Head lice ?

[Wildiris]

How did this happen?

 

DD~7 got head lice mid-June. She was treated with home remedy that rid her of a full blown infestation. Her sister, who lives in the same small room, did not get head lice. Beds were striped.

 

Girls left in July for 4 weeks, returning in the first week of Aug. For those four weeks no one was in their room, but their room is warm. I cleaned their room a few days before they returned. From the out break to their return was approximately 45 days.

 

Now I have head lice. Yikes its a bad itch! I wonder if this is new case I picked up traveling about on errands in town or some how those nits survived from June. What do you think? My bed partner, sleeping only inches from me, is nit free. He has a crew cut.

 

The only culprit I can think of is a pillow my daughter used during her infestation, but it was put away and out of use for more than 30 days.

 

I've tried to find out how long nits can survive without a host, but most of what I've found concerns adult lice and not nits.

 

At the end of the school year every school in our area had lice. Head lice seems to be at the height of its ten year cycle for our area. My DD~7 picked her head lice up from the public library by laying back on the children's chairs.

 

What do you think-A new round of lice or the old nits hatching and some how surviving?

[gingersmom]

I'm guessing it is the same old head lice from the previous infestation.

 

It was sooooo hard to get rid of them from my sons hair. Awful!

[RegGuheert]

I'm sorry about this!

 

I recently tagged the threads here about head lice. Simply click on the 'head lice' tag below to see the previous threads.

[Mrs. Frankweiler]

From everything I read during our wonderful infestation last year (and I read everything!) I learned that lice can only live away from a host for 2-3 days, tops. I also read that the first time you get lice it might take a few weeks for the bugs to start itching. (something about the body takes that much time to develop an allergic reaction, and that's when the itching starts.)

 

My guess is that (if this is actually true) a couple of the little buggers jumped onto you when you were cleaning the girls room, and now they're just making their presence known.

 

Our cure-all turned out to be listerine. I think it's in one of the lice threads on here, but if you can't find it pm me and I'll let you know what we did to finally get rid of them.

 

Also....my Marine DH also has a high & tight haircut, so even though the kids and I all got infected, he stayed bug free.

[Tree House Academy]

Have you checked your head every day since the kids got it? If not, my bet is that you have had it awhile and didn't realize it. I won't gross you out with the specifics, but if you look and have a head full of nits, they have been there multiplying for awhile. They only lay 10-15 a day and those babies are small. This happened to me in middle school and I never will forget it!

[Wildiris]

Do you really think the nits, not the full-grown louse, could have survived in an unoccupied room for 4 weeks? WOW!

 

The girl's room is very separate from the rest of the house. When DD~7 got lice in June the rest of the house remained louse free.

 

I am trying to determine if I've got a big problem of a household infestation, or a little problem of a new case picked up at the dentist or shopping a J.C. Penny with my son in the mad rush of back-to-school shopping.

 

Thanks for the responses. Neem oil did the trick last time on DD~7 so I'm, doing it on myself.

[myfunnybunch]

Do you really think the nits, not the full-grown louse, could have survived in an unoccupied room for 4 weeks? WOW!

 

No. Nits cannot survive that long. They hatch within 10-14 days and die quickly (1-3 days) without a host.

 

Most likely, you have had head lice since your dd had them the first time.

 

You can have head lice for quite a while without even noticing, especially the first time. The itching starts when you develop a sensitivity to the bites, which can take a while if you're an adult with a healthy immune system.

 

:grouphug:

 

Cat

[KidsHappen]

No the nits are not responsible. Nits die withing hours of being off the human body. They must be within one inch of the scalp to hatch. Lice on the other hand can live two or three days although they are rarely transferred from non human surfaces to humans. They are almost always transferred from person to person. As many other have mentioned, you have probably had them since your children did especially if you have lots of nits. You just didn't know it. Honestly, the only way I have ever found to completely get rid of them is to pick the nits off every single day for as long as it takes. If even a single nit hatches and lays their own eggs, your start all over from square one. If you are older and your eye sight is going, it is extremely hard to see them all and the combs are not effective in getting them all. They really need to be removed with your fingernails. I have heard that the Cetaphil method is good at killing the adults and for preventing the nits from hatching but I have never tried that myself. You can look it up on-line.

 

I have read repeatedly that the extreme cleaning does absolutely no good. You don't have a house infestation. You have one or more head infestations and they will not go away until you clear every single head. Sorry, it can be very difficult but at least you don't have to through massive house cleaning into the mix. Just concetrate on removing lice and nits.

[proudmamma]

My kids had this several, several years ago and we tried everything to get rid of them and just couldn't! Finally, I found this thing called a robi comb and it worked wonderfully! I highly recommend it!!! Here's a link:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Liceguard-robi-electronic-detector-remover/dp/B000P6TF8W

[In2why]

I agree that you probably had them from your daughter and just realized it. I also agree with the massive house cleaning....to a point. It is true that they crawl and don't jump, but anywhere your daughter brushed her hair, like in your car or on the couch there is a chance they moved from her head and had 48 hours to find a new head/host. When we had to deal with them I made it a point to get the spray and hit the furniture and headrests in our vehicles.

The other option is that how ever your daughter picked them up, y'all are just passing them back and forth. Less likely but possible if they are throughout your extended family, or close friends.