Am I a bad mother? (Lice/hair cuts)

[Mkrop]

I'm just wondering if the hair cut helped the OP's DD ... I am still struggling with lice myself after about 7 weeks . My DD combed clean on Thurs and Sat, but it's been about 9 days since I treated and I suspect there is a whole new batch of bloodsuckers ready to hatch! We're on day 11 of a 21 day program (http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/theliceprogram/index.html).

I just wanted to send this to the OP: . I do hope things are going well!

Have you tried the tree tea oil? The moms in DS9's class swore by this. They got it in its pure form in GNC or a health food store. This was a year long thing for his class.

Good luck, no personal exp but just heard the nightmare stories from all the girl moms!

 

[FSUGrad97]

I don't know how effective it is against lice, but California Baby's Tea Tree and Lavender shampoo and bodywash is supposed to deter lice as well as cradle cap.

I got it for my youngest who had a stubborn case of cradle cap, and it cleared it up in a matter of days.

 

[Mkrop]

I don't know how effective it is against lice, but California Baby's Tea Tree and Lavender shampoo and bodywash is supposed to deter lice as well as cradle cap.

I got it for my youngest who had a stubborn case of cradle cap, and it cleared it up in a matter of days.

Where can you get this? DS4 still suffers from cradle cap and the only advise I get is to use a shampoo with a conditioner. I tried that Natruals stuff (turquoise bottle) it smelled and I dont think it really worked that great!

Sorry about the quick OT from the lice issue!

 

[FSUGrad97]

Where can you get this? DS4 still suffers from cradle cap and the only advise I get is to use a shampoo with a conditioner. I tried that Natruals stuff (turquoise bottle) it smelled and I dont think it really worked that great!

Sorry about the quick OT from the lice issue!

I had tried EVERYTHING for it, and it was the only thing that worked. Now that she's older (6 months), we alternate between the California Baby shampoo/bodywash and Selsun Blue (per her pediatrician).

I bought it online at californiababy.com, but you might want to check your local Target store, since they carry some of the CB products.

 

[robinb]

I too had lice, but I think they are gone from me (but I am still combing myself just in case). I have some tea tree oil which I added to my conditioner. I think I will add some to my DD's swim shampoo too. I forgot to do that. In addition, I just bough Fairy Tales Good Bye Lice (recommended on this thread, I think) and the Lice Terminator comb. OK ... I must be desperate to buy something called The Lice Terminator! I used the Fairy Tale stuff last night on my DD and me and it did burn my scalp a bit. The comb rocks, but it's hard to clean it out between swipes as the nits get stuck.

I really don't have any intention of cutting my DD's long hair. I was just wondering about the OP since her lice seemed to be super-bugs and come back HUGE the very next day after combing. It seemed to me that the lice were hiding somewhere off her head and crawling back on after combing. I didn't see where cutting her DD's hair would help on that front, but I was hoping it did!

 

[SueM in MN]

Another plug for www.headlice.org
This organization was begun a long time ago (actually in 1983) by a group of parents and school/public health nurses who wanted to get factual information out about head lice. Because lice are hard to get rid of, there is a lot of information out there that is not based on facts.
Here's a link to the Headlice.org FAQs that will give facts about some of the things people believe.

Here's a headlice.org page about the louse life cycle, including pictures.

The situation with the OP's DD having no head lice one night and then a whole lot just a little while later sounds very much like a hatching of nits that were on the head. One female louse may lay up to 100 eggs in a 30 day lifespan. If you kill the live adult lice, those eggs will still be alive and will hatch 7-10 days after the egg was laid. If a couple of female lice were laying eggs on the head at the same time, a lot will hatch at the same time. The newly hatched lice look fairly similar to the adult ones - mostly just smaller:

About how long lice will live off the body; they usually do not leave their 'host' willingly because the host's head is warm, the hair protects them and they have a ready source of food. Lice off the body will generally only live for up to 24 hours. Without a blood meal they dehydrate and die.
I had a supervisor in Public Health once who tested it out. Even giving them tender loving care (a test tube with cotton in it) and feeding them from her arm several times , she was not able to keep any alive for more than 24 hours off the body.

I was not going to let any feed from my arm, but I did keep some nits alive for a while in room temperature conditions (in a test tube with cotton on a hair that had been cut from the head of a child with head lice). I looked at them every day under a microscope and did notice that they were not active inside their egg cases until after they were under the warm microscope light for a while. None ever hatched, though. All of them dehydrated and were no longer alive after about 10-14 days at room temperature. I expect that if had been able to incubate them at body temperature, they might have hatched, but they still would have died because newly hatched nymphs need a blood meal within a few hours of hatching. I sure was not going to test it out.

 

[dmslush]

You are not a bad mother. I had to shave my daughter's hair twice to get rid of head lice. Tried everything else. It was traumatic for both of us and at almost 25 she still reminds me of it. Neighbor called CFS on us and we were investigated for abuse. Talk about the year from hell. Good luck. I hope this will conquer it.

I work for Children's Services and heard about a report like that a little while ago. I actually mentioned that if it was a mother shaving a boy's head, no one would say anything.. but it is considered abuse because it is a girl?????