Thanks for the practical advise. I specifically remember a thread on this topic that talked about home remedies, which included a product by Bath and Body works. I'd like to put an article in our newsletter. There was an article in the local paper within the last two weeks that said something about the Pediatricians now don't think that kids with lice should be kept from school. I thought we could approach it from that angle with practical advice.
Oh, yes. We had it in our house. BAD. It seems children who have their hair blow-dried with a hot blow dryer and use hair care products (like mousse, gel) don't seem to get it as often. It's the squeaky clean hair that the lice prefer. Maybe the blow dryer heat kills them??
Lice knows no income barriers. Anywhere a child's head touches (theater seats, hats, car seats) lice can sit and wait. Lice look like sesame seeds.
Mayonaise, cooking oil, kerosene, DON'T USE THEM THEY Don't WORK!!! You have to buy the stuff at the drug store, Nix or Rid. It's basically poison. Follow the directions to the letter. Do only ONE application as it is poison. Then after everyone in your house (we even did the dog!) has had a treatment (do the treatment only once!!)then you have to inspect and destroy.
Then you have to go thru everyone's hair, strand by strand (i felt like a family of baboons!) and pick them out. The dead lice will look like white sesame seeds. The live ones will be brown sesame seeds. They adhere themselves to the hair shaft and you almost have to pull them off the hair shaft.
Then on to the pillows. Throw them out and buy new (cheap) ones. Otherwise, you have to bag them up in garbage bags and let them sit for 3 months.
Then on to the laundry. Wash EVERYTHING!!! Dry it all in a HOT dryer...sheets, blankets pillows. Bag up all the stuffed animals your children sleep with for 3 MONTHS!! I think we did 17 loads of laundry that day.
Your local health department has tons of information on this. Our child couldn't go back to school until we had the okay from the health department anyway.
It's a true bummer. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
Scary!!!
Thank god I haven't had to deal w/ this yet!
I read in either Child or Parents magazine an articale about killing lice. They said cover the head with mayonaise (at night) then put on a shower cap and sleep. In the morning the lice should be dead sufficated!! Wouldn't hurt to try!! Good Luck! [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Lice - EEEEK! Having said that, here's how I dealt with it in my preschooler. First you have to kill the live ones, if you don't want to use chemicals (RID or others) cover the child's head and hair with mayo or cooking oil. Cover this with a shower cap and let it sit. This will smother the buggers. Then you have to get rid of the eggs. Comb out their hair and remove the eggs. Use a lice comb, it has teeth real close together. Very time consuming and may take forever, but if you don't they'll come back. Make sure you wash all the bedding and such in hot water and a hot dryer. The heat kills them. One mom here gave her son a buzz cut, made the whole process much easier. My daughter had long blond hair, it took me forever! Good luck!
:cool:
