Bed bugs.
They are small, brownish, and oval insects that you definitely don’t want to welcome into your home. They may be as small as 5 millimetres, but can cause a lot of trouble by feeding on your blood and leaving itchy bite marks.
This might not be the most exciting read, but sometimes what’s not exciting is what you need, particularly if you suspect an infestation in your bed.
We hope that’s not the case. But if it is, we are here to help.
What are bed bugs anyway?
Before anything else, let’s try to understand what a bed bug is. Bed bugs are 5 millimetre small insects that are brownish and oval in shape. After feeding, their bodies start to swell and become red. They can be smaller than an apple seed and thinner than a credit card, but these small insects rapidly reproduce.
Female bed bugs can lay hundreds of eggs in a lifetime, called nymphs. When these nymphs reach maturity, they can produce three generations annually. Unlike mosquitoes, bed bugs cannot fly, but they can travel and feed on human blood, leaving reddish welts on your skin. They also leave debris on your mattress. The more reason we want to bust them as soon as possible.
When Do Bed Bugs Bite?
Luckily, bed bugs don’t pose serious harm to your health. However, their bites can leave reddish, itchy welts. Bed bugs are mainly active at night, biting the exposed parts of your body when you sleep, mainly your ankles.
Here are the signs of bed bug infestations on your mattress that you should look out for:
- Bite marks and itchy areas of your body
- Dark spots or blood stains on your mattress or bedding
- Eggshells or shed skin
- Dead bed bugs or faecal spots
- Distinct smells
If you notice these signs, start checking your mattress to find their hideout.
Where Do Bed Bugs Hide?
Having bed bugs in your home doesn’t necessarily mean that you lack proper hygiene, since bed bugs don’t stay in a place because it’s dirty. In fact, even hotel mattresses can catch bed bug infestations.
Due to their small and thin build, bed bugs can easily fit into tight spaces. If you notice some reddish and itchy areas of your body and some spots on your mattress, start checking these parts of your bedroom:
- Under the mattress
- Gap between the mattress and headboard
- Box spring
- Around the bed frame
- Bedside table
- Carpet
- Wardrobe
- Other creases in your bedroom
If you suspect an infestation on your mattress, remove all the bedding and carefully look for their hiding place. Bed bugs hide in groups on your mattress, so they are easier to spot if you carefully check your place.
Busting Bed Bugs in Your Mattress
Aside from their annoying bites, bed bugs reproduce pretty quickly, which makes them hard to terminate. Getting rid of the bed bug infestation on your own will surely require consistency and patience.
Here are some ways to get rid of bed bugs on your mattress:
1. Strip off all the bedding from your mattress
Although having bed bugs on your mattress doesn’t mean that it’s dirty, removing all the bedding from your sleeping surface can help you spot the infestation.
After removing all the bed sheets, blankets, and pillowcases from your mattress, carefully wash them in hot water and dry them on the hottest possible dryer setting. Make sure to check their care labels before doing so.
Avoid using the same laundry basket as your clothes or other unaffected fabrics in your home.
2. Clean your mattress
Carefully check your mattress for signs of bed bug infestations. If you see some bedbug or egg traces on your mattress, remove them using a brush before vacuuming the surface. Make sure to also tackle the other side of the mattress, your bed frame, and the headboard.
It’s also crucial to tackle other spots in your bedroom, like the carpet and wardrobe, since bed bugs can also hide on your clothes and extra bed sheets. Immediately wrap the vacuum cleaner in a secured plastic bag to contain the bed bugs that you have removed.
3. Use a safe insecticide on your mattress
Before doing this step, make sure that your windows are open and your room is properly ventilated. Choose a safe insecticide to spray on your mattress, bed frame, and other parts of your bedroom. Be careful not to saturate your mattress with chemicals since this is where you sleep.
4. Encase your mattress in a mattress protector
After cleaning your mattress, guard it with a zippered mattress protector. This not only protects your mattress from dust and spills, but it also has the potential to trap any remaining bed bugs. Bed bugs can live for a year without feeding on blood, so covering your mattress for a longer period will stop them from feeding and reproducing.
A single deep cleaning process can reduce the infestation but will certainly not tackle everything at once. Make sure to repeat these processes to fully wipe out bed bug infestations on your mattress.
Note: DIY procedures may only work for small infestations. If it comes to the point where the bed bug infestation is already out of hand, it’s time to get the pros involved.
When to Replace Your Mattress
You don’t necessarily need to replace your mattress if it is infested by bed bugs, unless it is already old and dirty.
Since a mattress is a huge investment, carefully choose one with the right support and comfort features to guarantee a healthy night’s sleep. When sharing your bed, we recommend getting a pocketed spring mattress with excellent motion isolation and breathable features. It's also a good idea to guard your new mattress with a mattress protector to prevent bed bugs from crawling into your sleeping surface.
When you replace your mattress, make sure to deep clean your bedroom, or the infestation will reoccur on your new mattress. Also, make sure that your mattress is properly sealed in a container where bed bugs can’t escape during disposal to prevent them from spreading to other areas.
At Somnuz, we are serious about giving you the best night's rest that you deserve. This is why we continue to formulate and offer the best mattress technologies in Singapore while providing you with some tips to improve your bedroom setup. In case your current mattress is deeply infested by bed bugs, we highly recommend getting the help of professional exterminators.