Just what we need, lice....

[yogachick79]

Yup, so last night we discovered that DD has lice (most likely brought home from school) and I have them too. We share a brush, being the only girls in the house. DS and DH seemed to be spared for now, but who knows. So last night we spent the evening washing, cleaning and treating our hair with RID as a preliminary treatment as well as helping MIL wash all of her linens and such (we'd spent the night there) and tonight we will have to do our whole house.

I really want to puke just thinking about it, and get itchy constantly thinking about it... Tonight's plan is to do the mayo treatment on the whole family (just in case). Slathering mayo on the hair, wrapping with plastic wrap and letting sit over night to smother any lice and nits. Wash in the morning with vinegar and then comb through again. I KNOW that the RID didn't get all of the nits out of DDs hair, so I have to assume the same for me.

This is SO not what I want to be dealing with right before this babe is supposed to be coming.

[maisiedotes]

I am sorry you are dealing with that crap! Cripes. I remember as a kid I went to a sleepover at a girl's house who, it turned out, had lice and EVERYONE (14 people) at the party got it, and what a project getting everything washed and stuff. ugh.

[ComfyCozy]

Oh I am so sorry you're having to go through that. We did 6-8 weeks of fighting lice over the summer. It was total hell. Six out of seven of us in this household had it and it kept going around and around and around. Good luck in getting rid of it swiftly.

[jauncourt]

FWIW, my mom, a retired public health nurse, says the mayo/oil treatments combined with thorough combing to remove nits, are as or more effective than the pesticides. You are doing the right thing

Vacuum, run all pillows through the dryer if they cannot be washed, etc. Then do it again next week. You probably know all of this

Maura

[Curlita]

Oh, honey, my sympathies. Never a good time for lice, but this has to be the worst.

When I was twenty something I found out that my BF was cheating on me when I realized that he'd given me pubic lice. I was housesitting at the time and had to completely clean these friends' house. I was mortified.

Good luck, and death to the nits!

ETA: But just think how shiny and full of body your hair will be! Does that help at all?

[De-lovely]

Oh mama I am so sorry!!! Thats terrible....hopefully RID will knock it out quickly.

[Apryl Srissa]

This happened to me during my first pregnancy. It was hellish : and I was pissed at the friend who knowingly shared.

What I found was that the chemical stuff just didn't cut it for my really thick hair. So I did what you've done, and then bought a new 'clean' nit comb. Every day I rinsed with vinigar (helped kill live ones) and combed out with that. I did it for a long time, just to be safe (my hair is SUPER thick, and was waist length at the time)

Hope you caught it fast enough and it is over fast!

[Lia & Eva's Mama]

i'm a hair dresser so i see lice more than i'd like to! the best prevention is tea tree oil. just mix some in to any shampoo. i think i remember my mother using baking soda and vinegar and bagged for a couple hours to kill the lice. its the nit picking that is most important. if only one nit is left behind in two weeks the head will become infested again.

[mittendrin]

Sorry you have to deal with this now! Good luck getting rid off them soon!

[Googy]

Oh nasty! I thought it was bad that DD got conjunctivitis! I'll take that a million times over before lice! Yuck! I'm sooooo sorry!

[Mahre]

Been there and done that!!

I am sooooo sorry!

I did the lice thing 2 times in one summer when I was due to have DS. My sister who was living with me brought it home. Nits like clean hair, not greasy hair. That is one reason the mayo treatment works. So don't feel dirty, just bugged. If you got them it is partly because you are clean. I was a nurse at a summer camp and I have cleaned many many children of nits and lice. The camp now checks every child before letting them in their cabin during registration. GREAT POLICY!

[yogachick79]

Thanks mamas! We bagged all stuffed animals last night and I did 7, yes 7 loads of laundry. Washed all bedding, sprayed and vacuumed the couches and floors, put pillows and such in the dryer on high for an hour. I think we are the cleanest house on the block now .

The mayo thing was great. We actually got a lot more nits out this morning as a result. I'm going to have us each repeat it every two days just in case the egg cycles vary a bit. Figure I'll err on the side of caution right now, plus DD usually has really hard hair to manage and this morning MAN was it shiny!

I'll pick up some TTO today from the store. Needed to do that anyways for our dipe stash

Tonight she and I are having a "nit picking" party where we watch movies and I'm going through her hair again. I know that there are more there Her hair is about 3 times as thick as mine, and longer so mine "should" be pretty easy to deal with (did it myself this morning).

[melissakc]

Oh, what terrible timing! I'm so sorry!

Why am I itchy all of a sudden?!

[oskie]

Originally Posted by melissakc

Why am I itchy all of a sudden?!

Me too! Ugh, I can't even imagine going through this. I'm a huge wimp when it comes to bugs and was so afraid of the possibility of lice when I was a kid.

At least your stuff will be nice and clean before the baby gets here!

[GearGirl]

As a last resort you can also use vaseline, and have her sleep in it. It will take a week or two to get the vaseline out of her hair using baby powder to absorb it, and a strong shampoo, but it will definitely work. Nothing can move or survive being stuck in vaseline gobbed on, and I mean really gob it on. A huge, huge jar!

[sorteep]

OHHH what a pain!! I have heard hitting hair for about 20 mins with a very hot blow dryer helps too... good luck!