ChemMommy Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 You know you are a homeschooler when you find lice on a child's head and promptly collect nits and lice and examine them under a microscope. We even got to see one hatching out of the egg!!! Except for the gross out factor, it was rather neat! Off to clean some bedding!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amo_mea_filiis. Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Awesome! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RegGuheert Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Sounds familiar! We seem to find bird lice once in a while around here. Like you, we head straight for the microscope to check them out! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemMommy Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Creepy, disgusting, and fascinating....all at the same time. Do you think I'm nut to just clean the infected child and her room plus the family room thoroughly. No other child is infected??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I would recommend thoroughly vacuuming all the rooms. It also would be a good idea to wash the bedding from all the beds. Those little creepies like to go everywhere, so it is best to assume they are sneaking about in the rooms of the uninfected. I bet the hatching was fascinating. It's nice to turn most anything into an educational experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemMommy Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 I was really, REALLY hoping you'd say that I could do minimum job....sigh!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMDRAD Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Ugh, lice. My three kids had it for six weeks before we finally got rid of it. I have no idea how they got it. Anyways, we tried all the chemical crap and it still kept coming back. Finally found an all natural solution. Add tea tree oil to your shampoo and wash daily. Haven't had any problems since then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I was really, REALLY hoping you'd say that I could do minimum job....sigh!! I know. Sorry. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Splinter Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 I was hoping this would be something along the lines of "Homeschoolers never get head lice." One can dream. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 lol ds8 has seen the commercials and things in magazines for that new lice "repellant" lol and I swear every time his head itches he says "uh oh,I think I have a lice" LOL.....how cool---yeah does sound gross though...:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerPoppy Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I think the amount of cleaning depends partly on the level of infestation on the kid. If there is only a small amount of eggs and one or two adults, that means it's a new infestation. If there are lots of eggs and multiple adults, it means the first batch has hatched and those babies grew up and are mating on your child's head and laying more eggs. :scared: In a new infestation, your child probably picked up the single pregnant adult from someone, and there won't be a bunch of adult lice running around your house. In the case of more adults, yes, they sometimes fall/drop/go off of the head, BUT they only survive for around 48 hours (up to 3 days if they're strong little buggers.) They don't want to live anywhere except for a nice, warm, nourishing scalp, so it's not like they're running all over the place. I'd say what's more important than deep cleaning is doing preventative checks on the other children's heads DAILY, behind the ears and toward the nape of the neck. Lift layers of hair and inspect closely under strong, good lighting. The moment you find a nit on another child, begin treatment. If you catch it at this stage, it can be controlled fairly easily. Also, use peppermint and tea tree oil in the shampoo of all the family so that hopefully they won't be enticed over to a new scalp. It doesn't kill them; they just don't love it. I personally would stay away from the pesticide treatments (conventional chemical-based treatments). I recommend the olive oil treatment and/or the Cetaphil treatment. Rather than focus attention on house cleaning that may or may not catch any lice, I'd focus on going through the child's hair, strand by strand, and physically removing every nit. Most of those combs don't work. Fingernails do. Your main goals are to kill the adults (that's what the treatments are for) and remove the nits (because NO treatment is capable of killing them). It's time consuming. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerPoppy Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Oh, re: your first post... yep, we studied them here, too!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrumm4448 Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Kind of OT, but does Tea Tree Oil also repel ticks? We are going to violin camp again next summers and I can't go through the tick thing again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I was hoping this would be something along the lines of "Homeschoolers never get head lice." One can dream. :lol: Me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momling Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 We've dealt with lice too. If you're going the pesticide route, use a Permethrin shampoo (Nix). The Pyrethrin ones (Rid) did *not* work. I still found adults happily crawling around. I researched and tried almost every home remedy I could find. What I would use again if it happened is a combination of Nix, then a flat iron, and then soaking the hair with Citrasolv (or any solvent with limonene) which did seem to dissolve the glue that holds nits onto the hair. After that we washed daily with coal tar dandruff shampoo or citranella ("Lice shield") shampoo and repeated the Nix again after a week or two. We have not had a repeat. However, my head feels itchy just typing this out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagira Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 However, my head feels itchy just typing this out! My:blink: head feels itchy too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellabee03 Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Ugh! We just had to deal with this in August, and it was very, very time consuming. I highly recommend that everyone read this website www.headlice.org . We didn't use any kind of "treatment" at all, just a good metal nit comb, time, and my fingernails. The key is to go tiny section, by tiny section and get every single nit off the hair. Sucks, but we only had to deal with it for a few days and have never had a problem since. I still check heads weekly as preventative now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 OK, I admit we did this. THEN we got a nit comb and sat down.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I'd say what's more important than deep cleaning is doing preventative checks on the other children's heads DAILY, behind the ears and toward the nape of the neck. Lift layers of hair and inspect closely under strong, good lighting. The moment you find a nit on another child, begin treatment. If you catch it at this stage, it can be controlled fairly easily. I agree with this. Lice are not a reason for panic in my home. I usually apply coconut oil to the scalp and hair and then use a fine toothed comb to comb them out. We do this daily before bath and this usually gets rid of them in 2-3 days. I do change the bed sheets, but that is about it. I don't go chasing the lice around the whole house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friederike in Persia Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I agree with this. Lice are not a reason for panic in my home. I usually apply coconut oil to the scalp and hair and then use a fine toothed comb to comb them out. We do this daily before bath and this usually gets rid of them in 2-3 days. I do change the bed sheets, but that is about it. I don't go chasing the lice around the whole house. :iagree: We've tried all sorts of stuff (including Tea Trea Oil), but nothing beat combing on a regular basis. Can't say we got rid of them within 2-3 days, but I think my dds kept getting reinfested, nothing you can do about that:glare:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 On the "there's always a silver lining" end, a couple of people I know who ended up with this issue said that while it was a pain in the rear for them, the kids found it kind of... fun. They got to sit with the parents and listen to audio books, watch movies, etc. for days while the parents were there basically playing with their hair - that is, picking out every last nit. It was like bonding time. That totally fascinated me. Like gorillas or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 :iagree: We've tried all sorts of stuff (including Tea Trea Oil), but nothing beat combing on a regular basis. Can't say we got rid of them within 2-3 days, but I think my dds kept getting reinfested, nothing you can do about that:glare:. In my home, my ds brings the lice home, but I am the one who ends up carrying the bulk of them :001_huh:. Both dh and ds being short haired, don't really get a serious infestation. The coconut oil helps in making the lice sluggish, they then get trapped by the comb very easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4littleones Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 I would really recommend this product It removes the eggs as well as the mummies and daddies, so you don't have to wait for them to hatch and then catch them. I has worked well in our family who is surrounded by schoolies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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