What to Do if Bed Bugs Bite a Baby All Over?

Melody is a volunteer for the Center for Disease and Control Prevention. She enjoys sharing her personal feel with others.

Practise you know the signs and symptoms of bed bugs?

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What Is Biting My Child at Night?

We seldom use the phrase "Don't permit the bed bugs bite" with children in 2019, the year of the bed bug. Instead, parents are request how to get rid of those bugs. This page contains photos to give y'all an example of what bed bug bites look like on children. The data nigh rashes found hither is meant to help give ideas about how to deal with a kid's physical and psychological reactions to bed bugs.

It doesn't take to be then scary. Information technology's a more common issue now, one that is widely overlooked in the current epidemic. Non understanding the facts tin cause fearfulness, and that fearfulness creates distress in adults and children.

What to Do if Your Kids Are Bitten by Bed Bugs

• Learn about bed bugs, feces, and eggs.
• Know how to identify bed bugs and possible bites.
• Get rid of bed bugs with an exterminator such as Terminix.
• Buy supplies such as mattress covers, traps, and pesticides from Domyownpestcontrol.com or Amazon.
• Talk with your children honestly.
• Treat rashes with baking soda paste or Hydrocortisone cream.
• Call a doctor if you are worried your kid may take a serious allergic reaction.

A 6-twelvemonth-sometime boy's bed bug bites.

© 2012 by Bedbugabscond

Children and Bed Bugs

Increased amounts of fourth dimension spent at school and with friends proportionally raises the take a chance that kids volition be bitten by bed bugs or even bring them home. You never know when or where they might pick upward a rogue pest. This makes it of import to know how to audit children for bites. If you know what to look for, y'all can place the trouble every bit soon as possible.

What Do Bedbug Bites Await Like on a Child?

• According to the New Hampshire Department of Health, only children who accept a serious allergy get true welts from bed problems bites, so you might not run into anything so distinctive as a welt.
• Bed issues bites do non have a seize with teeth mark in the middle. If the bite is a welt and/or has a seize with teeth mark in the eye, it could exist a spider, mosquito, or fifty-fifty a flea bite. (As with anything, at that place are exceptions to this rule.)
• Some people experience itchiness, welts, or swelling 24 hours after exposure, merely the reaction might non exist dramatic or obvious for several days, and some never react at all. In other words, the bites might not be itchy or leave whatever mark at all.
• If a child scratches a bed bug bite plenty, the pare might break, causing a sore to develop. Scratching might likewise cause the bite to resemble a flea bite with a mark in the center. While bed bug bites are not dangerous, these sores can go infected.
• Children who take serious reactions to bed bug bites could experience shock, such every bit with other insect bites.
• Something else worthy of mention: When a bed bug bites are an area covered with hair, the bite mark might look like a follicle in the peel where the hair grows instead of what it really is.

Bed bug bites on a child's elbow.

© 2012 by bedbugabscond

Identifying a Bed Bug Seize with teeth on a Kid

• The bites might be flat or raised welts. They're unremarkably minor and pink (a severe reaction may crusade large, carmine rashes).
• Look for rashes in groups of 3 or more; although they do not always follow this pattern, they oft practice.
• The bites may be grouped together.
• You lot may see a line or a zigzag of bites.

Bed issues bite symptoms are an allergic reaction. Some children will have no reaction; nevertheless, others volition react dramatically. I am non going to go into the science, only every person's body responds differently to different allergens. Plus, a person tin can develop an allergy at any time.

Bed issues bites on children tend to be larger and more than pronounced than they are on adults. Children are more than sensitive, so they tend to have more than exaggerated reactions. Some children may besides accept a delayed reaction.

This article, What's the Difference Between Bed Bug, Musquito, and Spider Bites?, helps identify exactly which kind of bug is biting.

How to Inspect Children for Bed Bugs and Bites

• Check kids when they return from a friend's house, a sleepover, or camp, only recall that information technology takes about 24 hours for a reaction to develop, and some may non go a reaction for a week or more than later on being bitten. Then, depending on when the child may have been bitten, you may accept to inspect once more later on.
• In addition, virtually half of people never develop any visible reaction to the bites whatsoever.
• If yous take cause for alarm, you can place all items in a large zip lock bag before they come in the house.
• Inspect earlier the child settles into bed or sits downwardly on the couch. Endeavour to audit them without making a big deal about it. You can eyeball a kid pretty easily—they practise non even have to know you are looking.
• Kickoff with the caput, neck, and shoulders. Look at the hairline (but you do non have to audit pilus equally thoroughly as yous would for lice).
• Look for minor crimson dots that are often grouped, three or more.
• Wait at all areas of peel that might have been exposed while they were sleeping: arms, legs, trunk, hands, shoulders, etc.
• Whatsoever y'all do, don't warning the kids. They are looking at you for cues to guide their ain reactions.
• Care for a bed bug inspection with the same intendance and urgency every bit a lice inspection. You want to exist thorough simply at-home.
• You'll also want to check their beds for signs of infestation.

Controlling Fear

In today's world (where one in five people polled say they know someone who'southward had a bed issues problem), most kids accept heard of bed bugs, but they don't really know how to recognize either the problems or the bites. They also don't know how to cope with their feelings in regards to these bloodsuckers.

Some parents have become so agape of an infestation that they are scared to let their kids go to friends' houses or accept sleepovers. This is understandable, but there are ways to let children to experience life safely.

Read More From Dengarden

Safety involves communication. Some people might be so embarrassed that they try to hibernate the truth of an infestation from anybody, while others might shamelessly blabber the news to everyone. I believe that honesty is the all-time course of action. Ethically, it prevents others from being exposed and emotionally, it lightens the brunt of suffering and shame.

Children will find your reaction, and if you react with fear, hysteria, or shame, information technology could cause them grief. Being enlightened of their feelings and educating them about bed bugs can help reduce some of the stress.

How Long Does It Take for a Bed Bug Rash to Develop?

A lot of people enquire this question, but there is no one answer. From what I have seen, a reaction unremarkably develops within 24-48 hours of exposure and fades in 24-48 hours, only not anybody has the aforementioned reaction.

Some people swear it takes 9 or 14 days to develop a rash, and that may be true, simply it could as well be that they stayed at a hotel nine or 14 days ago and want to blame it on the hotel, not their ain home or family unit members. Or peradventure they brought a issues habitation, and bites went undetected.

Some children can have astringent allergic reactions. For example, i asthmatic child may take no serious reaction to bites, and salubrious children end up going to the medico for steroid cream or a shot. The reverse happens, also.

How long it takes to develop red dots depends on the person. The average time it takes to run across visible rashes is within the first 2 days subsequently the bite—about one-half of the people who are exposed never develop whatsoever reaction at all.

Treating Bed Issues Rashes on Kids

• As a full general rule, children with reactions should always go to the doctor. Prescription-forcefulness hydrocortisone cream will likely exist recommended. This stuff works great on bed bugs. For most people, it stops itching and makes the redness fade.
• In rare cases, an allergic reaction to an insect bite may require handling. Your doc may prescribe steroid shots or antibiotics to fight infection.
• If you really practise non desire to become to the dr., then become some other type of cream or lotion to treat the itching. Prescription-strength cream is the best, but my personal favorite nonprescription product for all types of pare rashes, including bed bugs, is Cortisone ten Maximum Forcefulness Intensive Healing Formula.
• Check the fashion your child is feeling. Is he worried others will notice? Reassure him that information technology'southward not a large problem. Is the bite itchy? Yous want to make sure that backlog scratching doesn't damage the skin and lead to infection.
• Babies who have bed issues bites should always exist taken to the doctor.

How to Talk to Your Kids Near Bed Bugs

If you do not take bed bugs, y'all probably accept little reason to talk to your kids virtually them. Withal, if you exercise take them, y'all may be feeling conflicted.

Yous have a pick: Either talk to your children openly and honestly or endeavor to go on it hidden. Simply yous volition know which is correct for your family. Just know that in that location is a good chance your kids will figure it out on their own.

• If you lot decide not to tell your kids, you tin can explain the marks away every bit spider bites. If the bites continue over time, you might get away with saying, "Oh, we amend spray for spiders; nosotros must have a ton!"
• Some other problem with hiding the truth is that it could interfere with your bed bug plan.
• Pesticides need to be used safely in homes with children. If y'all do non tell them well-nigh bed bugs, you should at to the lowest degree say you are doing a bi-annual spray.
• For condom reasons, fifty-fifty if yous do not want to talk to your children well-nigh the infestation, information technology is important to alert your children to the fact that you lot have sprayed. Explain the limits in boundaries to protect them from contamination.
• The truth is kids are very aware of what is going on around them. If yous can become the infestation under command quickly, you may never have to take the talk. If not, and so yous may accept no other option.
• The more prevalent bed bugs get, the less stigmatized these infestations will get. As I said before, I believe that honesty is the best course of action, ethically and emotionally. Fearfulness and shame or humor and instruction: The reaction is upwards to you. You could fifty-fifty turn this experience into a science experiment and/or enlist your children'south help. Read some books and spotter some videos together and then you all tin can learn more than.

Preventing Fear, Anxiety, and Shame Caused past Bed Bugs

• One great way to caput off or eliminate fears is to create a safe zone. Requite each kid a zippered mattress and pillowcase cover and a bed bug-resistant backpack for use during sleepovers. You can find bed bug bedding products in some stores, on Amazon Prime, and from USBedbugs Protection & Prevention Products.
• If y'all tell your kids about the problem and then permit them help you set it, they will experience more than control over the state of affairs. Involving them in the process will help them command their fears.
• If the child knows they accept a bed bug-free place to go, they are more likely to cope well.
• You lot can also get zippered bed tents or dresser drawer liners.
• Provide a supportive and caring environment where kids can talk nearly their worries and get help.

This article is accurate and truthful to the all-time of the author's knowledge. Content is for advisory or entertainment purposes merely and does non substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Questions & Answers

Question: Are bed bug bites small or large?

Answer: Bed bug bites are minor. However, on kids they might wait bigger than they are because a child has scratched them, increasing irritation.

Question: Can a child develop a fever afterwards severe bites?

Answer: Bed bugs practice not spread illness or inject venom or poison that are known to cause a fever. Information technology is hard to tell what would cause the fever in this situation. Information technology could be an allergic reaction, an infection from the wound itself, or something else entirely. In this scenario, doctors recommend seeking medical care for the child.

Question: Will a scar from a bed bug bite clear upwardly later the kid has scratched and caused bruising?

Answer: Children are very resilient. Their bodies heal faster, and more efficiently than that of an adult. I tin't tell yous if it will articulate upward or not. Still, kids are less likely to scar than an adult.

There are some things you lot can do to increment the chances that the bed bug bite will not fade into a permanent scar.

1. Make clean wound with warm h2o and utilise antibacterial creams. Neosporin is a great choice, They take new products that are even made to prevent scars.

2. Use Calamine lotion to preclude the itching.

three. Purchase a scar removal cream. There are existent products, normally fabricated with Vitamin East and other active ingredients, that reduce the advent of scars. I utilise Mederma, but there are lots of not bad brands out there.

© 2012 Melody Collins

MeganC86 on October 12, 2019:

How-do-you-do, my son gets chip all over his

Cheat and arm, they bother him a lot. He seems to have had a reaction of sorts them, he only gets bit in his room, we never get bit by anything and our daughter doesn't either. Just him. I've checked his bed and the room

And I've seen none of the traditional markings of bed bugs, any communication would be appreciated as I have no thought why this is happening

crystal gerard on January 29, 2019:

my daughter got them to when she came domicile from her cousins house only she merely had them on her hands she did non get a fever from them merely we did not know what they were

David on January 28, 2019:

Hullo: A few months ago my daughter started to get what appeared to be bug bites. Nosotros thought they may be mites, spider or mosquitos or fifty-fifty some sort of rash. They did't look similar pictures of what I've seen bedbug bites to be. Also, my son is in the same room and gets nothing. She'll get three or iv unremarkably on her hands, arms or face and and then they clear upward and in a couple of weeks she gets more. They don't see to itch. We searched for any signs of bugs and every bit a precaution, my wife sprayed with an over the counter bedbug spray, vacuumed well and done/heated all bedding and stuff animals etc. She is withal getting the marks. I've made an engagement for a dermatologist and allergist, but am really at a loss. Don't desire to spent tons on extermination for something we may not have. Whatsoever advice would exist appreciated. Cheers

alyssa a on July 21, 2018:

my son is breaking out on back and but. looks like bed bugs just i meet no other sign and the boys accept been sleep on the couch all summertime together and the other isnt breaking out. he likewise misbehaved which is dissimilar him inless ill and grabbed his ear and then know im not certain if it is bed bugs. what shoukd i do?

Melody Collins (writer) from United states of america on July 12, 2017:

Phillip: I agree. In that location should exist more restrictions on selling bug infested furniture. It is unlikely that bed bugs volition crusade any long term damage for your 8-month-erstwhile. Yet, the discomfort could be slap-up.

Since you take a baby, if y'all take or get bed bugs, I would call a professional. Information technology may toll yous $1000 or more.

Besides, know that at that place are lots of bed issues products sold on Amazon designed for babies. There are crib mattress covers and netting that can be used to protect your child.

Sometimes these products are sold as bed problems products. But mosquito netting can double for bed bugs in some cases, every bit long every bit it seals.

Phillip cox on July 04, 2017:

I'm worried that bed bugs might hurt my 8 month quondam I think people should not b allowed to sell cloths/beds/and couches that are used they should be fined and forced to burn all used products

miranda on November 27, 2012:

im getting bitten past bed bugs and i continue on itching them but i put cream on it and it works a petty and sometimes it don't piece of work when i put information technology on sometimes

Mother on November 12, 2012:

A mother that sharing information virtually bedbugs is r the right matter to practice.My chid desire to school on Friday and came home with bites on her.

Becky Katz from Hereford, AZ on June xx, 2012:

We had three months of torment with these things. My daughter had a friend spend the night and I gauge she brought them. It took a while for them to become to the point where nosotros noticed them and and then they were everywhere. Nosotros had Orkin come in and spray 2 months in a row, as well equally getting rid of all mattresses, box springs, and upholstered furniture. We besides had to dry out every item of cloth in the house for 20 min. in the dryer. I sew together and have lots of material. It cost me $30 in quarters to dry out all of that.

Melody Collins (writer) from United States on June 12, 2012:

Neat comment, thanks for the info. Bed bugs but bite once a dark, and they do not eat every night. So yes, near of these pictures are from homes with more than serious infestations.

I am glad you mentioned garage sales, I forgot that one. You used to be able to go expert stuff people left by the curb, and now y'all have to avoid that at all costs. You are right, buying at garage sales tin exist just equally risky! Thanks for reading!

Pamela Dapples from Arizona. on June 12, 2012:

This is a neat hub you've written.

There is quite a growing trouble of bed problems infestation on the islands of Hawaii, so I attended a costless class on it last year. Bed bugs specially like to travel by air on the airplanes in charabanc or Commencement Form. They as well honey to travel from one hotel to your destination via your luggage which you set in the hotel you lot are visiting.

I'one thousand not certain if you accept mentioned in 1 of your hubs that a bed problems only bites once a day. And so in the photos of the bites on the children'south bodies in that location were a LOT of bed bugs coming out to dine at night. They are attracted to the carbon dioxide homo beings expel from their rima oris when sleeping. This is why a new infestation of bed bugs begins with only i or two camping out at the peak of your mattress. You tin can see the picayune dark-brown dots of feces there virtually the rolled seams of the mattress. Subsequently, the bed bugs travel to unlike parts of the mattress and unlike areas of the room such as the dresser drawers.

Buying used dressers at a garage auction? This can be a way to bring bed bugs into your home. The bed bugs hide very well in different components of the dresser drawers and frame -- fifty-fifty nether the drawer handles.

Voting your hub up and across.

Anjili from planet world, a humanoid on May 21, 2012:

Thanks for sharing this information. I one time experienced these disgusting pests and learnt how to counter them the hard mode. I won the battle, never to encounter them again. I realized recently that infection can recur through public transport, a visit to infested localities or from a visitor. I've not seen the bug for several years. Voted up and useful.

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Source: https://dengarden.com/pest-control/Bed-Bugs-and-Children

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