Head Lice

[Thriftylady]

I knew it was bound to happen with school agers. But we have a case of head lice. Wed, Thus, Friday of last week was spring break, yesterday (Monday) was inservice. Last week one of my SA kiddos was scratching her head something crazy. DD and I both checked her and didn't see anything. I had her take a shower and wash her hair. Mom checked at pick up didn't see anything. Last night mom texts me that the girls had lice. I text my other family and get a text this morning that the SA girl has them. Sigh. Luckily they all kept kiddos home. The first girls got treated last night, but mom found some again this AM. So everyone is staying home from daycare and school for treatments. I treated myself, but mostly because the thought made me itch. I am going to have DD treat just in case when she gets home. So now I clean, and do tons of laundry. Sigh. Any tips would be great. I also put tea tree oil in the shampoo, I should have done it before since I always have it on hand, I just hadn't done it.

[Ariana]

High heat for any clothes, hats, teddy bears etc. I had a breakout with two kids once and they were out for two weeks (I don't allow back in with nits). Luckily no one else got it. I took everything they had been playing with that week and put it in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes and also bagged some stuffies for a week. Everyones hair had to be put up or braided and I recommended tea tree oil shampoo to everyone. I still wash my daughters hair with it when she is at school.

I hate lice :dislike:

[Thriftylady]

High heat for any clothes, hats, teddy bears etc. I had a breakout with two kids once and they were out for two weeks (I don't allow back in with nits). Luckily no one else got it. I took everything they had been playing with that week and put it in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes and also bagged some stuffies for a week. Everyones hair had to be put up or braided and I recommended tea tree oil shampoo to everyone. I still wash my daughters hair with it when she is at school.

I hate lice :dislike:

I hate them also. I haven't dealt with them in many years. I am mad at myself for checking that head last week and not seeing them. My eyes are bad on my best day, but geesh. I should have asked mom to treat then. She thought maybe DCG wasn't getting the shampoo rinsed out of her hair good, and since I didn't see anything I thought maybe she was right. Likely they came from school, but that means I have had them running the house for almost a week.

I am going to be washing blankets, pillows, etc all day. I usually use the clothesline, but has to be the dryer today which means I see $$$$$ flying out the window.

[Snowmom]

Ugh. So sorry.
Lice can be a nightmare!

I check all my kids every Monday morning with a flashlight.
It's funny, my older dcks walk in and yell "head check" corralling all the others in before they even take off their shoes.

There's a new strain of lice now too that's immune to the over the counter treatments. Which makes it even more heebie jeebie worthy.

High heat and wash, wash, wash. Then wash again.

[Thriftylady]

Ugh. So sorry.
Lice can be a nightmare!

I check all my kids every Monday morning with a flashlight.
It's funny, my older dcks walk in and yell "head check" corralling all the others in before they even take off their shoes.

There's a new strain of lice now too that's immune to the over the counter treatments. Which makes it even more heebie jeebie worthy.

High heat and wash, wash, wash. Then wash again.

Great DCM was going to bring the kids today and me send them to school. Then she texted that she had found more live ones. Should I pass this info on to her?

[Snowmom]

Here'a a link to a news story about it:

http://www.today.com/health/super-strains-lice-spread-25-states-new-report-finds-t37631

My personal preference is to have the infected child (and preferably the whole family) make an appointment with a "lice professional". In my area there are several businesses; The Lice Lady, Simply Nitty, etc.
They guarantee removal!
It can be spendy (around $100), but so can repeated missed work!

[Thriftylady]

Here'a a link to a news story about it:

http://www.today.com/health/super-strains-lice-spread-25-states-new-report-finds-t37631

My personal preference is to have the infected child (and preferably the whole family) make an appointment with a "lice professional". In my area there are several businesses; The Lice Lady, Simply Nitty, etc.
They guarantee removal!
It can be spendy (around $100), but so can repeated missed work!

We live in a town of 3000. The closest big town is Columbus an hour away. There is no way my parents would drive that far and then pay for that. Especially where they both have two kiddos in care.

[Ariana]

There's a new strain of lice now too that's immune to the over the counter treatments. Which makes it even more heebie jeebie worthy.

NOOOOOOOOO! ugh ugh ugh. Why do these bugs exist?!

[Snowmom]

They are useless creatures!

The best way to get rid of them is the lice comb. Chemicals will still work, but in massive amounts, which is just bad.
There's a UV comb you can buy too that suppose to work pretty well. I haven't tried it though.
It's $60 on Amazon right now:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SRKIOYE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00SRKIOYE&linkCode=as2&tag=daycarecom-20&linkId=NDYZJGT65DAQGSEV

My first choice is always the Lice Lady though. Those people are miracle workers.

[Michael]

More threads on Head Lice: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=head+lice