https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 01 May 2026 16:32:51 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790536 Wed, 06 Dec 2017 22:03:57 +0000 LCTBQE 2790536@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: haha, okay I'm into the dogs idea :) would you mind walling me the company you used just in case for the future? We got a clean bill of health from the bedbug exterminator today, I went crazy and sanitized everything we own ALL day and he came and sprayed and treated everything preventatively and did the lobby, but he said zero evidence of any kind of activity at all in our place. Your method sounds a lot less worrying, though. I would had to have been sedated in a hospital if I'd had your experience, that is so good that it was nothing (or something else that was innocuous, I guess!) way to undo the relaxing vacation vibes though :meh: </p> <p>@lioneyes: great suggestions and I'm going to do all of them, thank you. we actually have access to our landlord's garage, and the exterminator told me today I should just leave the big stroller in there and wait until the temps dip below 30 degrees. Bagging it is a good idea, too. The umbrella stroller I took apart and he treated the frame with alcohol and i'm going to dry clean/dryer zap the fabric parts and hope they don't melt. I do kind of want to blame New York City and GTF out of here, ugh. cheers to illegal sublets, $2500 dry cleaning bills, movie theater infection, daycare infection, and unending paranoia. on the bright side our apartment is sparkling and I think I lost a couple pounds from not eating or sleeping. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790438 Wed, 06 Dec 2017 15:26:55 +0000 lioneyes 2790438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I dealt with this in NYC- i was (illegally) subletting my place to a friend and she had a bite she thought was a bedbug so I went for the nuclear option (Drycleaned every last piece of fabric, treated the mattress and couch, sealed all cracks). I don’t even think we ever had them, and I don’t think you do either.</p> <p>But. I would continue to not bring the stroller inside; would dryclean all fabrics attached to the stroller and the bunting (and if you can’t with some then I think sealing them in a plastic bag like for lice works). I think heat AND cold kill them too so maybe leave it outdoors if you can, like with a bike lock? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790416 Wed, 06 Dec 2017 14:51:31 +0000 Anagram 2790416@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: I had a bed bug panic last year after a vacation (I came home with some odd spots that started to spread, went to an urgent care clinic where the guy said he "couldn't rule bed bugs out"). Panic is an understatement--just because I've heard so much about how fast they can multiply and how hard they are to get rid of. Plus the insane amount of washing and fumigating. I decided I would rather just pay for the sniffer dogs (they have a human exterminator who also checks). I found someone on yelp in Manhattan, and they came out that very evening.</p> <p>They brought the dog and they were extremely thorough--they went through our suitcases, closets, under the beds/mattresses--everywhere essentially. And they were honest--they said we had 0 evidence of bed bugs. So it's not like we got any false positives.</p> <p>For me, it was 100% worth the cost for peace of mind.</p> <p>eta: One good thing is that after the dog and exterminator came and gave us the all clear, I didn't have to wash/fumigate/clean anything. Again, worth the money! My husband was in camp wait-and-see-and-in-the-meantime-do-massive-loads-of-laundry-and-buy-online-products-and-diy-a-fumigation. That would have been days of stress. I got it over with in one day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790392 Wed, 06 Dec 2017 13:49:54 +0000 LCTBQE 2790392@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mama Bird: @nana87: thanks, ladies :heart: I know there's not an infestation in our unit and truly do think it was a rogue one/more-than-one in the common space, but it's still freaking me out. I spoke with some bed bug-only exterminator specialists and they said the dogs were indeed cute but they didn't really trust them because they apparently give quite a lot of false positives--these guys maintained that the only way to know for sure was take every cleaning/preventative measure, but basically to wait it out and find physical evidence (or not, FX). I took the day off from work and am sanitizing everything we own and we're getting fumigation done in a few minutes. UGH. @nana87: it's good to know that you guys made it through--I don't blame your husband, this is so damn stressful! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790294 Wed, 06 Dec 2017 09:41:58 +0000 nana87 2790294@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Seconding the rec for a bug-sniffing dog! I think dh still has ptsd from when we had bugs about 6 years ago while I was out of the country and he had to deal with it himself. We had the dog come before and after the exterminators and it was a relief to know they were gone. Plus the dog was super cute, haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790280 Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:03:25 +0000 Mama Bird 2790280@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ick, I'm sorry, I would be freaking out also! However - it doesn't sound like you've got evidence of infestation other than that one big. If you ever take the stroller on the bus or subway, it could have come from there for all you know.</p> <p>I've never tried this myself, but I know there are services with bedbug sniffing dogs. If you can get one of those to come out, you might have a better idea if/where there's a problem.</p> <p>And of course keep an eye out for more bugs, or for eggs on out-of-the-way furniture parts. If there are bugs, you need to wash the laundry in hot water, and have an exterminator come. I think normally one or two visits should do.</p> <p>Can you tell I have more experience with this than I would like? :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790258 Tue, 05 Dec 2017 23:44:48 +0000 LCTBQE 2790258@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@maddyz: thank you, it helps even to know other people have had reason to freak out. I've had a couple friends who like you stayed in infested hotels and managed not to bring them home. UGH. the exterminator isn't going to bomb us, he told me the only exposure issue that's unsafe is breathing it and being in there within 4 hours of spraying (obviously we won't be) and direct contact with the chemicals through skin which he said if I mopped and vacuumed thoroughly after he came wouldn't be a problem, he knows we have a baby. Fortunately we're the last building on our block and we have virtually no shared walls, so it isn't like a huge apartment where it could be anyone on 8 sides of you. And I'm already a laundry maniac and general clean freak--I think I did catch this early. That and the fact that it was in the lobby and not our place makes this only my second-worst nightmare. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790257 Tue, 05 Dec 2017 23:27:31 +0000 maddyz 2790257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>3 apartments ago there was a scare and they flea bombed the Sh*t out of our place, it took me 3 days to clean the chemicals out enough to be able to sleep in there. So, dont do that.</p> <p>We also stayed in a hotel with bedbugs and managed to wash all our things and toss the bags we traveled with and didn't end up with them. But I spent weeks chasing after anything tiny to see what it was and looking at all our furniture with flash lights to check.</p> <p>I would leave as much clothing outside as possible and take a very careful look heading into my apartment. Washing and cleaning up is the other best thing to do. It's key to find them early.</p> <p>If you think they might be in other parts of the building caulking cracks might help, but they are so tiny it also might just be a wast of time. That's how I got rid of mice...</p> <p>Fingers crossed for you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bed-bug-scare-in-our-building-help#post-2790255 Tue, 05 Dec 2017 23:17:25 +0000 LCTBQE 2790255@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sorry for the novel, but looking for any advice from anyone who's dealt with bedbugs in the vicinity. </p> <p>Situation is we live in a brownstone on the third floor and keep our strollers and bunting in the lobby of our building (on the second floor). Yesterday morning I was putting the bunting over our umbrella stroller and found what I got an exterminator to confirm was an immature bed bug (UGH UGH) on the bunting. The bunting itself is a month old and literally has only been to 3 places: our daycare a handful of times, to the park where we leave it in the stroller, and to a local coffee shop where we also leave it in the stroller. No signs of bed bugs at our daycare (that we know of, but who knows) and zero signs of bedbugs in our actual apartment. I am super crazy clean and no one in the building (4 apartments total) has seen any sign of them, no one has gotten a single bite. The landlord who lives below us has had a bunch of workers in the lobby and her place, on the same floor, in the past week doing painting and other work, I'm wondering if it possibly came from that, but of course no one wants to be patient zero in this situation.<br /> Anyway. I got my landlord to take this seriously and she called her exterminator on the spot, he's coming tomorrow to go WW3 on the lobby and hallways, and I'm having him preventatively spray our apartment, too. I'm going to wash and dry all the linens and the stroller fabrics, and he's going to treat the stroller frames with alcohol. </p> <p>Has anyone here had a similar situation? REALLY appreciate any advice anyone can offer. </p>