Help lice in our school

[3princesses+aprince]

At the beginning of the school year last year, when my dd was in 1st grade there was a loooooong ordeal with lice. Thankfully my dd never caught it, but this went on for months and months in their class. I'm not sure if it was the same group of kids passing it back and forth. But the teacher ended up buying bags for all of the kids cubby's. They would put their hats, coats and anything else they hung up everyday in bags, this way it would not be passed that way.
Not sure if it's true but I was told from another mothere in that class that they don't like hairspray, so I would always put some in my dd's hair everyday just incase it is true. my best friends dd had lice this year, it took a long time to get rid of it.
Good luck I hope your child doesn't catch it.

 

[mousebymarriage]

last year my kids school had a big outbreak of lice but, luckily my kids didn't get it. I went and had my DS head buzzed and my DD wore her hair in a bun (which I braided first) then sprayed with a TON of hairspray. Her hair was rock solid! I know that much hairspray isn't good for kids hair but, I figured it couldn't do any more harm than if I had to use lice removal chemicals. I also sent my kids to school with plastic bags to put their jackets into so they weren't all hanging in the coat closet next to anyone's jacket that had lice!
The reason I used so much hairspray is because lice needs to be attached to the hair shaft at the scalp (lice feed off the blood from the scalp). I figured if they couldn't get near her scalp because her hair was like a fortress I was safe!

 

[brighteyes]

That is all I can say, and pixie dust to all, because when my DS was 5 he had it. We had just come home from the hospital when DS had his tonsils removed. It did not go well, and after a 3 day stay and my DS was miserable and pretty much comatose on all his meds. I had slept in his hospital bed with him and he was sleeping in my bed one night when I saw a big ol thing crawling through his hair.

I screamed so loud I scared the crap out of the poor little guy and there he was crying, in pain, and I'm exhausted trying to get these eggs out of his hair. He had not been to the sitter in over a week or school so he would not get sick before surgery and I checked his hair, I guess just not good enough. I don't know where he got it from or when but I had it to from sleeping in his bed while in the hospital.

I treated both of us twice, washed all our bedding and towels everyday, and still could not get rid of it. Spent a ton of money and even sprayed the furniture. Finally I went to Walmart, bought a set of clippers, buzzed his hair, spent another week combing through his hair. Finally, I soaked both our heads in olive oil and wrapped our heads in saran wrap and went to bed. The next day I spent hours combing through his hair (what was left) and had my BFF comb through mine, and we finally got rid of it.

All I can say is NIGHTMARE. And stress. Also the stuffed animals went on vacation in a garbage bag for 6 months. Not something you want to be doing when your DC is recovering from tonsilectomy.

Hair gel or mouse also makes the hair slick so they won't stick. We use lots of that now everyday. lol


Stephanie

 

[DizneeMommy]

My DD got lice in the fall--this is her first year in school. I've been a teacher for 14 years, and have a 10 year old son, and this was my first experience with trying to get rid of the things! She has blond hair, which made it very difficult to see the nits, which she had very few of anyway. We first treated her with the chemicals, went nuts cleaning everything in the house, etc., but a week later saw a live bug on her head. After lots of research on the net, I found out that it usually takes 21 days to completely get rid of them! I doused her head in a combination of olive oil and coconut oil (lice hate coconut oil) wrapped her head in saran wrap then a towel, and she slept in it overnight. We fine tooth combed her hair EVERY DAY for a week (took 2 hours with her long hair), and used extra strength Denorex every 3 days or so for about 10 days. NO MORE LICE! We keep her hair up most of the time with a spritz of hair spray, but if she wears it down I put a little coconut conditioner on it with the hair spray. So far, so good!

 

[The TRUE Princess :)]

My dd7 had them last year. She can't use the RID products or any of those products really b/c she has asthma so we had to use cheapie conditioner every night for an hour (under a shower cap) and then the nit/lice comb. Then we had to be diligent about washing EVERYTHING that her head touched for a week and all of her stuffed animals sat in a garbage bag for about a month out in the garage. We haven't had them since.

Krys

 

[asafko]

I am ready to cry - my dd6 got them first over Martin Luther King weekend (her sister and I got it too). We treated with really potent prescription stuff. It did the job for me and my other daughter but she needed to be retreated 2 weeks ago and 1 week ago. I've done everything I know of and now while combing last night I found a live bugger and just a couple of nits - trying to figure out what I can do after reading all of these posts. We are using the fairy tale leave-in spray, combing, washing, vaccuuming - what kind of condition does the olive oil/coconut oil leave the hair in? Where do you buy coconut oil? If you had to swear by one tactic, what would it be? I need something not to prevent so much as to eliminate.

Thanks.

 

[tlbwriter]

If I had to swear by one tactic, it would be extremely thorough nit picking. It doesn't matter what else you do - if you leave ONE viable nit, you have to start all over again. We did the chemicals for the first infestation, and mayonnaise for the reinfestation (unlike the previous poster, we left it wet and covered it with plastic wrap overnight). It's not really that hard to kill lice. The nits are what kill you.

Also, my husband thought you could just take the special comb and comb through DD's entire head exactly like using a regular comb. Um, no. The comb doesn't remove nits. The comb helps you find nits so you can remove them yourself. I dampened DD's hair and then pinned it up in sections (it's long and curly, but luckily dark enough that the nits were easy to see), and then released and combed through one tiny section at a time. At some point, instead of removing the nits, I started using tweezers to just pluck the entire hair out. That seemed to work better - no worry about losing the nit as I tried to slide it down the hair shaft. If you prefer to pick the nits off, try using water and vinegar to dampen the hair - vinegar supposedly helps loosen the "glue" that holds the nit to the shaft.

 

[angeleyednj]

My school was infested with these disgusting parasites for the past 2 months and they just wouldn't go away. My DD5 got sent home on a friday and i picked for found about (6) nits. YUK!!! I used the treatment and then picked on (1) saturday morning. Stick everything in the dryer. HEAT KILLS. I have super thick asain hair and ended up getting a nit. Double YUK. The nits never had time to develop though. After one 24 hour period of picking with my DD5 nothing else came about. Same goes for me.

I used the Cheapest Olive Oil and lit it sit in our hair for an hour prior to washing. Something about the oil based product kills their breathing hole. whatever i know that we no longer are infested here. Super vacuum everything on your sofa and rugs. Make sure you clean your vacuum.

Also, all dress up clothes and stuffed toys went into plastic bags in the cold (3) weeks. They are fine now.

Funny thing is when you think of Lice. You wonder. Why? My DD5 is not dirty, and takes baths regularly. I never knew that Lice wanted clean free hair.

I regularly put product in my DD5 hair now. Mouse, Gel, Hairspray, Curling it, and Straight Ironing it. My DD5 loves having her hair done so to her sitting in front of the t.v while I put her hair all up in the tightest buns, pig tails with product is fun for her. But I will still continue to use product because the little critters do not like it.

Hope some of this helps other grossed out families.

 

[CampbellScot]

Okay, I actually know a REAL LIFE "PROFESSIONAL NIT PICKER". She was a school nurse for years, found herself constantly dealing with head lice...so, started picking nits professionally. She is constantly booked. All year long.

Her advice is this:

do not use RID or other "lice shampoos" on your children. They are no longer effective in killing the bugs. Not to mention they are highly toxic and can cause all sorts of ills in your kids. The prescription shampoos from doctors are even WORSE. Let me tell you all something. My step kids both had head lice last October. My husband and I went to the doctor to get thoroughly checked ourselves. He didn't find anything, but he prescribed a "shampoo" just to be safe. I got a frantic call just as we were getting to the pharmacy. The shampoo that was prescribed was "Lindane"...which has actually lost FDA approval due to it's connection seizure disorder and whole host of other things. So we got something else...which was basically TURPENTINE...highly flammable stuff called "Ovide"...aka, Malthion...only later did I find out that farmers quit using it as a pesticide b/c it's connected to MAD COW DISEASE! I put that on my head...my scalp absorbed it. Kids scalps absorb this poison too.

a bit of a tangent, but scary and a lot people think their doctor's wouldn't prescribed something harmful...and a lot of them do, b/c they don't know either!

Anyhow: Professional Nit Picker Advice!

Olive Oil, on the hair for AT LEAST SIX HOURS, usually overnight. Use as much as you need to completely soak the hair with it.It suffocates the live ones. Get a good metal tooth comb made for lice removal...Rid makes a good one...mix conditioner with baking soda until you have a goopy sort of paste and coat hair with it. The baking soda highlights the nits. They look almost brownish against the baking soda. Make sure you have a good light source. She then takes the comb, separates the hair into sections, clips each section together. Then she combs through hair piece by piece...about one inch at a time, all in one direction, usually to the SIDE, checking the comb after each swipe through the hair and rinsing it. The she goes the other direction on the section she just did. She combs left then right through each section of hair. The baking soda is the trick. It makes those horrid little eggs very visible!!

As for prevetion, as others have said, keep the hair up off the nape of the neck, in a pony tail...preferably a braid or a bun. Hair spray around neckline and behind ears. Remind your kids NEVER to share hats or combs or coats or whatever...make sure the kids are hanging their coats UP, not throwing them in a pile. Remind them not to put their head against another kids head...this is really how lice spreads...head to head contact. You'd be surprised how often this happens! don't let your kids share combs or towels. Don't pile their clothes together...For the next while, throw your kids coats and hats directly into the dryer when they get home from school and run it on high for at least 30 minutes.

this is a bunch of random info...but it comes from a professional!!!

good luck to the OP!! May the icky bugs keep away from your babies!!

 

[sharonml]

Hi all,

I can relate to your stories. My dd just went through this. It was awful!! Tried the RID and could not get rid of them. I finally found this method online and in two treatments it was allllllll gone!!!

Here is what we did.

Buy shower caps at the dollar store or walmart (near the brushes). They come in a bag of three. You need to get a large bottle of the "original" listerine (the brown listerine) and a jug of white vinegar if you don't have any at home. You will also need a nit/lice comb.

1st... I had my daughter lean over the tub and I soaked her hair with listerine. You don't need to use the whole bottle. Just until it is good and saturated. While he/she is leaning over the tub... take the shower cap and put it over the head as they lift up. Leave this on their head for 1 hour. They may think it feels like it is stinging but it is a tingling cold and just feels that way. Sort of like when you use blistex on chapped lips and you get that tingling/stinging feeling. This only last a few seconds until they adjust to the cold. Keep them occupied now. While this was on my daughters head, she took a nice long bath with her dolls/toys.

THE LISTERINE WILL KILL THE BUGS.

After the 1 hour is up. Remove the shower cap and you can have them lay back in the tub and rinse their hair. You will probably see the little critters rinsing out in the water. They will be dead.

After you rinse them. Wash their hair with shampoo and conditioner.

They can get out of the tub now if they are in it.

You are NOT done yet!!

Next... The white vinegar. Now this is going to really stink for your little one. Try to get them to hold a towel lightly over their eyes and nose to kind of cover them from smelling it.

leaning over the tub or sink, saturate the hair once again. This time with the white vinegar. Put on another shower cap and they will have to wait approximately 1/2 hour. THIS LOOSENS THE NITS FROM THE HAIR.

Now, once time is up... take a large tooth comb that you may have or hair pick and comb their hair to get any knots out.

Next... get a bowl or cup that your comb can fit in and put some listerine in it. I started at the bottom of the neck and worked to the front. It is easier to section the hair off a bit.

Now, take your nit comb and start combing very very small sections of hair... get it as close to the scalp as you can and rake it at least 2 or 3 times if not more. After each time you rake a section, rinse the comb in the cup or bowl of listerine. You will start seeing them come off of the comb. This is a time consuming job but this does work. We are now lice free and at a small cost compared to those over the counter lice treatments and it is without chemicals.


After you have this done. Wash your childs hair again. I have read that you should use anything with coconut in it as they do not like coconut or use denorex shampoo.

Clean your cup or bowl. We refilled our little cup and kept our comb in it under our bathroom sink so we could do this treatment another time.

I would wait 3 - 4 days and redo this treatment. It WILL work!!

My niece had it too, my sister couldn't get rid of it for her and I finally convinced my sister to do this on her dd and she was so impressed that it worked!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I will be glad to help with this. sharonml@zoominternet.net

Sharon

 

[maedelken]

Great ideas!!!!! Thank you everyone for sharing. Maybe I could send DD to school in her own plastic bubble?!

 

[brehan9403]

EWWW .... gross. I'm so glad my kids go to private schools where this kind of thing doesn't happen. Sorry it's happened to your kids.

 

[LJRJR]

EWWW .... gross. I'm so glad my kids go to private schools where this kind of thing doesn't happen. Sorry it's happened to your kids.

FYI, head lice cant tell if your children go to private school or not. When you are out somewhere and a little bug jumps on your childs coat, that bug cant tell if the child goes to public or private school. I am happy for your that you have never experienced this, and neither have I. I posted earlier on this thread giving my advice on preventative care, and I am lucky that we have never had them. Maybe some children you know have had them, and their parents never mentioned it because they were ashamed. Remember headlice dont descriminate, and the cleaner the hair the more they like it.

 

[tinkandpan]

EWWW .... gross. I'm so glad my kids go to private schools where this kind of thing doesn't happen. Sorry it's happened to your kids.

Just so you know- right now in our area, apparently the school hit the hardest with this problem is our local private school run by the temple in town. While I have heard about it being an issue in my children's public school (although we too have luckily escaped it)... over our Feb break, they did a complete overhaul and disinfection of that particular private school. So nobody is safe.

 

[Mkrop]

EWWW .... gross. I'm so glad my kids go to private schools where this kind of thing doesn't happen. Sorry it's happened to your kids.

what an ignorant statement. Head lice has no clue who you are when you try on a hat in the Disney store, as you use a batting helmet at Tball, as you lean agaisnt the seat at the movie theater.

I hope your kids dont play with those other children. From talking to one mom, her daughter most likely got it bc she is a hugger and she liked to hug everyone on her recreational soccer team. One girl had lice she hugged her after a goal and wham, she unknowinly got it and brought it to school. We arent sure of course but this is the specualtion of this girls mom. My point is it could from ANYWHERE and many times you cant trace the source.

We had contamination on our bus, children share buses, our bus driver was wiping down seats after the runs to try and help and found a linr bug on the seat.

My son goes to private school and his classmates had to deal with it just like all of the public school kids, it was a county wide problem at the time.

I will say that lice do seem to like girls hair better, most likely bc it is long and easier to attach to, but I am not dumb enough to think this makes my boys immune if and when there is a break out.

 

[BeckyScott]

Reading the last three pages, I will say I'm glad I have boys. Not that they haven't had lice, but they already have buzz cuts so it's easier to pick.

(cause the one time I got them, from the kids, DH had to do my hair, and it was awful!)

I think the last time we went thru this was 3 years ago? (gosh, knock on wood) Oldest DS got them at school. Youngest DS was at a preschool, and to boot a preschool for special needs kids, as soon as the nurse called me to come pick up oldest DS, I called the preschool and told them to pull youngest DS out. Too late. I felt awful.

By the end of it, all four of us had them. And youngest DS had just had his hair cut the day before, so it just took one over-night to spread thru the whole house, and it's not like they shared a bed. I called the hairdresser, and you know they're really good at spotting lice too, she was sure he didn't have them when he was there.

Our school nurse was also willing to take a look at my hair too since she knew better what she was looking at. Totally embarrassing, but effective.

FYI, I did not have olive oil in the house, so I used regular vegetable oil. I think the idea is to make the hair slick enough that they can't attach, so vegetable oil worked.

 

[amsafko]

For the person who "kindly" made the statement regarding private school - my dd, whom I wrote about, goes to a private preschool. We believe it was brought in by a little girl who went to Guatamala to help in an orphanage and her whole family got it. I actually think public schools might handle it a bit better because they have "no nit rules" which, private preschools do not have to have (our school did send home letters - our daughter was only one of several girls who got it). I honestly thought you must have been being sarcastic but I'm thinking you were just ignorant instead. Best of luck and I do hope that you don't ever have to deal with it, partly because your attitude would likely make your children feel quite ashamed but also because I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Amy

 

[meandtheguys2]

EWWW .... gross. I'm so glad my kids go to private schools where this kind of thing doesn't happen. Sorry it's happened to your kids.

Ignorant statement.

Lice loves clean hair. It isn't about dirty or cheap.

It can occur anywhere. Even in private schools...

Our YMCA has had a horrible time with the little buggers. They have steam cleaned the rooms a couple of times this year. They are coming in from another school in the area (it is believed.)

 

[BeckyScott]

EWWW .... gross. I'm so glad my kids go to private schools where this kind of thing doesn't happen. Sorry it's happened to your kids.

One word-

Karma.

I also wanted to add in, that re: the stuffed animals, it provides an ideal opportunity for a little decluttering. After bagging up all of ours, and waiting about a week, the kids hadn't missed them. I took out the ones that I thought were the most sentimental or the most expensive, and took advantage of the chance to make them go bye-bye.

 

[maedelken]

Boy that comment made me feel crappy. Just because some of our children go to public school doesn't mean we are anymore prone to lice. Our kids go to public school because we have very good schools in our area. That is why we moved to our neighborhood. I want to thank everyone for sharing and sorry if that comment made anyone else feel crappy. By the way my little girl is very clean. Her friends that got lice in her class were clean too. Just because you get lice doesn't mean you are dirty.