Creepy crawlies...

[stephwhiz]

I have to confess something that I haven't shared with you ladies...my kids both had headlice a few weeks ago. I have combed them three times daily most days and have treated them with RID and a generic brand and am now using shaving cream on their hair every day or two. Yes that's right shaving cream! It seems to have worked better than anything else! My DH read about it on the internet and I tried it and it strips their hair and makes it sqeeky clean!

I have been a nervous wreck over this and of course paranoid. DH and myself do not have them (yet) and that's a praise report! The kids both had them and I am still combing them daily and sometimes finding empty eggs shells and very rarely tiny, tiny bugs. I called the RID hotline because the two treatments didn't fully treat them and they said that I could keep combing stuff out for a while. I have washed all linens in hot water several times and vacuum all the time. I have also sprayed everything and have some pillows and stuffed animals in quarantine in bags in my basement.

I also am using Tea Tree Oil Shampoo and conditioner on them too. I think all of this combined is doing the trick it just takes time.

Please pray that God will take these nasty things before they drive me crazy!! Like I said I have not seen any "full size" bugs in over 16 days so that is a blessing! And the tiny bugs are ones that have recently hatched and cannot lay eggs until they are full grown. Hopefully we will catch them all before then.

Any suggestion from you ladies would be greatfully appreciated. DD has a dr's appt next Thursday for her 5 year check-up so if things are not gone by then I'm going to talk to her dr. about it. By the way I have no idea where they got them from.

Thanks ladies!

Stephanie :D

[kanaclark]

luckily, we made it through kindergarten this year without Gabe getting them, but it seems like I kept getting them from people when I was in elementary school.

Someone told me one time that african american's will not get lice. when i asked the ped. about this, she said it's not just them, anyone who has naturally oiler hair that "normal" is less likely to contract the little boogers. seems they can't attached to the hair shaft.
With that in mind, maybe give the kids a good old "hot oil treatment" when you know they're all gone. don't know if it would help, but in theory, it seems it would.

since the itching is the only symptom they have, and they're not a "serious danger", i worry more about ticks and spiders where we live. Gabe keeps his hair buzzed (he wants to be a marine when he grows up, so it's high and tight now too, "to get used to it", LOL) so we can see pretty much anything that crawls in his head.

I'll prbably buz the other two when they're older just out of conveinance though. I think Gabe's short short hair has kept a lot of problems down.

best wishes, though. and don't let them drive you nuts, they can. (the lice, not the kids, although if they're like mine, they can too, :-) )

[harmony5]

So far, my children have been spared. But I do remember a time when all 5 of my mom's kids (including me, of course) had it at one time!!! Imagine all the combing over a white pillowcase she had to do!

Lori :lol:

[JeanineAnne]

Our daughter got them in preschool....mayo was what worked for us :)

I know how you feel though. I never had them as a child, but it was so stressful when Raegan got them.

Hugs to you and hope they are totally gone soon!!

Something people forget, if you have pets, you might to check to make sure they didn't get it.

We have never had them, but my neice has. She got them when she was in 4th grade. Image her embarrassment. :oops: Girls at that age are so picky anyway. My SIL had an awful time w/her. Her hair was down past her butt, so it took a long time to comb through it. The nurse told her she probably got it from sharing a comb or brush at school. We get updates from the school whenever they have a child that has them to let parents know. I will be praying for you all. I know it can be tough on Mom as well as the kids.

[stephwhiz]

Thanks for the prayers and info ladies! I really appreciate it. I am down to picking them once a day now and have not been finding anything except dirt and cookies -- ha-ha! My kids play outside all of the time and get all dirty plus Autumn always gets food in her hair too. :D

Stephanie :D

[stephwhiz]

JeanineAnne how did you use the mayo? Did you leave it on overnight or for an hour? I've read both ways. Thanks, Stephanie :D

[JeanineAnne]

I think around 2 hours (the first time, I forgot about it ~ we were playing a game together and lost track :wink: ). I was amazed about how well it worked. We used mayo every other day for about 5 days (three treatments) and have never seen them again....plus her hair was amazingly soft!!

[breezykc2]

also, adding about a teaspoon of pure tea tree oil to your washing machine with each load of clothes/blankets/pillows/and stuffed animals is great for disenfecting safely! I would make sure to wash the stuffed animals and pillows twice and dry thoroughly with tennis balls in the dryer before quarantinging them! They can grow in stuffed animals! I would also treat your carpet and your furniture....we kept having problems where I worked awhile ago and found out if was from the carpet and couches being cantaminated....ergh! Have the carpets chemically cleaned everywhere and before you do that, clean your couches by washing and spraying with heavy duty upolstery cleaner! Good luck!

[stephwhiz]

Thank ladies for the helpful hints. I have been vacuuming the couch and carpets not spraying them with upholstery cleaner--I'll do that. Thanks again! Stephanie

[meg]

One more tip, Steph - don't forget to treat the headrests in the car! Do it on a day when you aren't going anywhere, spray the headrests even just with normal bug killer, shut the doors, windows up. Leave it for a while (couple of hours), then wind the windows down to get rid of the smell before you have to go anywhere! :D

[stephwhiz]

You're absolutely right Meg..I sprayed them a week ago but am going to do it again--have to buy some more spray tomorrow.

I have been "combing" them everyday and still nothing else. Praise the Lord we may be over it. I'm afraid to claim victory just yet but have my fingers crossed and am thanking the Lord several times a day!!!!!!! I've prayed alot about this actually and he is always there for me!!

I have been combing and treating now for 18 days straight. I hope I don't find any more little creepy crawlies... things are looking good so far.
I'm still paranoid about it thought and terrified of them coming back. I have been using tea tree oil shampoo and conditioner on them because it is supposed to help deter them. I am also going to start back on hair gel and hair spray on them. I haven't been putting much of that on them because I have been combing them daily and I don't want to jerk any more hairs out than I already have :cry: . God bless them, they've been so patient with me!!

Trent has a nasty boo-boo on his head where he scratched so much. He has really sensitive skin and scalp like I do and all of the chemicals and scratching has messed his little head up in a couple of places. I put Bactroban on the places today and am keeping a close eye on them.

Thanks for the info and prayers ladies. Any more info would be appreciated also.

Stephanie

P.S. I have been spraying their helmets every few days too because I think that may be a good place for them to breed too. :o

[meg]

Praying that the little nasties are gone for good!

Down here you can get preventative sprays, which I use on the boys if there is an outbreak at school. The brand is Wild Child. It's a spray with essential oils in it, umm, lavendar, tea tree, and sandalwood I think :? I don't have any at the moment, so I can't go check the bottle :roll:

Praying that Trent's scalp heals up really quickly!

[stephwhiz]

Thanks Meg for telling me about that! Wild Child sounds like it is really good. I am going to see if we have anything like that in the states. Head lice is so common here that if we don't have it we need to. After seeing Trent's poor little scalp yesterday I almost cried. He has skin irritations on his legs right now, so we treated that. He has allergies, so we treated that and not his little scalp looks bad. Last night was just one med after another....that makes me sad for him. When we went swimming yesterday, he broke out from too much sun. I do the same things even with sunscreen on. He just has it kind of rough. Thanks for the info. Stephanie :D :D

[meg]

I looked it up for you Steph, so you can check out if you have anything similar over there. Here's the link for the preventer I've used on our boys -

http://www.healthhappiness.com.au/bodyworks/WildChild/QuitNits/HeadLicePrevention/

[stephwhiz]

Knock on wood, we're over headlice! I am so paranoid now though and I'm sure I really will be when school starts back next week. I talked to their peditrician last week and he said to make sure that if they get them again to treat them with mayo or olive oil.

I feel so badly though because their little heads are still dried out from the meds and me picking them so much. I know that swimming alot and the heat is not helping matters either. Trent's scalp is the worse so I had him shampoo with Head and Shoulders tonight and that eased his dry scalp some. I have to use it sometimes too because I have very dry skin and scalp.

Thanks for all of the info and prayers ladies!

Stephanie :D

[ChamomileFriend]

i hope this is all behind you! i am a teacher and got lice from one of my students last year - i mixed olive oil with tea tree oil, anise oil and lavender oil and soaked my head for a few hrs to get rid of any stragglers after treating with RID and mixed lavender and tea tree oil into my hair styling products to prevent from getting re-infested. So far so good! I also still use tea tree oil shampoo regularly just in case.

[stephwhiz]

Oh goodness school just started last week and Trent came home yesterday saying that he heard a little boy talking his brother having head lice. I was like "let me check your head, NOW!" I'm already freaking out and worrying if they will get them again. I keeping checking their sweet little heads!! I pray they never get them again!

Stephanie :D