Please Help!! Head Lice

I know exactly how you feel! I was faced with this when my daughter was 2. She got it at her babysitter's house when some friends came to visit. I felt the same way! However, we survived and it isnt hopeless:) It is very likely that you do have them in house by now. Maybe not but very likely. They are HARD to see at first until you know what they look like. They can also bind to the hair strand farther down, they dont necc. have to be on the scalp. I used the OTC box with the comb and did the comb out with leaving the hair net on her hair for as long as she would allow it. I finally had to tell her that their were bugs in her hair and we had to do this to rid them and then she was all about leaving the hair net on. I also washed all the sheets, vacuumed alot and put her toys (stuffed ones) in black trash bags. Set them in the hot garage for about 3 days and it will kill off anything on them. You can also use the dryer. I threw out the hair brushes and got new ones. Do not reuse any ones towels for at least a few days after you know they are gone. This is a very easy way for them to spread again once you taken care of the process. The whole process got a little pricey for us and to be honest it just really sucks! Its one of those things you deal with and hope its a one time thing. Everybody gets them at one time or another so dont feel bad, it will pass. Good luck to you guys:)

1 mom found this helpful

Hi C.:

If you don't see anything you still may not be in the clear. A good preventative is to go and buy the head lice kit. There is a little tiny nit comb in the kit. Wash your girls hair and put enough conditioner on to make it very slick and slippery with no tangles. Carefully comb through every area on the head several times. Especially around the hairline, behind the ears and the back of the neck. This will capture the little bugger eggs before they have a chance to hatch. You will be able to see them on the comb if they are there. Another good tip is to just throw whatever the neighbor child has touched into the dryer for about 15-20 minutes. This kills them too. Something I always did with my daughter after our head-lice incident was I pulled her hair in a pony-tail and then sprayed her hair with hair spray. The lice don't like hairspray.

Both my children had head lice a couple of years ago. I was exhausted and in tears after washing everything in my house and stripping the beds everyday for about 4 days. I called my peditirician office. The nurse I spoke to said to use Cetaphil on the hair. You cover the scalp and hair with the Cetaphil. Leave it on for 24 hours. It will dry and the hair will be kind of stiff. But, this will even kill the nits. I had to use it on my son twice, but we were able to get rid of it. The nurse also recommended putting stuffed animals, etc. in a garbage bag for at least 48 hours.

C.:
You are on the right track by washing the sheets. You need to wash everything that she came in contact with. I know of a natural shampoo, a oil for softening and dislodging the nits in your daughters' hair. I know how you feel, a friend of my daughter gave lice to my daughter. I kept a close eye on that friend's hair from that time on.
P. S

Hi C.,
Dont panic....its not the end of the world. I would recommend using vinegar as a rinse for the next couple of nights. After shampooing them use the vinegar as a rinse and leave it in over night (wrapped in a towel) and rinse the next morning. Vinegar is an astringent. Nits have a hard time holding on to slick hair shafts. I would not use any over the counter lice products ever! They are very toxic!
You have already started the process on washing bed linens and as long as you clean and disinfect brushes and combs, you should be ok. If you do happen to find a live lice, I would apply color instead of any over the counter products.

You're right, nothing to be mad about. It's just one of those things. My daughter was at her dad's last summer and came home with a bad and hard to get rid of case of head lice. I tried every over the counter shampoo I could buy and nothing worked!! I even tried tea tree oil in some shampoo and still nothing! I ended up calling her Ped and he prescribed this stuff called Ovide. It worked like a charm!!! Only had to use it one time and they never came back!!! In the mean time, I kept washing her bedding and spraying her bed (ours as well a few times)with that spray stuff they sell as well. All of her stuffed animals were in our shed in trash bags and I kept putting her and my hair brush in the dishwasher ever night!! I have long hair too so I treated myself a few times as well to be safe. I also did find that the metal lice combs work so much better than the plastic ones as well!!

Good luck!!

S.

Hi C.,
Make sure you wash all your bed linens ih hot water and dry in the hot cycle for at least 20 minutes. Dry clean any clothing you can't wash. If there are any stuffed animals wash them or dry clean them too or find an airtight bag large enought to put them in and leave them be for at least 2 weeks. All of the combs, barettes, hair ties, headbands or brushes need to be soaked in rubbing alcohol for at least 1 hour. You learned an unfortunate lesson, never use the same comb and brush on children who sleep over as the ones you use on your on children's hair. Unfortunately you don't know what is going on on the heads of someone else's child. :) When my daughter who is 7, has a sleep over I keep her comb and hair products in my bedroom so I know where everything is at all times. I have aready told her not to use someone elses comb or brush or let anyone do her hair too. Having head lice is not a sign of poor hygiene or uncleanliness but they are so contagious and spread so easy, then you have to deal with the treatment too... so bothersome... Too bad your husband got mad instead of helping start with the treatment of all the heads of your 3 girls.... Go figure.... Hope this helps.

First of all, it is not your fault. Anybody can get head lice no matter how wonderful and clean you are. My boys had a bout with it when they were around 8 and 11 and a few years later may daughter who has very long thick hair got it. Sometimes it takes a while to get rid of it. Those nits are pesky! If you don't have it yet, switch to a shampoo containing tea tree oil. This prevents you from getting lice in the first place. I would keep using it until the kids get to be teenagers. My children are now 12, 15 and 18 and we haven't gotten head lice in 5 years or so. Paul Mitchell makes one and I think there are others. Robi Combs are good once you have lice. It is a battery operated comb that zaps the lice and nits. If you have long hair, the regular nit combs are hard to get through the hair so put lots of conditioner in the hair (make it really thick). Then the comp and the nits will slide off much easier. I also researched head lice on the internet a few years back and ended up ordering a product from England when the American products didn't work. I cannot remember the name of it. You can also get something from your pediatrician but it is strong and they really don't like to prescribe it. I even got head lice when my daughter had it but I got rid of mine really quickly with only one treatment and my husband never got it.

Good Luck!

A.

Hi C.

I remember this happening in out house as a child. My sister was the victim and yes there were three girls!! My mom swore by RIID or RID (pronounced rid). It comes in small bottles and costs a fortune but WORKS! She washed every piece of fabric with it and we did not have an outbreak. Good luck!!!

You are right, head lice is something that just happens. When I was little I got them almost every summer for 3 years from camp. RID I believe makes a great product to wash your childrens hair with, and in some stores you can find the stuff you spray in your house to help. Throw away that brush today!

C.,

Do not worry to much this happens to I think every child, my daughter got it from a friend that came to stay over at our house. Although it is an aweful situation, you can fix it! This is a time consuming process! You need to get some RID for head lice, you can find it at wal-mart, CVS, or any pharmacy. It is a shampoo and comb kit. They also have spray that helps kill the nits before they hatch, the only thing that is depressing about the whole situation is if your girls have long hair it makes the process of combing the nits out longer than it should be. It will make you want to pull your hair out. Good Luck with this!!
-M.

It's been about 15 years since I've dealt with lice because my kids are 17 and 18 now but when I was pregnant with my 2nd child, my step child who was 6 then came home with head lice. I too freaked. But then I found out how common it is and it does not mean that you are a dirty person. It just happens. You are doing the right thing by washing all of the bed linens in hot water--there is a spray that you can purchase to spray the common areas--like sofas and chairs, pillows and mattresses--I can't remember what it is caused and the products are probably more advanced than they were 15 years ago but you can get them at the pharmacy or grocery store. Hope this helps. Have a blessed day.

C., don't panic, I am a mother of 6 who are all now teenagers. throughout my kiddie days there were many friends and I can distinctly remember one instance with my youngest child where we had this issue over and over in a two month span and came to find out it was from a child on the school bus, sitting with her daily. Please tell your husband that no one is to blame and please don't feel dirty or nasty because of this. This is a simple case of teaching your children a better hygiene program and you can also include the friend without offending anyone. Just a little mother to child talk about sharing brushes, combs, hairclips, make up and any other items that shoud not really be shared can make the conversation not be focused on just the head lice. Please go to your local drug store and ask the pharmicist for the shampoo available to treat the head lice. There are products that are envirometally safe and not harmful to the child. just follow the instructions carefully. You are headed down the right path with washing the sheets, however we have found that if you have any stuffed animals or other items in or around the bed, they may be infected as well. However you must wash everything on the same day of the treatment and then pay close attention on a daily basis to your child's activities and friends and you can find the source. Please don't alarm your child with this, it can be devistating for a child and usually not there fault.Patience is your guide!! this can be very aggravating as an adult to deal with, however with a little patience you will lick this is no time. good luck!! Mom of Many!

My children got head lice a month ago. I suggest you read the CDC's website on head lice http://www.cdc.gov/lice/head/index.html
I used Nix on my children, but that did not completely get rid of the problem. We still had nits left over that hatched again. I figured out the hard way that the plastic nit combs that come with Nix and other products are basically useless. I bought a long metal nit comb from Eckerds (aka Rite Aid). It works GREAT! I think we are finally rid of everything. The best advice I read on using the metal nit comb is to first wet the child's hair and apply a bit of conditioner to make it easier to comb. Then keep a bowl of water with some dish soap in it next to you. Each time you run the nit comb through the hair, rinse it in the dish soap. This gets the nits and lice off. You will find things (lice and nits) with the metal nit comb that you will never find otherwise. I didn't realize I had gotten lice until I used the metal comb on myself. (Yuck!) I had had several people check me and no one had found anything. You really have to get every nit out to prevent reinfestation. I just used the nit comb every day on all of us, and it worked SO well. I did wash the bedding and boil all of our hairbrushes, too. (The hairbrushes and nit combs make a bigger difference than washing the bedding...with the exception of the pillow cases). The CDC and other reputable sites say not to worry about scrubbing down the house. That won't help enough to make it worth it. It's the nits you have to deal with. They are attached to the hairs with a water proof glue. Let me know if you need additional help. I'm still checking us all each day with a nit comb, so I have very recent first hand experience. Believe me, I freaked when I first found out, especially since half of us have long hair. Now that I have the right tools, it is much more manageable. Good luck.