Bedbug Control Wallington

Check Before You Carry Anything

Before the move, take a torch and have a slow, careful look in the room the child is leaving, whether that is your bedroom, a shared room or a cot beside your bed. Look along mattress seams, the corners of the base, the joints of the frame and the skirting nearest the bed.

• Tiny dark spots, like pen dots, grouped along seams or joints
• Pale, empty skins, often in the corners of a base or behind a headboard
• Small rusty marks on a sheet or pillowcase
• Live bugs, flat and brown, somewhere near the bed

If you see any of these, hold the move. Shifting a mattress, a chest of drawers or a toy box out of an affected room simply gives the bugs a second bedroom.

Hand-Me-Down and Second-Hand Furniture

A child’s first room is often furnished from relatives, friends or second-hand listings: a bed frame from a cousin, a wardrobe from a neighbour. Those are welcome, but look at each piece before it comes through the door, paying most attention to joints, screw holes and the underside of any drawers. A padded headboard or an old mattress deserves a very careful look.

Boxes of clothes or toys that have been in a loft or garage for a while can hold surprises too. The Sutton guide on bedbugs in stored boxes explains what to look for before you unpack.

If You Find Them Partway Through

Stop moving things, and leave the child sleeping where they are for now. It feels wrong, but taking them to sleep in another bed usually takes the bugs with them. Wash and tumble-dry bedding and soft toys on the hottest setting the labels allow, then keep them bagged.

For children, bites vary as much as they do for adults: some react, some show nothing. For itching or a skin reaction, speak to a pharmacist or GP, and call 999 for any sign of a severe allergic reaction.

Treating Before the New Room Is Used

If the move has not happened yet, the simplest plan is to treat first and move afterwards. Heat treatment is usually one visit, so the new room can be set up soon after; it costs more than chemical. Chemical treatment runs over two or three visits about 10 to 14 days apart, and furniture should stay put until the course is finished. On the day, follow the instructions we give about when the child and any pets can go back into treated rooms.

If you are not sure whether what you found is bedbugs at all, an inspection starts from £120. Wallington families ask most about whether the new bed is at risk; the answer depends on what else moves with it.

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