[arthymom]

Dd got lice on Wednesday. Because I know she hasn't been in contact w/any other kids BESIDES daycare I know she got it there. (DS does not have it...Yes, he is lighter but believe me I looked for an hour and he has really short hair.) They say she didn't get it there because none of the other kids have it. Whatever...

We've gone batty now trying to get every single egg out of her hair and daycare doesn't want her back until every single egg is out of there. She doesn't have any active lice right now but if I comb her hair out and check I find about 5 eggs in like a 30 minute period.

What should I do??? I can't go back to work until she is totally rid of this, daycare won't let her back checking periodically for live ones, we even brought a doctor's note saying that we had done the treatment and combing and were going to repeat the treatment in 7 days, etc...
She has nothing alive in there and we are combing and ridding the best we can.

Help! What are the policies of your daycares? Is this normal? Our school nurse at the school where I work said that as long as a family is treating it and she can check daily for any live activity they are allowed back. So is the daycare that she is attending being excessive?

Thanks for any suggestions....

[mommytoEli]

one school where i worked said the children had to be nit-free in order to return to school. most parents kept kids home from school for days combing and combing and combing. one girl finally returned a MONTH later....with a shaved head. lol. i know those parents were so frustrated. i'm sorry you are going through this.....tonight i am grateful for boys, bc i sure would shave their heads as my FIRST line of defense. lol.

[keirasmom]

Did they check their staff for lice? Our school nurse checked teachers and staff too when there was an outbreak (and sent quite a few home). Possible your dd didn't get it from one of the kids.

It's also interesting that lice prefer squeaky clean hair. It's easier for them to lay eggs on. I also read that once you do the treatment and combing it's helpful to blowdry your child's hair everyday because the heat will also kill the buggers.

Good luck.

[dance_muffin]

So sorry you're little one got them. Big pain to get every nit out but you can do it. Once you have done your shampoo treatment then work on the comb out. The eggs are laid on the hair shaft; most times they are closer to the scalp. Section her hair (get the big clippies that they use in the salons) and sit her on a chair under a bright light. Go section by section with a nit comb.

As far as your nursery school; maybe that's their policy to prevent a constant go around with breakouts. If you miss one live nit the cycle begins again.

Just to remind you; you need to take care of her bedding, hamper, soft dolls, stuffed animals etc.

Let us know how you make out.

[AngelsMama]

The daycare that I worked at along with the schools I've taught at all had a nit free policy. So sorry you have to go through this.

[052001]

Most daycares and schools have a nit free policy.

My daughters have never had lice, but I use lice repellant shampoo on my girls - it's from the natural food store (unscented shampoo with a custom mix of oils or herbs). My friend recommended it to me after her 3 week battle with lice on her daughter.

My friend cut her daughter's hair short, used the comb constantly, got rid of all stuffed animals, etc.

Good luck - I'm so sorry you have to deal with this.

[angelkisses0102]

We are nit free here as well. I can't say enough about the Robi Comb...worth every penny. Robi Comb the SAFE Lice Killer - Official Site

DD got lice on a Thursday and was back to school the next Monday morning...lice and nit free. Also, in our area, there are lice that are resistant to the pesticides used in the traditional lice treatment products. We used a more natural solution (mayo and vinegar) as well as the Robi comb and DD was the only child allowed back in that Monday.

Good luck!

[annaguat]

Buy tea tree oil at the health food store and add it to the shampoo. Wash with this daily and let the shampoo sit for about 5 minutes before rinsing out. Then blow dry the hair. this will not kill the nits but it does kill the live hatched lice and is not as toxic as the chemicals. Also rub in olive oil in the hair as lice do like clean hair. It makes it hard for them to settle in again if the hair is oily. I am so sorry your little one has to go through this. You can also dap a little tea tree oil behind the ear/hair area as a precaution so she will not get it again. Anna

[sak9645]

Be prepared for lice outbreaks throughout childhood. I was lucky; Becca got only one infestation from homecoming at 18.5 months to age 13.

Lots of kids get lice many, many times during childhood. In many countries, head lice are so common that the schools don't even worry about them or make rules about them.

My daughter's upscale private school had a big problem because it got the kids of diplomats from a certain rather prosperous country, and their parents thought that all this nit-free stuff was ludicrous, so they sent their kids to school and all the other kids got lice. Becca got her lice in fourth grade, I suspect, from one of her close friends, who was from that country and traveled there on vacation.

If your child tends to get lice easily, a short haircut is absolutely mandatory. It will make the search for nits easier, and it will keep your child from crying because you are pulling her hair while using the nit comb. More importantly, your child will be less likely to have her hair in contact with another child's head.

There are lots of other things you can do to keep the spread of lice down -- like not letting other kids use your child's car seat or booster, and vacuuming the car upholstery frequently. Remember that lice, which do not "jump", are easily transferred from one child's head to a car seat, bed pillow, or other soft surface, and from there to your child's head.

But after a while, you'll just have to recognize that these critters exist, and that no matter what you do, your child may get the creepy-crawlies. Just keep some supplies in the house for working on them, and try not to panic. Also, use that nit comb! If you have to be nit-free, you'd better be checking every strand of hair once or twice a day, under strong light.

And have a "backup" babysitter, whom you can call when your child is ill or kept out of daycare because of lice.



Sharon

[arthymom]

Thank you all for your reply.

So far, we have cut her hair short , washed in hot water bedding 3 times already and plan to repeat, steam cleaned carpets, bagged up and sealed stuffed animals for 2 weeks, cleaned car seats, comb out eggs and what seems like the casings daily, and are still finding them. Luckily, we have found no lice since last Wednesday. Her hair is really thick and black so it's hard to get all of them at once!!!! Plus, she screams when I work at it.

I did buy a lice comb and am working with it 2x-3x a day. I'll try the oil and keeping from washing her hair constantly...A real temptation.

I guess the one part of this that is stressing me out is that
I will return her and abide by their policy but someone there gave it to her. ARGH! And they had the audacity to tell me that she didn't get it there.

Our pediatrician and several other sources have said that you can't catch lice from a playground or pets. It is close contact at child care centers or schools where kids acquire lice. I have retraced my steps for the last MONTH to see if there is anywhere else she could have gotten it. The supermarket? The playground? It's not like she is in close proximity w/any other kids besides ds when we have gone to a playground. It HAS to be this daycare.

Thanks again and I'll let you know how itprogresses.

[sak9645]

For all you know, it could be a teacher or babysitter, who has caught lice without realizing it.

Or if you sat your child on a chair with an upholstered back while you were in the bank or doctor's office, she could have gotten lice because another person sat there shortly before and leaned back.

But why is this important? It's not like it is an STD or something dangerous.

If you think that the day care center is not taking adequate precautions to prevent the spread of lice, by all means make suggestions to the administration.

As an example, if kids are dumping their coats and hats together in a heap, perhaps the school needs to put up individual lockers, since lice can move from one hat to another if they touch in the pile.

Or perhaps the kids are sharing nap mats and pillows. While lice can't live away from a human or animal host for long periods, it is possible that they can remain from one naptime to the next.

Otherwise, who cares how your child got lice? Today, getting lice is almost invevitable, just as getting colds and sore throats is almost inevitable. You don't blame the day care center if your child comes down with strep or hand-foot-mouth. You keep your child out, treat it as best you can, and move on.

I hate lice. I also hate bronchitis. But I'm a Mom. And I'll deal with lice and bronchitis when my daughter gets them.

Sharon

[cattlefarms]

When we brought our daughter Elizabeth home she had head lice.. It was a very stressful time.. It took us a month of every single day of washing bedding.. Everyones! vaccuming everything. I bagged up all the rugs and blankets and coats etc.. in garbage bags. They stayed there for a month. Cleaning car seats, furniture etc.. Every singe day!

As for the nits. We used olive oil and it made the nits earier to see and they would slid out easier.. We also used hair spray on her hair because Lice do not like dirty hair to prevent her from getting it again...It was a lot of work and I know what you are going through..

Thankfully my three boys did not get it but I did so you might have someone check you as well..When you are picking nits make sure you put your hair up and soak it in hair spray..Wash and change your clothes when you are done to avoid any spreading.. etc.. It stinks!

Kristi

[DianeS]

The lice eggs (the nits) can stay alive away from a host for the entire two weeks it takes them to hatch.

It can be caught any time two heads touch, which allows either the adult louse to change hair strands or allows an egg on one's hair to shake loose and land in the other's hair.

It can also be caught any time one child touches her head with something that contains a nit from someone else's head.

So while playground equipment is not at all a likely place to trasfer lice (because people don't usually touch it with their heads), sharing just about anything else that people share is. Hats, coats, scarves, combs, headbands, hair clips, the backs of chairs, clothing, etc.

I had lice once when I had no children in my home. The only thing I could think of is that some nits must have been in a hat I had tried on. I had been on a hat kick about a month or two prior to finding the lice, and had tried on hats in more than a dozen stores. All it would have taken was one nit in one hat that came loose and got in my hair before it hatched. Yick!

Plus, even if she did get it from another child in her daycare, that doesn't mean that the child still has it. Her parents could have discovered it and removed the lice and nits even before the lice/nits were discovered in your child's hair.

Lice is a very common childhood thing to catch. But there's no reason to assume she'll keep catching it from daycare. It might not be there anymore, if indeed it ever was.

Lice prefer clean, loose hair to live on. A good preventative is using product in your child's hair. Hairspray or mouse or the like. They prevent the adult lice from gripping tightly, and they prevent the glue on the nits from touching the hair shaft (menaing they slide off easier). Tight hairstyles like cornrows can also be a good preventative, since they leave adult lice nowhere to hide.

Hang in there! This too shall pass.

[guatparents2be]

Originally Posted by DianeS

It can also be caught any time one child touches her head with something that contains a nit from someone else's head.

I understand it is not usually possible for this to happen. A nit needs to be attached to the hair to stay in it, i.e. laid by an actual bug, not picked up inadvertently. A nit can't hatch without a person (needs the heat, that's why the nits that have not hatched yet are so close to the scalp), so if a nit is dropped, it is very unlikely to infest anyone as nits that do happen to hatch can't reproduce.

Also check out this approach. Nuvo for Head Lice

[DianeS]

Originally Posted by guatparents2be

I understand it is not usually possible for this to happen. A nit needs to be attached to the hair to stay in it, i.e. laid by an actual bug, not picked up inadvertently. A nit can't hatch without a person (needs the heat, that's why the nits that have not hatched yet are so close to the scalp), so if a nit is dropped, it is very unlikely to infest anyone as nits that do happen to hatch can't reproduce.

I've never heard this, about nits having to have human heat to hatch. If it's true, what's the reason for cleaning bedding and couches, and bagging up stuffed animals? Supposedly it's so when the eggs hatch the adults die because they can't get to a human to feed. But if the egg couldn't hatch, why do it?

Plus, the eggs are laid close to the scalp because that's where the adult lice are. The adults live on the scalp and crawl on the hair sometimes, since they have to feed every 15-20 minutes of their lives. The eggs are laid close to the scalp because that's where the adults are.

Nits are not nearly as sticky to a place where they are transferred as they are to where they were originally laid, but many of them are still sticky enough to stay and not fall off. Nit combs are sometimes quite difficult to clean, even though the nits on them have already been removed from the hair where they were laid. Maybe the glue that attaches the nit to the hair doesn't dry instantly or something. I'm not saying all nits that get removed from hair are likely to stick to something else, just that some of them can, and all it takes is one to start an infestation.

The words I used (that you quoted) did imply that it was an easier thing to happen than it really is, I didn't mean to imply it would happen every time you shared things like combs and scrunchies. But it's still a definite possibility to get lice because you put a nit on your head when sharing things like that, even if no adult lice are present.