Don’t Sleep in Your Clothes

Maybe you have had a bed bug infestation and have tried using pesticides or even heat treatment and continue the battle of the bugs.  My experience has taught me that one of the causes of continued infestations of bed bugs is as a result of someone in the household sleeping in their clothes.

As the parent of three teenagers, I regularly find my kids asleep in their clothes after staying up late watching TV or playing a game.  Many of us work late shifts and come home dog tired and simply crash.  Students are often up late studying.  Whatever the reason, you will want to change your clothes in the morning before leaving your room if you suspect you have bed bugs.

Imagine this scenario: You’ve come home and fallen asleep in your clothes and some time in the ensuing hours the bed bugs have sensed your presence and come out to feast.  They slip in under your shirt or pants and decide that they are in no rush to get back to the safety of the mattress and hang out on your clothes for just a while longer.  You wake up and are fully dressed and head off to the kitchen for your coffee.  The bed bug at this point has glued itself to your clothes.  You then sit down to enjoy your morning brew and the bed bug decides it time to find a safer spot to hide and jumps off in search of a new home.  Or, it may decide to hang in there and decides to crawl to safety while you are on the TTC on the way to work.  Or, it may stick with you until you visit a friend later in the day before the bed bug decides to jump ship. That one little bug can now lay up to 500 eggs in their new home.

What’s even worse is when you have had a pesticide or heat treatment but didn’t treat the clothes you just slept in and the bugs are back the very next day and a new bed bug infestation begins.

My advice is to not sleep in your clothes or, if you do, do not leave the room in the clothes you slept in to prevent your bed bug infestation from spreading.