Can Children’s Bedrooms Get Bed Bugs?

Bunk Beds

The most involved piece of furniture in the house from this point of view: two sleeping places, a great many joints, and a structure that is rarely taken apart.

• Both mattresses, piping and corners, top and bottom — and the top bunk is not exempt because it is high up
• Every bolted joint in the frame, which is where the harbourages usually are
• The slats and the slat rails on both levels
• The underside of the top bunk's base, viewed from the lower bed, which is a large sheltered surface directly above a sleeping child
• The ladder — its joints and where it hooks on
• The safety rail and its fixings

Cabin Beds and Beds With Storage

• Every drawer comes out and gets turned over — runners, backs and undersides
• The carcass joints inside the storage void, which is dark and never disturbed
• The ply back and base panels, and the rebates they sit in
• Any steps or built-in ladder
• A trundle bed underneath, mattress and frame, whether or not it is used

A cabin bed is effectively a wardrobe with a mattress on top. It takes longer to inspect and longer to prepare than a divan, and the preparation is the part parents underestimate.

The Rest of the Room

• A mattress on the floor, which many children's rooms have at some point — check the perimeter and carpet edge as carefully as the mattress
• Under-bed storage boxes, toy crates and the space they sit in
• Soft toys, particularly the ones that live in the bed. Low risk, but they are fabric in a bed
• A reading chair, beanbag or floor cushion
• The sleepover mattress or blow-up bed and its storage bag
• Fabric on the walls — bunting, a canopy, a fabric headboard

Soft Toys, Specifically

The question every parent asks, and the answer is more reassuring than expected.

1. Nothing gets thrown away. Almost everything can be dealt with
2. Washable toys go through a hot wash and a full hot tumble dry like bedding
3. Non-washable ones go through a full hot tumble dry cycle alone, if the label allows, or are sealed in a bag and set aside for the period you are advised
4. Ask the technician about anything that cannot be washed or dried — there is usually an answer, and it is rarely disposal
5. Do not spray anything a child holds, with anything at all

Woodley: What To Say To a Child

• Keep it small and factual. Small insects that live in beds, somebody is coming to deal with it, it will be sorted
• Say it is not their fault, and not because the room is untidy. Children conclude both of those on their own
• Tell them the toys are not being thrown away, early — it is usually the thing they are actually worried about
• Explain the washing as a job everybody is doing rather than something happening to their things
• Do not make the bed frightening. A child who will not sleep in their own bed ends up in a parent's, which is exactly the movement worth avoiding