How to reduce dust mites in your home

Do you or one of your family members suffer from a dust mite allergy?

Dust mite allergy is one of the most common forms of airborne allergy and it effects people by disturbing their sleep patterns – tossing & turning; itchy eyes; running nose & sneezing when you wake up; dark cycles under the eyes just to name a few symptoms!

So how can you minimise these effects?

Well you can’t remove dust mites completely but you can reduce the volume by focusing on some basic cleaning/organising techniques:

The days of making your bed are over! Dust mites are transluscent so they don’t like sun – they love a dark humid environment so if you make your bed that’s what you are creating and they will be very happy. So instead pull your top sheet and doona down to the bottom of the bed (neatly folded of course) and expose your bottom sheet to as much sunlight as possible
Wash your linen in 55-60 degree water to kill the dustmites present
Fit quality dust mite protective covers over your pillow; mattress and doona. These covers must fully enclose the item and have a zip close system
Use a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA filter, more of the allergen is contanined in the vacuum
Soft toys: minimise the volume in your child’s bedroom. The remaining 2-3 can be popped into a zip lock plastic bag and placed in the freezer once every couple of weeks for 4hrs to kill dustmites
Remove the clutter from your bedroom, clear surfaces make dusting so much easier. When dusting use a damp or electrostatic cloth so as not to bring the dust into your face
Don’t store anything under our bed
If heading away for holidays, your child should sleep on the top bunk so they aren’t lying under a mattress
Keep pets out of the bedroom as they provide more food for dustmites
Choose leather lounges over fabric lounges

If you require more information on this topic or other airborne allergies you can contact us via our website: www.bsorted.com.au

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63 Comments

- - mom81879 said
  - 29 Sep 2015
    6:20 pm
What an interesting and informative list you have put together. I’m in need of dust reduction ideas

- - GeoEllie said
  - 31 Jan 2015
    4:39 am
Thanks for all these very useful tips! =)

- - mom57522 said
  - 31 Oct 2014
    10:10 pm
Wow! So many practical ideas to reduce dust mites. Might actually got those leather lounges I’ve always wanted.

- - taynik46 said
  - 27 Oct 2014
    10:04 pm
Great tips just what I needed to find right now. My eldest was diagnosed last year with a dust mite allergy and I have been working hard to make our home better for her health. Still a long way off but your dot points are a great checklist for me to complete and add to with more research. Thanks for sharing.

- - mom93821 said
  - 20 Oct 2014
    7:13 am
Thanks for the inspiration; had a big weekend of getting rid of clutter. Such a good feeling!

- - mom93821 said
  - 18 Oct 2014
    9:38 am
Thanks for sharing these incredibly helpful tips; in particular bed making!
- mom93821 replied
  
  18 Oct 2014 , 9:39 am
  Should actually be lack of bed making!
- - smart_ass said
  - 17 Oct 2014
    4:43 pm
great tips – now to put them into action

- - mom94125 said
  - 09 Oct 2014
    12:01 am
wow these are really great tips

- - manda..84 said
  - 06 Oct 2014
    10:51 pm
thanks for the info i have an asthmatic boy ill be making sure i use these tips thanks

- - kazh said
  - 20 Aug 2014
    9:58 pm
This is really great information. Most of it would never have occurred to me. Thanks

- - buggeritliz said
  - 30 Jul 2014
    11:49 am
My kids are old enough now we are getting rid of all soft toys and carpet.

- - june11 said
  - 16 Jul 2014
    1:15 am
If you freeze soft toys, how long will they take to dry right through ? Most are not suitable to tumble dry and if they take too long to dry they will go mouldy. You need a hot day to get them dry quickly outside. Unless your linen and clothes have synthetic fibres in them if you wash them in hot water they may shrink. Better to use a natural product in washing machine to kill dust mites and other minute insects.
- june11 replied
  
  14 Nov 2014 , 11:17 pm
  It is a good idea to shake washing as you take it off the line. You may find it has tiny insects on it, especially late afternoon. I have had this problem in 2 areas I have lived in. I too disagree with putting stuffed toys in the freezer. They would definitely need to be out in the sun in warm/hot weather or they definitely would go mouldy. I had carpet in my bedroom for awhile and I got constant earaches – got rid of the carpet and the earaches stopped. Most mattresses can be turned on a regular basis too. You still need to vacuum them
- - hopefullyheidi said
  - 14 Jul 2014
    8:56 pm
Some wonderful ideas. I had no idea about the soft toys in the freezer- great idea.

- - skbou said
  - 10 Jul 2014
    5:00 pm
Sometimes it seems like a lot of work but it’s worth it. We also have salt lamps & they’re supposed to help as well.

- - mouse said
  - 08 Jul 2014
    1:26 pm
thanks for this read, we suffer from these allergies and they are a real pain at times