WWYD...Head LICE!!! And Social Issues - Page 2

[mammal_mama]

Thanks for letting me know about the price! I definitely want to get one as soon as we can. I'm glad someone has come up with this product!

And, again, I agree with flapjack that lice are so common now, it's better to just keep an eye on our kids' hair. While people "should" let you know if they're dealing with lice (and I've called parents of children my oldest had just played with, when we've discovered that she had lice in the past), I can fully understand how a parent could just be on overload, and not feel like telling people.

[orangefoot]

Comb, comb, comb. If you get the varmints off before night falls you will get them before they hunker down to lay eggs.

Keep their hair up or plaited or as a pp said wear a bandana or cap then comb their hair as soon as they come back home.

You can pick out the eggs if you like or just comb a lot to comb out the tiny hatchlings as they pop.

Shaving hair to less than 2cm is also good because they can't survive very close to the scalp as it is too warm and they won't lay eggs there either.

If your child's head is crawling with varmints of all sizes then it is likely that he has had them for a while. Thick or curly hair is what we call a 5 star hotel for lice and my my boys were real holiday destinations when they were younger. Dd on the other hand has very fine hair and if she ever has a nit I can see it!

I would shake out bedding but I don't think a boil wash for everything is necessary. We have experimented with lice and found that if you leave them on a piece of tissue in a jar they don't live for more than a day. Eggs don't hatch off the head either as far as we could see.

[dubfam]

Originally Posted by flapjack

I have to say, I'm shocked at how many people don't routinely check their children's heads for lice. Almost every single parent I know over here wetcombs at least once a week- we do the boys every two days now, Skye every single day. By breaking their legs, it eliminates the possibility of the little blighters breeding. It's not a perfect solution, but prevention is way better than cure.
OP, given that your child's head is crawling with them, the chances are just as good that your kid passed it to the neighbouring family and picked it up at homeschooling group. Lice are nothing to be snobby about, y'know? Certainly the chances are that the reason the family next door couldn't clear them is because your kid kept reinfecting them.

I am not being snobby about it. I don;t think I have said anything that implies snobbishness. I just don't want to have bugs living in my kids heads!! I certainly got lice when I was a kid and I understand that anyone can get them...it is just that MOST people get RID Of them. Also, here in the States our lice are chemical resistant and very difficult to kill. We spent 2 DAYS doing nothing but delousing our child and our home. DH missed a day of work and we have spent about $30 on products. And I know that it is far from being over. WE are going to do everything again this weekend. In the meanwhile poor DS is cooped up in the house because I don't want to expose anyone else. He doesn't get to play with any of his friends.

We have been home a LOT the last month or so. No one else we know has it. The family said they have had it for a long time. I am not sure how that translates into my son giving it to them??
Yes he had a lot of them but they are gone now. Also their there are 5 PEOPLE in the other house that ALL have them, yet DS is the only person in our household who has them. He just started itching a week ago.
These kids have been playing together EVERY DAY for about 5-9 hours each day for the last 6 weeks. That is running back and forth between our houses.
WE KNOW for a FACT that it started with them and I think it is really rude to let your kids go to someone's house every day (and allow their child in your house) and never mention that you have lice.

We don;t go to homeschooling groups, we haven't been on public transportation, airplanes. movie theaters NOTHING.

I would have been checking for lice if I would have known that we were exposed to it. But since we have been home, ds isn't in school and hasn't been going around groups of children I had NO IDEA.
I didn't realize that people think it is okay to just expose others to Lice!


I am planning to try and help them by offering suggestions and help, but I am worried that these people are just kinda okay with having it. Does no one else think it's a problem that these kids are going to school with it too???
I just cannot relate to this AT ALL.

I think it is SELFISH

ETA the other way we know ds didn't have the lice very long is that we only found large adults and small eggs. We didn't find tons of babies etc...

[bigeyes]

Originally Posted by dancingmama

http://www.liceguard.com/robicomb.aspx

It's on sale here for $29.95 US. I agree, a great thing to just have on hand especially with school-aged kids.

That's kind of cool, but to use that every day when I can just use a tea tree, mint, or rosemary shampoo daily to repel them instead seems like a lot of trouble, yk?

We had a terrible lice problem at school, and when we switched to a tea tree and mint shampoo we never brought them home again.

[dubfam]

Originally Posted by bigeyes

That's kind of cool, but to use that every day when I can just use a tea tree, mint, or rosemary shampoo daily to repel them instead seems like a lot of trouble, yk?

We had a terrible lice problem at school, and when we switched to a tea tree and mint shampoo we never brought them home again.

This is what we are going to do from now on.

I am thinking about the ROBI comb for weekly checks for a while. Especially until we know that the neighbors have gotten rid of it.

.

[mammal_mama]

Originally Posted by dubfam

Also, here in the States our lice are chemical resistant and very difficult to kill. We spent 2 DAYS doing nothing but delousing our child and our home. DH missed a day of work and we have spent about $30 on products. And I know that it is far from being over. WE are going to do everything again this weekend. In the meanwhile poor DS is cooped up in the house because I don't want to expose anyone else. He doesn't get to play with any of his friends.

I can understand how, it being your first time and all, you might end up spending a lot of time and money treating this.

But, for future reference, it doesn't have to be such a big expenditure, and your dh doesn't have to miss a day of work or anything. We live in the States, too -- but though American lice are now chemical resistant, I haven't heard of any not dying after being smothered for 4 hours in olive oil -- sealed in with a plastic bag.

And though we used a nit-comb, that probably didn't get rid of all the nits. That's why we waited 8 days and did the olive oil again, to kill all the bugs that would have hatched from any remaining eggs (the new bugs don't mature and lay eggs 'til around 21 days). Again, washing pillow-cases sufficed for us, in that we've been lice-free for 3 years.

We didn't have money to replace pillows, and didn't do any treatment on mattresses or furniture. But now that I know about ironing killing them, that sounds like an effective and easy solution just to be extra sure. Also shaking out the bedding every morning sounds like a good idea.

Maybe one reason the olive-oil worked for us, was that we did all our hair at the same time.

[limabean]

I totally understand what you're saying, dubfam.

I don't know if it's a cultural thing or what, but around here if someone gets lice, it commands the total attention of the family until the problem is taken care of -- it's not something to just live with. I'd be frustrated too if neighbors my kids played with seemed to have a blase attitude about it.

[cschick]

Originally Posted by limabean

I totally understand what you're saying, dubfam.

I don't know if it's a cultural thing or what, but around here if someone gets lice, it commands the total attention of the family until the problem is taken care of -- it's not something to just live with. I'd be frustrated too if neighbors my kids played with seemed to have a blase attitude about it.

I think it depends on what you've been through with lice.

Back, the summer after I was in 8th grade, our area got hit with a round of lice that were resistant to every chemical on the market. All the kids in the neighborhood had lice, nothing was fully killing it, and this went on for 3 months. We went through all the on-the-market shampoos, all the oil-type solutions, and finally my mom chopped off all our hair to our ears (4 girls) and resorted to using a nit comb every morning and evening to keep the lice limited in number. (Also, we went to the point of only washing our hair once a week.) We washed, steamed-cleaned, dry-cleaned the whole house. And, as I said, we weren't the only family dealing with this.

At the beginning of this all, my mom was in the "keep everyone in house" mode, but you can't sustain that for months on end.

[mammal_mama]

Originally Posted by limabean

I totally understand what you're saying, dubfam.

I don't know if it's a cultural thing or what, but around here if someone gets lice, it commands the total attention of the family until the problem is taken care of -- it's not something to just live with. I'd be frustrated too if neighbors my kids played with seemed to have a blase attitude about it.

Well, in our case, giving it our total attention actually took care of it pretty quickly. But I've had some friends who for some reason just kept getting it. I'm not saying people "should" get a blase attitude, but maybe they've just come up against so many dead-ends trying to get rid of it in the conventional way.

To the point where they've decided they just don't have the time and energy to devote their whole life and being to lice. I think knowing some easy alternatives would help. I'm so glad I looked into homeopathic remedies when we had our first bout with lice, they're so much more effective.

Years ago, before I had my own family, I had a friend with a large family who finally said, "That shampoo is so harmful, I'm not going to just keep using it over and over." She still went through her kids' hair with nit-combs, and periodically used the shampoo, but for a while she just gave up on ever getting completely rid of it, she just tried to keep it to a minimum, if that makes sense.

I don't "condone" the blase attitude -- but I can still understand it, and have empathy for parents that are just overwhelmed.

[mammal_mama]

Originally Posted by cschick

I think it depends on what you've been through with lice...

At the beginning of this all, my mom was in the "keep everyone in house" mode, but you can't sustain that for months on end.

So true!

[cschick]

Originally Posted by mammal_mama

So true!

I only have a boy child, and my reaction to lice nowadays would be "razor, please."

He spent the first two years of his life mainly bald, being bald again ain't going to harm him.

[dubfam]

Originally Posted by mammal_mama

Well, in our case, giving it our total attention actually took care of it pretty quickly. But I've had some friends who for some reason just kept getting it. I'm not saying people "should" get a blase attitude, but maybe they've just come up against so many dead-ends trying to get rid of it in the conventional way.

To the point where they've decided they just don't have the time and energy to devote their whole life and being to lice. I think knowing some easy alternatives would help. I'm so glad I looked into homeopathic remedies when we had our first bout with lice, they're so much more effective.

Years ago, before I had my own family, I had a friend with a large family who finally said, "That shampoo is so harmful, I'm not going to just keep using it over and over." She still went through her kids' hair with nit-combs, and periodically used the shampoo, but for a while she just gave up on ever getting completely rid of it, she just tried to keep it to a minimum, if that makes sense.

I don't "condone" the blase attitude -- but I can still understand it, and have empathy for parents that are just overwhelmed.

I can understand not being able to get rid of it, but it isn't okay to spread it around to other people. These kids have been all over my furniture and in my house a bunch. My son is in their house a bunch. I am frustrated that they didn't tell us, and they weren't treating it. They basically set us up to get it.

Also, my neighbors have said that nothing works to get rid of them..including Mayo, Oil, TTO and lice shampoo. Many times the homeopathic stuff only works if you clean your house and get all the eggs off the infected person. Same with every lice treatment...


This is my whole point of posting this thread. I am kinds skeptical that they are going to get rid of the lice. If my son keeps playing with them he will continue to get it. I am not willing to continuously expose ourselves to lice. We got lucky this time that only DS had it. I want the kids to all play together but not if they are going to be sharing lice.

[Novella]

Have you discussed with your neighbour that lice can't live very long when not on a host?

If/when it happens in our house, I might seriously consider treating all family members and then just taking a "mini vacation" somewhere for a couple of days.

If your neighbour has tried to treat them and the family continues to be re-infected, perhaps they are not cleaning the bedding, etc. well enough. That would quickly get pretty frustrating for your neighbour - her efforts are for naught!

On the other hand, our public health officials comment that most people are over-zealous in cleaning the entire house when lice occur - that really, the effort should be devoted to the person and the bedding. So maybe it really is just that your neighbour isn't being diligent enough about treating the family members (and not that lice in the house keep reinfecting them).

[bigeyes]

We had them for 4 months straight. Ds and Dh didn't get them at all. Dsd and I had long hair and could not get rid of them. We tried every lice comb there was and finally got a flea comb.

We vacuumed, washed everything and put it through the dryer, and they kept coming back.

The tto and mint shampoo is what finally did it. All we did was keep using it and using the flea comb. Dsd has more hair than anyone I've ever seen, and I honestly don't think it was possible to find every nit in her hair.

The tto and mint smell on her kept new ones from jumping on her at school so we never got a new infestation after we made the switch. We kept getting the monthly letter from school, but we never saw another bug.

We're going on a year now, I think, without seeing a bug, so I'd say the tto and mint is working pretty well.

[Strong Mama]

Ds had them two weeks ago and after I treated it and it went away here is what I do now for him:

1. check every day, right when he comes home from school, for bugs.
2. wash with tea tree oil mixed in the shampoo
3. hair dryer EVERY night after bath, even if I didnt wash his hair(the heat kills any bugs in your hair, any live bugs, so they cant lay eggs)
4. olive oil in his hair before school, so thats its nice and greasy.

if you have a girl, keep her hair in tight braids, slicked down with olive oil. lice like fly away hair. so keep hair smooth and flat.

[EFmom]

I've read very mixed reviews of the ROBI comb, so I don't think everyone finds it to work all that well.

I will admit that if the neighbors showed no signs of being firmly commited to getting rid of the lice, that would be the end of the friendship. No way would I be willing to have the kids get continually reinfested.

[dubfam]

Originally Posted by bigeyes

We had them for 4 months straight. Ds and Dh didn't get them at all. Dsd and I had long hair and could not get rid of them. We tried every lice comb there was and finally got a flea comb.

We vacuumed, washed everything and put it through the dryer, and they kept coming back.

The tto and mint shampoo is what finally did it. All we did was keep using it and using the flea comb. Dsd has more hair than anyone I've ever seen, and I honestly don't think it was possible to find every nit in her hair.

The tto and mint smell on her kept new ones from jumping on her at school so we never got a new infestation after we made the switch. We kept getting the monthly letter from school, but we never saw another bug.

We're going on a year now, I think, without seeing a bug, so I'd say the tto and mint is working pretty well.

Your experience is exactly what I am afraid of. That is why we spent so much time over the last few days combing and cleaning. I had a nightmare case one time when I was a kid that took weeks to get rid of no matter WHAT we did. Other times we were able to get rid of it in a week.

I am definitely doing TTO in our shampoo from now on.

[pillywiggins]

I thought I would chime in too. My DD had lice as of this weekend. Yesterday we bought a non toxic lice treatment with tea tree and peppermint. We put that on, combed and combed, rinsed with apple cider vinegar (detaches the glue) and as of now she is lice free.
They also suggested to dab a couple drops of tea tree behind their ears before they go to school.

[mamajama]

Originally Posted by EFmom

I've read very mixed reviews of the ROBI comb, so I don't think everyone finds it to work all that well.

I will admit that if the neighbors showed no signs of being firmly commited to getting rid of the lice, that would be the end of the friendship. No way would I be willing to have the kids get continually reinfested.

I haven't read any mixed reviews about the nitty gritty comb (no batteries or anything) so I ordered one today from ebay. We shall see.
Tea tree oil works for us as well. But I would like to really get in there with a good comb after baths and showers for a while. It will help me keep an eye on what's going on and it sounds like this comb is very effective at removing lice and nits without totally ripping out the hair during the process.
Also white vinegar works for loosening the nits! It really really works.

[KJoslyn78]

My kids have never had lice, but my brothers and i did twice as kids. My dad always used the chemial treatments for hair, so IDk about the olive oil/tree tea, etc... but should i ever need to - i'll be keeping it in mind!

What we did for "stuff" was to hot water wash anything we use on a regular basis (clothing, bedding).. vacuum stuff you can't wash (ie couch), and bag items that aren't being used/cant be washed (ie stuffed toys, spare bedding). keep the items bagged for at least 2 weeks (i always did 3 or more though, esp with stffed animals, as i slept with many so we were never sure if any eggs might have passed onto them).

and good luck!