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Suspected head lice case...seeking advice

1K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  girlspn 
#1 ·
My dd's preschool called me to say they found nits in her hair, along with 2 other kids. She cannot return to school until it's cleared up. No live louse has been seen on her head.

A few people helped me examine her head and said those white dots aren't nits. These people have previously helped us pick out lice and nits from my family's hair when we had a lice infestation a couple of years ago, so their words have weight for me.

My dd's pediatrician looked through her hair and said it did look 'suspicious' and prescribed lindane, which she said we could both use. The bottle states lindane 1% shouldn't be used for kids under 6, or for pregnant or nursing mothers. I am 39+ weeks pregnant right now.

I know that as long as I don't treat dd, she can't return to her school.

I don't want to treat dd with chemicals until I am 100% sure it's head lice. As for myself, I will probably shave my head instead of combing or shampoos, it's what I did before. But I would prefer to take action on both at the same time (if confirmed to be lice) to lessen the chance of re-infestation and multiple treatments. I did shave my dd's head the last time this happened, but she was only 16 months old then. Now she's 3.5 years old and loves her long hair, so I think combing would be better.

My family takes care of dd a few times a week and very strongly wants me to preemptively use the prescribed medication on both of us.

What's the best way to handle this?

(we live in Asia, so the preschools are super cautious and pediatricians tend to be more commercial).




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#2 ·
I'd never use the chemicals. The lice are becoming resistant anyway.

My Dd had lice a year ago for the first time and I found one or two on each of her brothers as well. I shaved the boys' heads immediately just to make things easier on myself.

My two daughters and I have really long hair - like down to our tailbones. I mixed olive oil with tea tree oil and thyme EO (maybe a couple of other EOs, can't remember, but I Googled like a maniac and used what I found.)

I poured this mixture over our heads and put plastic bags/shower caps on us and we stayed that way most of the day. Then we'd shampoo and comb, comb, comb. The first time I combed Dd2's thick hair, it took me 3 hours. It took me less and less time as I became more efficient. Every time, I'd find less and less nits. After 3 days of finding no nits (but still using the oil mixture), I declared that we were done (and we were.)

I decided early on that it was a sign to slow down. I cleared our schedules for 2 weeks (we're HSers and I'm a SAHM) and I'll be honest, I ended up leaving that shower cap on my head for 2-3 days at a time because I didn't feel like dealing with it. I even went to the store once or twice with it on my head with a wool cap pulled over it. :)

The plastic produce bags actually worked better than shower caps to keep the oil on. I'd just twist them and secure them tightly with a rubber band.

Somehow I slept between my little boys in bed and though they both had it, I never got it. My oldest daughter never got it either. We both sprayed a mixture of TTO + H2O on our heads to try to prevent infestation.

I bagged a lot of stuff to make my life easier and just vacuumed our area rug every day which was no biggie.

We didn't ride in our car for 2 weeks.

This was the "Slow Lice" approach - most laid back, relaxed way of dealing with it that I could figure out. Lots of movies and board games, lots of family time.
 
#3 ·
I called Licesquad when my kids had it. They used a treatment (natural I think it was) and used a good comb. If I were you, I would just comb her hair and it is surprisingly easy! Fill her hair with conditioner. Use a very good metal lice comb and comb it out in layers. Each time you go through it wipe your comb on toilet paper to check for nits. You do this every night until there are no nits left. I was spending hours with my girls until this woman showed me how fast you can do it.
If there is lice you can just put in a bunch of coconut oil overnight and it suffocates them and they die. We did that too.
 
#4 ·
Metasequoia-- 'slow lice' approach sounds great! Reading your post helped lower my stress level over this right now. Did it only take 3 days of combing to get rid of everything? I thought it would take weeks.

homeschoolingmama-- I just ordered the metal combs from Amazon. Unfortunately we only get the plastic ones here, and not easy to find at that..

So far, only a few nits has been found on dd's head, so I figure the situation isn't that bad. I can't believe the pediatrician prescribed lindane and said it would be harmless for both of us.
 
#5 ·
Metasequoia-- 'slow lice' approach sounds great! Reading your post helped lower my stress level over this right now. Did it only take 3 days of combing to get rid of everything? I thought it would take weeks.

homeschoolingmama-- I just ordered the metal combs from Amazon. Unfortunately we only get the plastic ones here, and not easy to find at that..

So far, only a few nits has been found on dd's head, so I figure the situation isn't that bad. I can't believe the pediatrician prescribed lindane and said it would be harmless for both of us.
No, it took more than 3 days but once she was clear for 3 days in a row, I figured I'd gotten them all. I didn't want to stop checking too early and let one of those little buggers hatch and start all over again!
@homeschoolingmama, yes, coconut oil will smother the *lice*, but not the *nits.* And you really, really have to saturate the head to successfully suffocate them; those buggers can hold their breath for most of a day! So even if you take the smother approach, you still have to be vigilant about combing for nits once a day.

Lindane harmless, ha!
 
#6 ·
As far as I know the chemicals will only kill something that has already hatched, not eggs (nits).

Combing, combing, combing, is the main thing.

It is possible to have nits and no live lice----it may point to someone else in the home having the live ones on their head. Everyone should be scrupulously checked and combed if anything is found at all.

No one has yet mentioned the treatment for 'stuff' in the home. Bedding, stuffed animals, etc. all need to be run on very high heat or bagged up for two weeks to kill anything that has shed. Vacuum everything.

It is quite an ordeal, but the combing and the high heat on soft stuff are the most important.

This gives more info on the combing and household treatment: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/treatment.html

Finally, many programs will not send children home for nits, only for live lice. Does the preschool have an actual policy that says they send children home with nits. Nits are unhatched eggs, unlikely to spread anywhere until hatching. They stick like glue to the hair shaft.
 
#10 ·
It is possible to have nits and no live lice----it may point to someone else in the home having the live ones on their head. Everyone should be scrupulously checked and combed if anything is found at all..
Our household is just myself and dd. I've had my head checked by a few others as well, and all said no nits or lice. I was told there were 3 kids total who were sent home for head lice, so I'm going to assume it's the other two kids that have live ones. The school won't confirm with me whether or not an actual louse has been found on anybody.

Finally, many programs will not send children home for nits, only for live lice. Does the preschool have an actual policy that says they send children home with nits. Nits are unhatched eggs, unlikely to spread anywhere until hatching. They stick like glue to the hair shaft.
The school does not have any policy regarding lice nor nits. Even though I've not been able to find either, the school insists the white specks on her head are nits, and won't let her back until she passes inspection. Although I am not sure how to accomplish this since the few ladies who has inspected my dd's head says the white specks are just dandruff.
 
#7 ·
I'm in medicine, and believe me, we are as a profession not aware of the resistance problem with lice. I've looked this up, and not only is there a huge problem (if you sell pesticides) with lice in North America being resistant to pesticides, but lindane is possibly the least effective. Any method that involves combing out the nits and suffocating the hatched lice (mayonnaise, tea-trea oil, Cetaphil) has a better chance of working. It's just that they are not as easy.

Your preschool doesn't sound very enlightened about lice. They are very annoying, but they aren't known to carry disease.

The FDA put out some kind of warning about lindane maybe 10 years ago. Personally, I would not put pesticides of any type no matter who said it was safe unless they had an infestation with something that could cause them serious harm.
 
#11 ·
I'm in medicine, and believe me, we are as a profession not aware of the resistance problem with lice. I've looked this up, and not only is there a huge problem (if you sell pesticides) with lice in North America being resistant to pesticides, but lindane is possibly the least effective. Any method that involves combing out the nits and suffocating the hatched lice (mayonnaise, tea-trea oil, Cetaphil) has a better chance of working. It's just that they are not as easy.

Your preschool doesn't sound very enlightened about lice. They are very annoying, but they aren't known to carry disease.

The FDA put out some kind of warning about lindane maybe 10 years ago. Personally, I would not put pesticides of any type no matter who said it was safe unless they had an infestation with something that could cause them serious harm.
I'm glad to hear this, and feel validated in my decision not to use lindane or other chemicals on my dd. Even if we do find lice, I've decided to just keep combing. I'm not comfortable with using such strong chemicals when there are alternatives that only require time and patience.
 
#9 ·
The lice company that we used really made light of the lice around the house. I have a bad memory but she said that not a lot has to be done with household stuff. She said that you can pop stuff in the dryer and that is that. It worked for us. When I stressed to her about pillows and blankets and couches she said that they don't live long without a host. I wish I could remember the details but I don't. I was washing their sheets every night along with moving at the time. It was a huge relief to calm down and know what to do.

ETA: Here is who we used but it is only for Canada. Maybe there will be info on their website though. http://www.licesquad.com/contact/locations/
If you click on resources, go to FAQ and it explains about lice in your house and other info. Their comb is amazing.
 
#12 ·
Given that you're not even sure if they are nits or dandruff, do you feel comfortable consulting your health care professional and maybe having them write you a note (addressed to the preschool) stating what they find to be "true" about your daughter's head? :shrug If they can confirm that it is just dandruff, perhaps the other treatment concerns will just fade away!!
 
#13 ·
I did see my dd's usual pediatrician. She said the white specks looked 'suspicious', and didn't even touch or inspect an actual speck. Her note said we saw her for head lice infestation and that she advised use of lice shampoo, neither confirming nor denying anything. I figure she's taking the safe approach so there's no responsibility on her part.

Given this, I trust the other ladies I consulted more, as they are from the Philippines and have picked out lice and nits from more than a few people's heads, including my sisters. They've gone through both dd and my hair several times and said there's nothing.

I've decided dd will just take the week off, since winter break is coming up anyway.

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#16 ·
Well, it has been 9 days since dd was sent home for nits, and not a louse to be seen. Can I assume we are safe?

Letitia, how do you use olive oil to get rid of dandruff? I don't wash dd's hair every day, perhaps only shampoo once a week since she doesn't really get dirty, but it's winter now and I think her scalp is dryer and gets itchy sometimes.


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