Wash and Wash again!!!!

M

mummymoo

Registered User
I just wished to share my experience with other mums and ask advice as to what to do. I recently bought a play mat from one of the premier baby shops (not sure if I am allowed to name them and this is probably a problem with the supplier than with them, as the item was made and presumably stored in some Chinese warehouse), and I opened and assembled it whilst sitting on my fabric lounge. After being happy that all the pieces were there, in working order, I proceeded to have the actual mat portion (which is fabric) and the little hanging stuffed toys washed. A week later I noticed one or two bugs crawling over the mat near my infant, these can only be described as like a beetle shape but in miniature, size wise it is 2-3mm or 1/8 of an inch, no wings. My helper noticed one or two also. Over the last fortnight I have noticed more and more of these creatures appearing, usually around the play mat but also on my child's change table and also on the original lounge where I opened up the packaging to begin with. There were not there before the play mat came to my home, the majority have been on my lounge and on the playmat (there are bits which can not be washed) and I can only think there must have been some larvae or some bugs which had been hidden in the packaging/mat which feel on my lounge and floor and have now grown into adulthood. Completely grotesque I know!

Now I have a mini pest problem on my hands. So my word of warning for mums out there and anyone else is to not open these items on lounges ect where the bugs can seed, wash and double wash these baby items as they are not 'clean' when they come out of a shop as they may have spent an age in some poorly ventilated warehouse somewhere and my question is what can I do about the pests with a very small baby at home?

Any advice appreciated. Feeling very itchy and scratchy even as I type this post out.....
 
Have you got a photo of the bugs? We might be able to identify them and suggest an appropriate way to kill them.
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Maybe you should call a pest control company to come take a look and give a quote. If it's bed bugs it can get out of control, so you should act fast. Are the bugs biting you and your baby?
 
Thanks for your advice, I've caught a few on a piece of tape and was planning to bring to a pest control company, any recommendations regarding good companies would be appreciated. These things are tiny RileyC and my camera can't image them in sharp focus, so will have to show someone in person one suspects.

Portia, I've had a few bites but thought they were from mosquitos, I'd never even considered bed bugs until erina320 suggested it....now pretty stressed.....just googled it and it seems like a disaster to have an infestation of.


As for my baby, well she has a few reddish marks (only on the face) but I thought it was healing baby acne.

What a stress....all over my careless handling of a play mat!
 
Don't beat yourself up mummymoo, I certainly didn't wash The Boy's playmat when I bought it - you're just unlucky not careless. But I do echo the advice to get some pest person in asap to sort them out. Good luck.
 
Like JVN said don't beat yourself up. Bed bugs are an epidemic worldwide right now, mainly because of product contamination from manufacturers in Asia. It could happen to anyone.

Here in the states people are getting them at movie theaters and then carrying them back home with them. So the little buggers are EVERYWHERE!

I'm just sorry you have to deal with them with a little one. It's stressful enough and then have to worry about pesticides and your baby on top of that.
 
Summer is the start of tick season in HK. Ticks start off very tiny in size, rather like a speck of brown. At that stage it's hard to see any legs. On closer inspection, you start to notice that they're actually moving. As they feed more, they grow in size and the legs become more noticeable; they stay brown until at some stage they often look black and look like a Chinese fermented black bean ("dow see" to a Cantonese speaker). To the unfamiliar, tick bites tend to be confused for mosquito bites but the difference is that they tend to itch for longer and the bite marks linger for longer (and are more likely to form scabs if scratched).

Do you have a pet dog or cat? The pet could have brought them in? Do you take your baby (or other children) to the playground or any grassy areas? The ticks could have latched on to a human host there. The playmat may not be the source. As disgusting as ticks are, they are easier to get rid of than bed bugs, so don't worry unduly. However, you will have to be vigilant and patient. If you have a pet dog or cat, you will also have to treat them with tick shampoo as well to avoid re-infestation of your home. You will be able to find out more about getting rid of ticks on google.
 
Just another guess - they could be baby cockroaches just hatched. They seem to appear around this time of year and grow very rapidly into much larger cockroaches! We get them in our flat but when they are still tiny the grocery store cockroach baits seem to do the trick. It's pretty gross, but not as worrisome as bed bugs or ticks. But better to get them identified properly.
 
I used Pesticide Services Co. Ltd. You can ask for Bano on +852 9309 6188, or call the main line at +852 2570 7028. We asked for fumigation for all crawling & flying insects, which costed HK$590 for a 2,000 sq ft flat last September. There's a warranty for 2-3 weeks, if you continue seeing them, but it did the trick for me. Good luck!
 
RileyC and jvn, thanks for trying to make me feel better. I'm so stressed at the moment with breastfeeding, sleeplessness and dealing with a jealous older sibling that I'm pretty acopic withe the current situation (no more reserve......)....moreover the pictures of the bites you get when you google bed bugs is frightening to say the least. I'm now onto the task of sorting this problem out once and for all. I've caught a few of the pests, hunted through the house for bed bug dropping, blood stain marks and thought I'd found some dropping but after looking at the black things I'd found with a loupe they turned out to be bits of black fluff!

RileyC, we haven't noticed any more bites but I'll take a look at any new bites to see if they are more itchy than normal and if the bite lasts for longer (I think so at any rate...so it may be ticks....hoooooray.....sad I know.....I'm just holding onto anything that it won't be bed bugs). Btw, we don't have any pets, but my children do go to the park....so still a possibility.

Yonge, thanks so much for the contact, will get onto them tomorrow to see if they work public holidays, and have a number from another friend to call too.

Will keep you posted on the outcome, in hopes it may help others out there and thanks for your help.
 
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