Bed linen for dust mites allegy sufferers

[Kingy]

My 6 year old daughter suffers from an allergy to dust mites.

What type of linen can I buy?

The nurse says to avoid some that are impregnated with insecticide and a brief search on the 'net provided a dazzling array of choices and an equally dazzling array of prices.

The local shops were at a loss to suggest anything.

[Iz66]

i know you can buy undyed natural bed linen...but in my experience they are a bit scratchy and uncomfortable.
I have allergy to dust mites, and if you buy proper cotton sheets, none of this non iron stuff, as that has been treated with chemicals as you need to be able to wash bed linen at 60 degrees to kill off the dust mite.
I favour a good quality egyption cotton :o)
www.peacockblue.co.uk is fav! or Peter Reed sheets available for department stores like John Lewis.

[noxlumos]

yeah Iz is 100% right . My son had terrible asthma and a dust mite allergy and we used simple undyed cotton/linen along with hard floors and a damp dusting routine and ethe improvement was amazing.

[Kingy]

Thanks for your ideas.

Two Things to Mention

1. I should have said I was looking for some kind of particular bed linen suitable for allergy sufferers, rather than simply buying undyed natural cotton. I got the impression that there is some kind of special linen that has a particular weave that the dust mites cannot penetrate. Is this not the case?

2. Also what precisely is a damp dusting routine? A mop and bucket? How often? How on Earth do you get a 6 year old to keep their stuff off the floor?!?

[YvonneM]

My daughter had a dust mite allergy when she was young. Our doctor encouraged her to join a swimming club to develop her lungs which she did. As a young adult she has become a qualified scuba diver and run a 1/2 marathon so don't worry about your daughter

[noxlumos]

hi Kingy, We went the allergenic bedding route first and it didn't seem to be any better than undyed cotton but may work in your case, I really don't know. The wet dusting regime consisted of havgiong hard floors which are mppoed evryday and where you would normally dust you wipe with a damp cloth instead to stop the dust flying all over the place. I have to say that we were desperate as our son's asthma was very bad and we went to huge extremes to make sure the house was as dust free as possible but it did work.

[Kingy]

Thanks for interesting responses.

Our daughter actually is a member of the swimming club as well as getting swimming lessons and we were of the opinion that her asthma actually gets worse because of this. She seems to be more congested after some swimming sessions.

As we were unsure of this effect we have pursued the swimming as overall we thought benefits outweighed the downside.

Thanks again.