Lice Medication

We went through the whole lice thing last Christmas with several people in my family having it at the same time. After buying the whole lice kit, I was afraid to use it on my 3 year old granddaughter, so we just used the lice comb nightly. Now I wish this was what we had done with all the kids.
If I had it to do over again I would make sure there are no hats or scarves she puts on her head (or maybe play wig), wash all bedclothes including the pillows and bedspreads, then use the lice comb until you see no more little white eggs. When I took my granddaughter back to school the nurse looked through her hair again (she found a couple) then let her go to school that day. We haven't had a problem since. I'd use the comb daily for about a week.
Also I see that she's a step-daughter so the same steps have to be taken at her moms house.

1 mom found this helpful

There is a prescription medication for lice you can get. It is a shampoo. You still have to do the same things that you are doing with all the other treatments. Make sure you wash EVERYTHING that has come in contact with her so that the lice larva are not setting in that. I know you can get the RID stuff at wal-mart or other stores and it is expensive. I have found that dog shampoo does the same thing and they have the same ingredients as the other stuff for half the price. Good Luck

1 mom found this helpful

My experience with it is from 2 years ago. I don't remember what it's called, but it was like a clear oil. It actually had a skull and crossbones on the lable!! It definitely worked and my daughter had very thick waist length hair. It smelled bad and was a bit scary, but we didn't have any side effects or anything from it. It also was very expensive!! If nothing else has worked, don't be afraid of it, just be prepared for it.

try mayonaise and a shower cap at bedtime as I have a friend that did that with her daughter and it worked and her daughter has very thick curly hair.

My friend and hair dresser suggests a product called Fairy Tales. It is a all natural, organic Hair Care for Children. It has Rosemary Repel which is specific for Lice Treatment and prevention. You can research it at www.fairytaeshaircare.com

I know this can be frustrating. The perscription is a shampoo, and I would never use anything but it ever again if I ever had to deal with lice again. If she keeps comeing up with head lice, either you are not cleaning well enough, not following up on her treatment, or didn't wash everything. Look around her, see what she does all day, where she sits, lays and everything. Did you vaccum good enough and epmtythe canister/bag right away. Maybe she has a friend who has it? if it's your step-daughter, does she stay at her mom's....is she cleaning everything properly to get rid of it. I have been there, and it takes nothing but dedication in getting it done and all at once. You cannot stop and finish up later, becasue lice will continue to travel through the house. It's rough and exhausting and the situation is a B#*CH. Sorry to sound harsh, not meaning to, I can just understand your frustration.

Well I dont know of any prescription for head lice, just the over the counter rememdies. They do make one for body lice called Permethrin Cream 5%. You may be able to use it in the same way but check with your pediatrician first. Make sure that you have bagged up all her soft toys in plastic for 48 hours and spray them with lysol. Put her pillows in the dryer for at least 30 minutes, make sure all her bedding is washed in hot water and anywhere that she lays down/sits etc should be sprayed with the lice bedding spray and then vacuumed really well.(Couches, Mattresses, bookbags) If her hair is long it should be cut. Lice are harder to get rid of in kids with longer hair. When she does wash it , be sure to blow dry it very well. This will help keep them out because they do not like the heat. Even if she does not wash it every day run a blow dryer over her hair before and after school. There is also something called Tea Tree Oil you can put in her hair. My sister used it when her daughter got lice from school and had good results. I hope you find something that works for you adn good luck. Those suckers are hard to get rid of!

We are in the midst of treating one of three kids with lice. Kids are 4, 8, and 10 so it's impossible to keep all of their contact limited.

After researching the internet, I discovered mouthwash and vinegar. I don't normally use pesticides and don't like the thought of treating the uninfected kids with a pesticide.

I saturated all the heads with mouthwash and a shower cap. Let sit for 2 hours, then rinsed. I then saturated their heads with straight vinegar and a shower cap. Let sit for about an hour. I then scrubbed heads with Denorex shampoo and Suave coconut shampoo and conditioner. Then combed and picked through. The nits slid right off the hair with no effort.

For a tiny one, I'd recommend just the vinegar. It's supposed to loosen the "glue" that holds the nits to the hair shaft.

I also threw away the pillows and sprayed everything down with Lysol, then vaccuumed like a woman possessed.

Good luck

Hi! My mom's friend had a lot of problems with one of her daughters getting lice all the time.
What you do is: get a bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (cheap stuff works just as good as the expensive stuff), slather her head & hair in the extra virgin olive oil, put a plastic bag (wal-mart sack) over her hair & tie it up. Leave the oil & sack on her head for a couple of hours, then remove the sack & wash the oil out of her hair. Comb the nits & lice out. You don't need to do it again unless the lice come back! She says that it smothers the lice, but it must be Extra Virgin Olive Oil! This is much easier on your scalp than medications that can burn you.

I hope this helps!
God Bless!

After frustration of trying to get rid of those nasty critters for months (because my daughter and I have thick hair & a lady at church was not treating for it.)And those over the counter treatments weren't working for us either! Anyway we asked our nurse at the peds office and she said to get the cheap hair gel cover your head heavily and put a shower cap over it and sleep that way over night.IT WORKED!!!It sufficates the lice and it was not near as a pain in the rear end to use as the other stuff!
Oh & PS I didn't have any luck with the olive oil either and like to never washed the stuff out.

My son had lice and the school nurse told me to use olive oil. I poured it on his head put a produce bag around his hair, left it on for a few hours. It Sufficated the lice and they have never came back.

I personally do not like RID, I have used NIX in the past and found that going nuts cleaning every inch of your home is not only expensive, but exhausting.

Ours came from some one who visited our home (apparently infected and we weren't aware of it), not from the kids bringing it home from school (as I had school-age kids). Once you have the head lice treated, place him/her in a clean room and then when cleaning the rest of the home think about where the hair falls and vacuum that area up then clean out the vacuum immediately! I found the sprays to be a waste of money and would not personally recommend them.

Rooms with carpet or a lot of cloth furnature are the toughest rooms to clear up during the cleaning process.

Also wash all clothes that have come in contract with the infected family member.

Don't forget to follow the instructions on the treatment shampoo and continually monitor not only the infected but also the uninfected to make sure the lice don't continue to spread. Also, remember to retreat with a second treatment as the instructions state in approx. 10 days (if I remember correctly on the number of days).

If you have any problems getting rid of the lices, contact your doctor or health department for further information on how to treat head lice.

The key is to catch it early and monitor it until it is gone completely.

Move of a preventative measure in between head lice shampoo treatments:

I've also used Mayo in combination with the NIX for better results. It smells and is messy, but it works! Coat hair with Mayo, put a Walmart bag over the hair, tie the handles to stay in place, and use dawn dish soap to wash out the mayo the next morning. I did this over several days and while the kids did not like it, they liked it better than the head lice.(I had teenager girls at the time.) This was done after treating the hair with NIX and removing the head lice and nits from the hair.

This topic was just covered on the NBC TV Show "The Doctors" (http://www.thedoctorstv.com). For more info about lice and lic treatments: http://www.licemd.com/

Hair Fairies Facts: http://www.hairfairies.com/faq.html

GOOD LUCK!

as a preschool teacher retired we used tea tree shampoo to keep from getting head lice from students. That way you don't have to fight the whole house cleaning and worry about them getting it from there friends. You can by it at walmart or at a health\ nutrition store. Just stay away form the drops you can add to your shampoo, people tend to put to much in it.

Good Morning S., Lice is a creepy little bugger. Our Gr daughter usually brings it home from school oh every few months. When lice was being spread when our son's were little they used to put each child's coat in a trash bag to hang in the coat closet.

I didn't know they now have a medication the child could take. Our daughter in law always has the shampoo and comb on hand as she knows one of their 3 will have it sooner or later. She uses the spray for the bedding and powder for the carpets just in case. It is a pain, but it does happen.
Just thinking about it makes me itch, No Joke. Every time Tia or Austin has lice I squirm and itch like crazy. I have fake bake blond hair so I never have it. Bleach makes the hair shaft slick and they can't grab hold.

If someone does know of the med for children I would love to know about it also.

Good Luck S..
K. Nana of 5

When we were young, our family had problems with lice a lot for some unknown reason. My mom heard somewhere that coconut oil helps to prevent the lice so she started using shampoo with the coconut oil (listed in the ingredients as cocamide mea I think) in it and the lice problems went away. Do all the stuff to get rid of this case like washing everything and then switch to a shampoo and conditioner that has the coconut. Also make sure that the school is aware that there has been a problem. Sometimes if the teachers don't know to be looking for it, the kids just keep pass it around.

Make sure you are washing everything you can in the special "stuff" for lice. Once you have gotten rid of it, buy some Tea Tree oil, I get mine at Wal-mart for under 7.00 and add a few drops to your shampoo bottles. Everytime you shampoo shake well, and keep hair washing to a minimum, lice love clean hair, the cleaner the better to them.

If your child keeps getting it then she is getting reinfected either by the things in the house, car, school or even someone elses house, my sister went through the similiar thing. There is a spray you can get to spray things down at least whatever doesn't fit in the dryer.

Hopefully you've taken your daughter's pillow and bagged it along with all of her stuffed animals for at least a month. Her sheets and blankets and comforter needs to be washed in Hot water and dried on the highest heat you have. If she plays on your couch and you have pillows you'll need to bag those also. All her hats and scarves that she may have used recently or when the first outbreak occured needs to be washed. Including her coat, jackets, and such. When you've done all of that and treated her hair then you may finally get rid of the lice. It is a trying process, but will work. Good luck and God Bless.
P.S. I noticed she is a step daughter, if she goes to her mother's also, her mother will need to do the same. It could be that your house is the clean one and her mother's is not and that is why it keeps reoccuring. You'll have to work with her mother.

Luckily we only have had it once in our household. I used RIDD, picked nits for days and cleaned my house from top to bottom. All of my daughter's stuffed animals were bagged up for 2 months in plastic bags. I washed every sheet, towel and anything else that could go in the washer. I vacuumed curtains, carpets, etc. and then disposed of the vacuum bag in a tied up plastic trash bag. If she keeps getting it, you have a lot of work ahead of you with ridding the house of it. Throw her pillow away! Keep checking her head for nits several times a day. Make sure you are in a place that they can't fall into a rug or carpet - I used the bathtub.

Good luck as I know it is a miserable experience.