I have an eight-day old baby and am staying at my mom’s house. I have recently discovered a couple of fleas and flea bites around the house. My mom has a dog and a cat and I’m assuming that’s the source of the fleas. But with the new baby in the same house, what can I do to get rid of the fleas and protect us from bites?

Comments

  1. margecut

    You can try one or more of these remedies:
    “Combine orange peels, grapefruit peels, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon rosemary, (optional) and one pint of water in blender. Blend until liquefied. Heat mixture on low heat for 15 minutes. Cool and strain liquid into spray bottle. Spray on pet, and massage thoroughly into pet’s coat, avoiding their eyes.
    Vacuum furniture and carpet frequently. Change bags after each use or store vacuum cleaner outside of home; clean your pet’s favorite sleeping spots regularly and sprinkle with fennel or rosemary. A ratio of 1 teaspoon vinegar to one quart water used as drinking water helps to keep most pets free of fleas and ticks.
    Spread leaves or shavings of Fennel, Rosemary, Red Cedar Shavings, Sassafras, Eucalyptus, or Pennyroyal under and around your pets’ beds.
    Dust powdered Rosemary (cooking herb) onto the pet or areas where the pet sleeps.
    Make a water trap by partially filling a shallow pan with water. Suspend light source securely above it. Fleas (and other bugs) are attracted to the light and fall into the water and drown.”http://www.landofvos.com/articles/wingti…

  2. jen

    You can bomb the house and leave for 6 hrrs. . .or they sell sprays and powders you put down then vaccum up that are safe to use around pets and children. Look at your local pet store like PetSmart or PetCo.

  3. Amanda C

    First of all, there is NO pesticide that will kill the flea in the pupae (cocoon) stage. That means that even after you spray the house, treat the animals and vacuum like mad, there will be another ‘hatch-out’ after all this work. Don’t be discouraged. There are many good medications for dogs and cats today. You need to use a product such as Revolution, Advantage, or Frontline Plus. Also, an older drug, Program, will break the life cycle of the flea, however, the flea must first bite the animal, and how uncomfortable that must be! The adult fleas that you see are only 5% of the total population!!!! That means 95% are eggs, larvae, or pupae. GROSS.
    Just ‘bombing the house’ will NOT NOT NOT work! 🙂 The fleas on the pets will still be reproducing and the eggs/pupae in the carpet, cracks and crevices will hatch out, and you will have made no progress other than eliminating the adults.
    So, get a topical product for the animals. All of the products I listed will work for a minimum of 30 days. (Grocery store brand topicals are nothing more than concentrated pesticides.)
    Wash ALL pet bedding, pillows, anywhere they lay down, as the eggs/pupae will reside there. I’d only use a simple blanket while you’re treating this problem…like for the next 45 days or so.
    Vacuum all cracks, crevices, carpet, furniture, etc. Vacuum like mad and chunk the bag (in an outside garbage bin) if it is not bagless.
    Treat the house and yard. I don’t like bombs myself…I don’t like the thought of pesticide all over everything, esp. w/ a baby!!! They make sprays. I would treat all places that the pets ever touch, carpet, floors, furniture, etc. Follow the can label. Get a spray with an IGR (growth inhibitor) in the pesticide.
    You will still see some adults, even after all of this. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t stop treating the animals. People see the adult fleas and think the topicals aren’t working and that is NOT the case. It just takes time to break the flea’s life cycle.
    I know this is the ‘chemical’ approach as opposed to the ‘natural’ method, but these products DO work. I don’t take any chances when it comes to fleas!
    Here’s a link to the life cycle:http://www.animalshelter.org/education/p
    Educate yourself on the cycle so you can fully understand how to eliminate them. 🙂
    Good luck!

  4. schnauzer mom

    yep, you have to flea bomb as in previous answer. but, you also have to treat the animals, or it wont do any good. try revolution. you can get it from the vet. works great. have never had fleas on my dog. good luck.

  5. Blue Rose

    There’s only one way, flea bomb the house which will require all of you to be out of the house for at least 6 hours.

  6. 1st Amendment Nut

    There are a number of things. One, that you might not like, is vacuum daily.
    Make the pets live outside.

  7. chevrole

    Set off flea bombs. Take the day out of the house. Eat out, go shopping, go to the park with the animals.

  8. CD

    You had better call the doctor. There are some serious side effects for anyone bit by fleas, including animals. If that house is flea infested, you have big problems that need to be taken care of. Get yourself, the baby and everyone who means anything to you out of there. It must be taken care of ASAP. Do not allow this to happen to you and your loved ones. Just having the animals treated is not enough. Sounds like an infestation!!!

  9. Chalice

    You can buy proper flea treatment from a vets that will be quite safe for babies, so long as you’re not actually putting the stuff on the baby, or putting the baby on the animals after treating them!!
    Shop-bought products carry loads of warnings on them because they are quite high risk for animals and sometimes even people – you’ll be safe with products from vets so long as you read all the instructions and precautions. I recommend Frontline, it’s probably the safest of all as it has no systemic action, it stays on the skin. You will also need something to treat the house as the fleas will be in the carpets etc as well – if you’re not happy about using a veterinary spray, just use Frontline Plus as it treats the environment too by killing flea eggs and pupae. You need to treat the cat every six weeks and the dog every two months. The fleas won’t be gone from the environment very quickly without using a spray, but if the Frontline Plus is used correctly (make sure it gets on the skin of the animal, not the fur – very important) you will eventually be flea-free.
    Chalice
    EDIT: I would not recommend using a flea ‘bomb’ as I would be wary of filling the air with chemicals with a baby around, as I’m sure you are. Stick to the spot-on treatment on the animals, it won’t be hard to keep the stuff away from your baby, I’m assuming you don’t let the animals lay in the baby’s crib anyway so probably nothing need change!

  10. Melissa G

    Flea meds is the best way but it takes a couple of days. The only immediate thing is flea bombing but even then it may not get them all. If the eggs are in carpet the bomb may miss it. But get advantage or some flea med like that and put it on the animals then make sure they animals stay away from the baby. Also I heard if you put baby oil all over the baby it keeps the fleas away, you’ll have an oily slippery baby but the fleas dont like it.

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