After bed bug treatment: keeping watch and getting back to normal

The short answer: Keep every follow-up visit your pest control professional books, check your bed regularly, unpack clean bags a little at a time and leave mattress encasements on. If you see new signs, call the professional back.

Treatment day is behind you. Now comes a quieter stretch: keeping watch, unpacking and slowly getting back to normal. It can take a while, and that’s OK.

Keep your follow-up visits

Many pest control professionals book one or more follow-up visits after the first treatment. Keep those appointments, even if you haven’t seen a single bug since. Follow any instructions they leave about cleaning and putting things back.

It’s worth asking them two questions: what you might see in the coming weeks, and what should make you call.

Keep checking your bed

Make a quick check part of changing your sheets. Look along the seams and corners of the mattress cover, along the bed frame and behind the headboard. You’re looking for the same things as before: live bugs, small dark spots and pale shed skins.

Our guide to the signs of bed bugs shows what each one looks like. If you have interceptor cups under the bed legs, check those too. Write down anything you find, with the date and a photo.

Unpack clean bags gradually

When your professional says it’s OK, open your sealed bags of clean clothes and belongings a few at a time, not all at once. Look things over as you put them away.

A small batch is easier to check than a whole room, and it keeps clutter from building up again.

Keep the encasement on

Leave your mattress and box spring encasements zipped on. A smooth cover is much easier to check than a bare mattress, and it keeps bed bugs out of the seams. Look it over for rips now and then, and replace it if it tears.

Be careful what comes in

Now is a good time to be extra careful with anything new to your home. Skip curbside mattresses and furniture, and check any second-hand find before it comes inside. Our second-hand furniture guide has a simple checklist.

After a trip, unpack in one spot, away from your bed, and wash your clothes on the hottest setting the care label allows.

Feeling jumpy is normal

Once my own ordeal was over, I stayed on high alert for a long time. Every dark speck got a second look, and in the back of my mind I kept wondering if some had been missed. Even thinking about them made my skin crawl.

If you feel the same, you’re not alone. A routine can help: check at set times, like when you change the sheets, instead of all day long.

When to call the professional back

• You see a live bug, or find one in an interceptor cup.
• New dark spots or shed skins show up on clean sheets.
• A neighbour tells you they have bed bugs, if you live in an apartment. Our guide to renting with bed bugs covers what to do.
• Something just doesn’t feel right and you’d like a second look.

Calling early is never a waste of anyone’s time. Keep a photo, or the bug in a sealed bag, to show them.

Next step · 4 of 5 doneI want to avoid themTravel, furniture and laundry habits.