looking bumps. Can I ask what yours look like when they happen Pish?

Aah x-posts. Will have a look.

That's really similar. Except dd's tend to end up redder but presumably it's because she scratches them. But the bumpy, white thing is very similar. Bit like nettle rash iyswim.

Do you use antihistamines?

DD does have a lot going on. Starts school next week, dh has been away suddenly with work (she had nightmares about it while he was away as she's so used to having him here) and I'm heavily pregnant with dc2. Her little life seems a bit in turmoil. She's v happy though. Just a big period of change.

Mine are the isolated bug-bite ones, sometimes with a suggestion of a little head in the middle, just like on the photo. I've never had the big red sprawly ones that some people get & are the more common type, I think.

Ugh. Sounds like scabies. I had it in University (probably from dorm bed). Took months to get it properly diagnosed. Definitely ask your GP about it as they can do a skin test to rule it out.

I don't use antihistamines, no. I'm so used to them that I just take them as a friendly sign that I need to slow down a bit (and maybe avoid brazil nuts/pineapple/coconut/latex - none of which do me any major harm, but give me hives. Latex in um, intimate areas is quite unpleasant! Possibly the same goes for pineapples etc, but can't say I've tried...)

Starting school is a huge life event, maybe it's that.

Pop, definitely not scabies. Rash is totally wrong and in infants you'd expect hands/feet to be affected which they aren't and it fades rapidly. Scabies behaves differently afaik.

Pish, I can't think of anything else it could be. It's seemingly random. Comes and goes, doesn't bother her apart from the itch. She's not ill. No temp. I'm still half scared our house is infested with something awful. But nobody else gets bitten and I've boil wash/treated 90% of our belongings, never seen a bug and a 4 day stay elsewhere and it still happened randomly.