We found a BEDBUG | Imamother

amother

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 5:10 pm

I’m dying!!!
My son has been getting little bite for about two three weeks now. I took him last week to the pediatrician that said it looks more like eczema.
Today I took h to a dermatologist who said it’s bedbugs. We quickly called an exterminator who came over and found one bedbug between his mattress and his mattress protector. He checked in other places and we couldn’t find any more. He then gave us the following proposal:
$3650
Clearing out every.single.closet and putting everything in the dryer for a half an hour on high heat.
He will move and exterminate all furniture. Will do all baseboards etc.
bookshelves -the bottom two selves need to be cleaned.
And so on....... it’s a massive job!!!!!
I’m 6 weeks pregnant and don’t have any energy for this now.
We called another exterminator who said he can bring a dog tomorrow and thinks maybe we should only treat the room we found the bedbug in. But the other guy scared the daylights out of me that we need to do every single room in the house because bedbugs travel like crazy!

Insight anyone?????
Does anyone have experience in this? I feel so dysfunctional!!!

amother

Aubergine

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 5:16 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Bring in Snoopy. (They often use beagles.) See what they find, then make the decision.

But yes, unfortunately, this needs to be done.

B'shaa tova, btw.

amother

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 5:16 pm

happyone wrote:

please get another option before you spend all that money .

There’s another one coming tomorrow who said we might only need to treat that room. But I’m too nervous it’s around the house and we won’t do a good enough of a job. I’m just so overwhelmed and nervous

amother

Coffee

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 5:30 pm

I am so sorry.
I have dealt with this 3 times!
It is not me or cleanliness before you start thinking I am a horrible dirty person.

The first, my entire apartment building in NYC, in the early 2000's was infected.

Second, I was in an upscale Pesach hotel and found in my room.

Third, most recently, I do Homecare an I was bitten in a patient's home. I called the agency and they said yeah, we knew there used to be a problem, but she said it was taken care of. Nice to tell me!

All I can say is that I am so sorry.

I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

amother

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 5:36 pm

amother [ Coffee ] wrote:

But what should I do???
Tell everyone to stand 10 miles away from me and my kids? I feel like I will never get rid of them if it’s so complicated. Also doesn’t help to think that it’s gonna cost so much money and I’m probably the only Jewish family who is dealing with this.

amother

Jade

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 7:41 pm

amother [ Coffee ] wrote:

Which hotel had it?

amother

Slategray

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 11:31 pm

This worked for us: washed all linens and pajamas, dried on high a minimum of 15 minutes.
Sprayed mattresses, bed frames, & all around carpet with alcohol.
Put on very good quality mattress covers.
Continue this for a few days, every morning and evening.
We were super careful that all bedding and pajamas didn’t come into contact with anything other than beds or washer/ dryer.
This worked, and we had a really bad case.

amother

Taupe

Tue, Jan 07 2020, 11:47 pm

Posting anonymously bc I told everyone I know abt my bedbug situation. My daughter had bites, the dr said insect bites but couldn’t find anything. By time I found A bed bug there was an infestation in the wall near her bed. We had exterminator come confirm and give a quote. And then got another quote. Both upwards of 2500, with only a 3 month guarantee (these bugs can survive up to 1-1.5yrs). I was pregnant and didn’t want the exposure to toxins so did research.
We did full on cleaning, laundry like above poster mentioned (pjs and linen straight in machine in am). All clothing in dryer On hot for half an hr and then clothes u use in big ziplocks, clothes u don’t need rn in clear sturdy bags that are sealed.
And to treat the bugs that u can’t see u need to buy diatomaceous earth. It’s a very fine powder that dries out the bug and slowly kills them. It’s the long short way. Apply around permiter of the room and where the exterminated would’ve treated (I put behind couch cushion, along walls, baseboards etc). Google it and watch a video abt how and where to safely apply. Good luck! You can do this!

thegiver

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 12:09 am

It seems a lot worse than it is. Don't consider yourself contaminated. Daaven to Hashem. Your case sounds mild. I found that after taking action and examining what I did wrong spiritually (my situation was extreme onaas devarim) the pests in my house went away. It is overwhelmingly stressful until you do something about it. Action is what relieves anxiety. Everything is a test.

Btw Avoid taking free things esp off the street or things out of your or somebody elses garage

amother

Pearl

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 1:18 am

I experienced the same thing and relate 100% to the level of anxiety you are experiencing.
There is a lot of info out there about bedbugs and it can make even a healthy brain go crazy and experience real OCD feelings.

I just want to point out that the extreme treatments are more of a precaution. Your house is not infested with bugs if your exterminator only found one.
But with that, even big infestations are treatable. No one lives with bedbugs forever.

Please try to keep a healthy mindset. This will pass. I was so consumed with anxiety when I went through this and it was so unnecessary.

If you live in Brooklyn I can send you a number of a very kind and affordable exterminator.
Good luck!

amother

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 6:08 am

Thanks everyone!
We had a k9 dog come last night. It seems that it’s only my sons bed and the playroom sofa are infected. He said “this isn’t called an infestation but an infection”. That calmed me, but I’m still very anxious. They are coming today to cook his room and playroom. I hope this works.
Right now I’m so aggravated because as we were dealing with this we had a plumber come check our thermostat and charged us $650 for changing the automatic valve. We were in such distress that we said ok and only after he left we called a few ppl and realized we paid more than double than the average. Oy what a day!!!!!

amother

Papaya

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 7:50 am

amother [ Taupe ] wrote:

How can you know they are in the wall?

Where do bedbugs usually bite? I have spots on my arms which I'm worried about now.

How do they come? And if I have them can I see them ?

amother

Smokey

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 7:58 am

Op it’s very overwhelming but once they treat the 2 beds you’ll be fine.

You’ll still FEEL like the house is infested but after a few weeks the feeling will go away Smile

I was told that they live in the bed ruffles so if you have any, try to get rid of them.

Buy the good, completely cased, bedbug mattress covers. (About 25-$30 a piece)

amother

Taupe

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 8:02 am

amother [ Papaya ] wrote:

How can you know they are in the wall?

Where do bedbugs usually bite? I have spots on my arms which I'm worried about now.

How do they come? And if I have them can I see them ?

When I went with a flash light at night I saw them congregating btwn floor and molding. (There was a small hole that we sealed off when cleaning everything, but I basically assumed they had been hanging out in that wall till I found it on her bed.)
The full size bugs are visible to the eye. The bites look and feel different on everyone. Usually they are on the hands and feet, sometimes in threes.
Best way to know is do an inspection. Look in corners of bed skirts/headboards etc.
Hopefully it’s not that!

nchr

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 8:07 am

BH never had bed bugs, but I travel a lot so have read up on them. One really good way to know if you have bed bugs is to thoroughly clean the bedding (hot water, dryer), bed frame/mattress (vacuum, steam, treat), and then use bed bug proof products to seal the mattress. Afterwards remove all bedskirts and pillows and pull your bed away from the wall. Since bed bugs cannot jump, they can only crawl up the feet. Buy the catchers for the 4 bed feet. If you have bedbugs elsewhere, they will get trapped as they try to travel to you. This is a helpful video Watch "How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in 4 Easy Steps" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/vcpoy8kiePY

amother

Ginger

Wed, Jan 08 2020, 10:21 am

We had bedbugs in our apartment when we lived in NY. I had a toddler and was pregnant with #2. It was only in my bedroom. We knew this because my toddler didn't have a single bite. My husband on the other had was covered.
We stripped the beds in our room and found a ton roaming on our mattress.
The complex covered the exterminator. (We looked to go private. They wanted $500 a room and the kitchen and bathroom counted as a room). The first time around we just washed and dried everything. We sent our dry cleaning to be steam pressed.
We were told we had to move out for 24 hours. They only did our bedroom, but neither my son nor myself could come back in until all surfaces were disinfected.
My husband was still getting bitten, so the second time they did the whole apartment, but this time we had to pack up as if we were moving and move the furniture away from the walls. Again we had to move out for 24 hours and disinfect.
Afterwards they told us the eggs could take up to a month to die off and that could be the new bites we were getting.
It was a nightmare. I just hear the word bedbugs and I panic. Every mosquito bite has my anxious....