Need help! Son has recurrent head lice! arggh!

[amitya]

My 6 yr old is in kindergarten and he has been sent home 2 times in the last 4 weeks for lice. We tried both brands of the lice treatments on him and he still has lice. I strip his bed every morning and wash all his linens and my daughters linens on the hot cycle. I have put away all his stuffed animals in ziploc big bags as well as my daughters stuffed animals/toys. I vaccuum their rooms and the living room as well as the couch every nite after they go to bed. I know lice are horrible to get rid of but they dont seem to be phased by the OTC treatments. My pediatrician wont prescribe the Kwell (linadane) as she says it has caused multiple cases of serious problems in children.

Im doing everything the dr says to do and he still has them. Right now he is sitting in the tub with coal tar shampoo on his head soaking in. I also have some tea tree oil i have used for other things and im thinking about adding this to some regular shampoo and seeing if it will help! He has short hair but im considering shaving his head. He doesnt care about that.

I want these nasty buggers gone! does anyone have any home remedies that work?

Ive read about mayonaise and oils and such and white vinegar. Im about willing to try anything at this point.

On another note, this past week, they sent home over half his class with lice. I know there is another child infecting them but in this day and age they wont tell parents anything.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[arlyn]

I hope you find a non-invasive way to deal with them.
My poor niece had the same problem and she had beautiful hair to her waist.
However we were forced to get rid of her hair, we both cried.

I was sure she'd hate me for it.

 

[emily_325]

It STINKS, but I suggest washing his head in vinegar. My mom used to do that to us when we were little and you smell like a giant pickle, but the lice don't seem to like the smell either.

I got lice once in 1st grade when there was a small epidemic at my school. I can still remember sitting on my grandma's back porch with my head upside down while they treated my head and picked out every single nit that was on there. I think that's part of the trick, is making sure you get every last egg off of the head.

She also bleached and scoured everything we owned. EVERYTHING has to be washed and vacuumed, and then it has to be done again. It's exhausting, but necessary.

After this we started the vinegar routine until the epidemic was over. I never got them again. I complained that I smelled like a pickle and none of the kids wanted to sit next to me though. Maybe that's what did it.

Hope you can get rid of them!!

 

[strange_wings]

I remember when I was in kindergarten - 1st and there was problems with this. They would always make us toss our coats together in a pile instead of keeping them on the backs of our chairs. It's likely that or so other cleaning problem at the schools itself. Is it possible for you and any other parents having problems with lice to corner the school about this and try to get something done?

 

[emrldsky]

Have you replaced his pillow at all? I had head lice for over a week when I was 7 and my mom found out, after she cut my hair, that my pillow was the source for reinfestation.

I hope you can figure something out!!

 

[lsulover]

Originally Posted by amitya

My 6 yr old is in kindergarten and he has been sent home 2 times in the last 4 weeks for lice. We tried both brands of the lice treatments on him and he still has lice. I strip his bed every morning and wash all his linens and my daughters linens on the hot cycle. I have put away all his stuffed animals in ziploc big bags as well as my daughters stuffed animals/toys. I vaccuum their rooms and the living room as well as the couch every nite after they go to bed. I know lice are horrible to get rid of but they dont seem to be phased by the OTC treatments. My pediatrician wont prescribe the Kwell (linadane) as she says it has caused multiple cases of serious problems in children.

Im doing everything the dr says to do and he still has them. Right now he is sitting in the tub with coal tar shampoo on his head soaking in. I also have some tea tree oil i have used for other things and im thinking about adding this to some regular shampoo and seeing if it will help! He has short hair but im considering shaving his head. He doesnt care about that.

I want these nasty buggers gone! does anyone have any home remedies that work?

Ive read about mayonaise and oils and such and white vinegar. Im about willing to try anything at this point.

On another note, this past week, they sent home over half his class with lice. I know there is another child infecting them but in this day and age they wont tell parents anything.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

I work at a kindergarden/day care and we have this problem too.

One of the teachers at school has said that washing your hair in the tea tree shampoo will help a person to keep from getting them.

I have always had this fear of getting them too.

You hafta make sure that you treat your home, which is excatly what you are doing. I would suggest going to Wal-Mart or something and getting some lice spray also, this is to spray the couch and beds. You are doing the right thing by vacumming every day too. But if you get the spray this might help.

As far as the school goes about the problem, I would suggest going up there and talking to them about it. I know at our school, we can not tell another parent who the children are that have them, it is against the law where I live. It is a privacy thing here. We also sent 4 children home this past week with it.

It does sound like the original child is not being treated like he or she should, which really sucks, because that child keeps infecting the others.

If my child continued to get them, I would go to the school and shine my tail. This happened to my daughter when she was in the fifth grade, she also had hair down to her waist. When she got them, she had been sick and she told me that her head had been itching, I told her it was probably because she had been sick and we had not washed her hair. Well we washed her hair, and I was blow drying it, because it was cold and I didn't want her to go to bed with a wet head. I was drying her hair and I saw a little bug, needless to say I almost had a heart attack, I chased the little bug down and caught it and put it in a jar. I immeadatly called the school nurse at home, this was at 10:00 p.m. I musta sounded like a idiot on the phone, because she came to my house and confirmed that we indeed had them,but we had probably just gotten them.

I treated her head, and I did the same thing you are doing, but I did get some of that spray to spray on stuff that could not be washed. I changed the sheets every single day. You are supposed to retreat 10-14 days later as a precaution only, well 10 days later we had them again. I went to the school and raised all kinds of hell. I told them that they didn't want be to go down the 5th grade hall and find out who had them. I also told them that I had done every thing I was supposed to do and more. I told them that they had better get the nurse to check heads and find out where the problem was coming from, cause if we got them again, I was gonna go over their heads and talk to the school board, and I meant every word I said.

Evidently they took me at my word, because we never had them again.

I do hope that something can be done about your problem, and I feel for you. I do know what you are going through.

Sending you some hugs from Mississippi because I know that you need them.

I am sorry that this is so long.

 

[lsulover]

There is also a comb that you can buy at Wal-Mart now, it shocks and kills the little buggers, I have seen them at our Wal-Mart store, the comb thing plugs in, and you just comb it through the hair, and it just zaps them. You do not hafta use that other stuff if you use this comb. I think it costs about $20 or so. But I feel that this is worth it.

 

[maddensmom]

Mayonaise does work. Put it on thick and put a shower cap over his head and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. It smothers them. As someone else said you have to make sure you get all of the eggs out, and you have to disenfect everything!! Anything like stuffed animals that can't be washed should be sealed up in a bag and left for 30 days. It may be easier to buy new pillows, as they seem to be the hardest thing to clear up.

Good luck, and I hope that you get it all cleared up quickly!

 

[lnbandcats]

My goodness! I am (hopefully) going to post a link to an article on "super" lice that our local tv station ran just a week or two ago. Frankly, I didn't pay attention, but your post did catch my attention....maybe this will help you!
http://www.wmur.com/health/10851923/detail.html - 2.5KB - stories 91% ||||||||||||||||||||

 

[lsulover]

Originally Posted by maddensmom

Mayonaise does work. Put it on thick and put a shower cap over his head and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. It smothers them. As someone else said you have to make sure you get all of the eggs out, and you have to disenfect everything!! Anything like stuffed animals that can't be washed should be sealed up in a bag and left for 30 days. It may be easier to buy new pillows, as they seem to be the hardest thing to clear up.

Good luck, and I hope that you get it all cleared up quickly!

Yeah, I would definatly buy new pillows.

You can also put the stuffed animals in the dryer and let them go for an hour, I have heard that it helps kill them too.

 

[amitya]

we bought new pillows and put them and his matress in vinyl zipped covers. My daughters mattress and pillows were already in zippered covers. I have bought 5 cans of the spray stuff and used all but one so far. Its driving me nuts!

I comb their hair every morning and nite with the lice combs. I dont see any nits at all in either of their hair yet my son is still itching and i can find a few lice. I wash their linens every day including comforters and all their clothes. I do the same with all of our clothes/towels & linens as well.

The coal tar shampoo killed the few lice i found on my son and i didnt find any dead ones on my daughter. but OMG its gonna drive me crazy. Im thinking about taking him to walmart and getting his hair cut off totally. I cannot deal with this for another week or two its drivingme nuts!

 

[lsulover]

Originally Posted by amitya

we bought new pillows and put them and his matress in vinyl zipped covers. My daughters mattress and pillows were already in zippered covers. I have bought 5 cans of the spray stuff and used all but one so far. Its driving me nuts!

I comb their hair every morning and nite with the lice combs. I dont see any nits at all in either of their hair yet my son is still itching and i can find a few lice. I wash their linens every day including comforters and all their clothes. I do the same with all of our clothes/towels & linens as well.

The coal tar shampoo killed the few lice i found on my son and i didnt find any dead ones on my daughter. but OMG its gonna drive me crazy. Im thinking about taking him to walmart and getting his hair cut off totally. I cannot deal with this for another week or two its drivingme nuts!

You sound just like me, I promise, that is the same way that I was.

You are doing everything that you are supposed to be doing. You are doing a great job, you are doing nothing wrong.

It sounds like you might need to go to the school and shine your tail. That is what I would do.

Is this a public kindergarden or a private school?

 

[amitya]

Its a public primary school grades k-3 with over 900 students (its one of 3 primary schools in a town of less than 20K people)

I am going to wash both their hair in this coal tar shampoo everyday for this week and see if that doesn't take care of it (all the while still doing all the other cleaning I've been doing.) If we get a recurrence I will have to go talk to someone at the school.

As far as i know at school the children each have their own cubby and coat hooks that their coats get hung up on each day. they don't take naps at all and they have assigned seating split up at a bunch of different tables.

I hope this works!

 

[telynn]

We went through heck with this with our children, mainly our daughter. She would get them atleast once a year. You just have to comb everynight. If your son doesn't mind cutting his hair, I would do it!

One of the worst parts of it was how long your own head itched after that. My husband and I would do the medicine once, and then comb and search each others hair. We never had any, but boy we felt the affects for weeks.

 

[crazyforinfo]

I don't know if you want to do what I am going to suggest but it did work.
My cousin gave up with the usual treatments and dyed her daughters hair. She kept that up for a few months. The ammonia killed all the bugs.

 

[squirtle]

A friend of mine went through that with her daughter... She had head lice more than 5 times in 1st grade. The thing I remember her commenting on was that the type of lice treatment they used suggested to follow up with a second wash... I am not sure how much later you were supposed to use it, but the school nurse told her that she thought the problem was that all of the parents in the class were not doing to follow up wash so the bugs just came back.
She ended up getting very angry with the principal of the school and the recurrence didn't end until they began checking every students head before allowing them into the class room. They were able to get rid of the problem then.

 

[sandtigress]

Be careful with the tea tree oil because its dangerous to cats...

But that having been said, my hair used to be a lot longer, and I managed to get lice from a movie theater or something. What worked for me is shampoo with coconut oil in it - I used White Rain's brand. Added to that was a cocktail of essential oils - similar to this one http://www.homemakingcottage.com/health/lice.html. Apparently the lice don't like the tea tree oil, lavendar, or coconut oil and that actually serves to repel them, not just get rid of the ones already there.

Vinegar is supposed to be good for loosening the eggs that have been laid allowing the nit comb to pull more of them out. Best of luck!

 

[amitya]

Im aware of tea tree oil and its toxicity-- it affects toy dogs similar to cats. I have a toy dog as well (a hairless Chinese Crested). The Tea Tree oil is put up away from any paws or small hands.

I just used the TTO on myself in my shampoo as i couldn't find any TTO shampoo.

The tar coal shampoo seems to have taken care of the itch on my son hopefully.

I also shaved his head. Its not the best shave job but it will do. He now says he wants to be BALD!!!! lol thank goodness the weather is supposed to be nice this week! lol

I haven't seen any on him since his shampoo and he hasn't been scratching either. I'm just gonna shampoo em in the tar coal shampoo for the week and then go from there!

Thanks everyone!

 

[april31]

ok I work for head start and here is what we do.. You dont need to cut his hair and as far as spraying lice that are off the head are dying they only live 24 hours off your head. Get a blow dryer and every evening or morning shampoo Everyones hair and aply a deep conditioner rinse as normal

then here is the important part blow dry your hair untill dry be careful not to burn your/his scalp the heat from the dryer will kill them. You want to make sure you get the heat close to your head as possible with out burning the scalp. Do this every day for a week then about every 2 days for another week. This will kill live lice and new ones as they hatch.

As long as lice are going around school repeat once a week to kill any that he might have picked up. But it is important to do everyone in your families as they prob have it by now also. Boil the brushes and combs. and clean the bedding befor you start.
Also get a nit comb and go through the hair every night its a pain but helps alot.

It will get rid of the prob in 2 weeks. It really works with out having to use and pesticides.

 

[trouts mom]

Oh man, I have no idea, but I want to send you some good luck vibes. That would drive me crazy.