I am so disgusted and frustrated, I need some Mom-help. For the past year my son has had episodes lasting a week or so of severe bites. The first time I took him to the dr, she didn't think they were spider bites, and too big for fleas. So we deduced bed bugs. Since then I have:
-purchased an allergen-free, bed-bug specific cover for his mattress
-replaced bedding, pillows, blankets, etc
-vacuumed the bed (it is the wooden variety that has shelves underneath. The shelves are mostly empty)
The last two days he has had about a dozen. They are the size of the bed of your pinky and located on exposed skin. Originally, there were 5 or 6 bites in a straight line. This week they have been clustered.
This AM, I moved the bed because it was in a corner, along the wall as the closet. Washed all the bedding, vacuumed carpet and everything, and put him down for a nap. He woke with about 10 MORE!!
I am about ready to bomb the room, but I am skeptical of the chemicals. Also,
-He is the only one getting bit
-We have no pets
-The room is upstairs
I had to douse the poor child in skin-so-soft insect repellant to go to bed!! Any suggestions on solutions or methods would be greatly appreciated!!
Bomb the room. That is awful for the young fellow. Use emu oil to clear up the bits. It should help with the swellen and itching. Google it and order it from local vendors. It is pure and safe. Not steriods. Good luck!!!
Sounds like he is allergic to something maybe in the bedding, anything new? I would not bomb the babies room-bad idea, that stuff is highly toxic and can cause many problems for baby down the road-leukemia, cancer and behavioral problems. Its just wierd how he is the only one getting them and in that short of time-even after everything is cleaned! Please post if u find out what is doin this-Im very curious. I hope the culprit shows up soon so the lil one and parents dont have to suffer :o(
My first thought is that they aren't bed bugs!! Those spread SOOO fast--the whole family would be dealing with them. Maybe he is super sensitive to mosquitos?? Did the skin so soft work?? That is much more specific for mosquitos--don't think it would be much against bed bugs. . .
I am a mosquito magnet. Once when I went camping, I was eaten alive by them. Turns out that there was a nest in the curtain of the bed I slept in in the camper. try vacuuming the ENTIRE room, feed him lots of garlic, maybe light a citronella candle? or, rub lemon or orange zest on his skin before bed (a bit weird, but natural). Good luck! Oh, and his doc can prescribe better itch cream than you get over the counter.
It definitely sounds like mosquito bites. And they will bite in lines or clusters. As they suck the blood out, they inject the itchy stuff that produces the welts.
You could bomb, but the best thing would be so see if you can find where they're hiding and smash them.
My sister and I shared a room and I would be bitten alive while she had no bites at all. I also got severe poisin oak, which she never did.
This may sound weird, but I heard that rubbing an onion on the bites will help soothe the itching and also deter further bites. My grandpa used to put Old Spice after shave on me. It did help with the itching but I don't know that it kept them from biting me. Now that I'm older, I rarely get bitten, and neither do my kids, but we eat lots of onion and garlic.
It's inexpensive and worth a try if the skin so soft doesn't work.
Try anything acidic like onion or lemon and see if it helps.
I hope you get some great advice!
I have a slightly bigger reaction to bug bites than some, and it could be mosquitoes eating your little guy. Make sure you dont leave a light on in his room to attract them and no open windows. Some say eating bananas helps fight them off. And staying cool instead of getting sweaty might help. Trim his nails short so he cant scratch a lot and maybe he will get over them faster. Good luck, sweet little guy must just taste good!
Here is just a thought to ask your pediatrician about... Are you sure the bites are not from scabies? Look it up online. Scabies are bugs that you rarely heard about years ago but are enjoying a new resurgence. They can be passed from infected objects (ex bedding, a cloth couch) or from person to person through close contact. Scabies bore into the skin, where they live, and tunnel under they skin. They tend to itch and cause red bumps. My daughter got them as an infant (20+ years ago) and it took an old-timer doctor to recognize the problem (after going to her regular pediatrician where she was misdiagnosed). My mother-in-law recently had a bout with them at a very nice retirement community she lives in. If you have no other clues to your problem, research scabies and their treatment.
I know this may be out of left field, but is it possible that your son is being exposed to poison oak. Linear marks are a common symptom. Sometimes pets get into the stuff and we pet their fur. This can give it to you. When my cat was alive, I got it all the time--no one else in the family, just me.
What I do every time we change the bed sheets is put 100% essential oil on the mattress pad... usually lavender and/or eucalyptus. I just let it drop out of the bottle(s) as I walk around the bed and then wait about 10 minutes before pulling the comforter up until the sheets are ready to go back on. We have never had problems and we have two dogs.
You can get this at some natural food stores... Sunshine if you live in Sac area. I bought at GNC once but prefer Sunshine on Fair Oaks & Madison.
It sounds like you have done most everything so bug bomb the room and have him sleep somewhere else for a night or two then vacuum ewash everything and wipe down furniture again. You sdhould put all of their toys stuffed ones in a hot hot dryer for at least 30 min then in a big garbage bag for a week closed tightly. When you do a bug bomb as soon as you open it carry it around the room by hand spraying the perimeter of the room around baseboards and in closets then spray all the carpet areas before putting it down and letting it finish. You should wash all clothes and put in a hot dryer like the toys. If some were given to you by other people they may have been stored in boxes in a garage or something. Poor little guy.
Frankly these don't sound like bugs to me considering you have no pets and no one else is getting bit. They sound like hives. Dr's aren't always accurate, mind you. I'd consider that he's having an allergic reaction to something in his bedding or food. Or stress, if he's under any.
Is it possible that you or your neighbors had a mouse problem lately? I was getting the same type of bites for weeks and it was awful. Nobody else in the family had them and it felt like it would never end. We had a mouse problem at work and they were rat mites. Apparently, only some people are allergic. Out of 20 people in the office, there were only 2 of us that had multiple bites. It does not matter what you do, they will not go away until the mice or rats are totally out of the area. At the office (which is a green and healthy office-no chemicals), we used an orange oil spray purchased from whole foods and sprayed it along the baseboards. There were also a few gaps between the wall under my desk and I sprayed the orange oil in a papertowel and blocked the gaps. That seemed to help. Poor little guy- Good Luck.
My son is proned to skin allergies. The docs thought it was bites at first then decided not. He gets these bumps that are sometimes clustered and sometimes in lines that are horrifying to look at. They are so red. they dont really bother him though - they dont itch or anything. When he is getting an alergic reaction it will come in about 50 bumps, then clear up, then two weeks or so later come back with 50 or so more, then we just get him on antibiotics and they go away.
All I mean to say is, if he's the only one getting bitten, are you sure it's bites?
At this docs recomendation we started using only non-scented natural laundry products and added bleach to EVERY load. (Color safe bleach too) and make really sure he doesn't share any towels or wash clothes with anyone (the alergy can be to bacteria in someone elses skin) We have it controlled now and my Son just had his forst out break in over a year. Easily controlled with antibiotics and more diligence on my part with the laundry. Also, dont use anyone elses washer or dryer.
Gena,
Five or six bites in a straight line? Could it be scabies? They are a kind of mite that tunnel in straight lines or clusters....very small & need certain medication to get rid of. Check it out. Are you off for the summer? I'm a teacher too. PAM
Okay guys, so first of all, if you have a qualified pest control company come in and identify the problem (which most will do for free) they will educate you on the material they use. When material is used at label rate it should NOT harm your child (all materials that a company uses are EPA regualted).
Now to the problem at hand - a good way to tell if you have bed bugs is to put white sheets on the bed, if there are blood spots on the bed when you wake up then you know it's bed bugs (bed bugs excrete the blood from when they bite you). Some places you can look for bedbugs are: the seam of the mattress and inside the corners of the wooden drawers. Bedbugs are pretty small (1/16th to 1/4 inch) and flat. As far as treatment goes, it is very extensive. There aren't any consumer available materials that you can buy to fix the problem yourself.
However, if it's been a year and your son is the only one affected it is unlikely that it is bedbugs because you would have a pretty severe infestation by now as bedbugs multiply rather quickly.
The above info was dictaed to me from my husband who is a pest control technician, so if you have more questions please feel free to ask me and I will get some answers from him.
hello there
You mention carpet in his room , could be something in the carpet such as dust mites? Have you tried having him sleep in a different room for a couple of nights? this way you can decipher if the specific problem is only in his room or perhaps other parts of the house. Also.. what about the detergents? is there a chance that could be aggravating his skin too?...
IF it's dust bites (for which my son is allergic) those things can be anywhere..... they love the dust. you say you do have pillow coverings and all that, but if you have carpeting oh you know they love to hang out in that.. if you can't remove it, then maybe vaccum it twice daily?
Also, my son's doc, an allergist, recommended children's Benadryl to help with some of the allergic reactions such as sneezing and stuffy, itchy throat.
best of luck to you!!
Hey, this is terribly frustrating and confusing. I join the other mamas in doubting that this is bites from something like a bedbug, etc. Please DON'T bomb the room and then hope for the best. Bombing is a big toxic deal, and often if there is an infestation it does not even clear it up (I have read many accounts of the failures of bombs...) Get a good dermatologist to help you figure this out-I have had 2 profound experiences with skin issues being misdiagnosed by a regular doctor. In one case the problem did turn out to be scabies, and in one case a fungus, and both times the regular doctor had insisted the problem was "eczema" and prescribed steroid cream (contraindicated in both scabies and fungus by the way..)...I have no idea what your son has, it may turn out to be one of the things others have mentioned here, but I would at least try to get a reliable diagnosis and then go from there. best wishes
I had the same problem with my two kids last year and neither pediatrician nor dermatologist could determine what type of bites they were. One actually thought they could be chicken pox. I realized at that point, I had to do my own research. I deduced that it was spider bites after finding a couple in my son's room. They like to hide in closets, toy baskets, skylights, and corners of windows. I took everything out of the room and vacuumed every inch, sealed up any holes and cleaned out all the skylights where I found plenty of them. Also, I stopped using a window fan which seemed to suck in tiny baby spiders through the screen window. This year, thankfully, my kids haven't had one bite, so I believe that solved the problem. Good luck.
Hi Gena,
First off, my heart goes out to you and your poor son who is suffering from this. UGH!! I have read most of the posts and many of them grossed me out. ick! However, I sort of sided with Jordon P's comment. that it could be hives or something. It sounds more like an allergy to something. If you or your husband aren't being affected by it then it sounds like his skin is having some kind of reaction to his room and you have cleaned it down to the nitty gritty. I would give him some zyrtex and see what takes place. My older son who is now 3 had all kinds of skin issues since 5 months old. I later found out as he got older he became allergic to walnutts, and then had asthma which is all related to when he first had eczema. Crazy stuff.
I wold find a good dermo and try some over the counter allergy meds to see what will happen and not bomb your your son's room.
Good luck
SAHM/zombie 40 yrs sold with 2 funny adorable little boys. 3.5yrs & 1 (was walking before 8 months) My life moves at the speed of light with them.