help! how do I remove lice from our house?

[AMJ]

Isn't it just ducky -- somehow my daughter has picked up lice, and it's just before a major family gathering for Thanksgiving (though not at our house). We all have to be treated, had to wait overnight for the pharmacy to get in the prescription for the kids (don't have a prescription for us adults), and have to do a lot of cooking for our share of Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Can anyone tell me how to get rid of the lice in the house so we don't keep re- infecting ourselves, please? What's the best way to get them off of pillows and stuffed animals? Throwing out the stuffed toys is NOT an option.

 

My panic isn't over having gotten the lice, though we have never had to deal with lice before. It's the timing of it all....

 

Aaarrgh!

 

Help, please?

[Plink]

I suppose burning the house down isn't an option, although I'd be tempted.

 

I have no constructive advice, but offer my sincere sympathy. What awful timing!!!

[Tiramisu]

Lice need a human host to live so they will not survive long on things. I can't remember exactly how long they last but you could put them in plastic bags for a week and you shouldn't worry at all. I'd wash the other bedding and perhaps vacuum upholstered sofas, chairs, and carpets.

 

My number one lice tip is to pick any lice and nits out of the hair by hand, using whatever method you like. If you do that thoroughly, they will not spread or recur. Start doing it twice a day and set aside an hour each time to do it. Do not rely on any special lice shampoos. Whatever you decide to use or not use, just pick, pick, pick them out.

 

P.S. Lice don't jump so as long as no one has direct contact, they should be fine.

 

Personally, I think treating the whole family with prescription products is excessive.

 

ETA: Just checked. Lice die within 2 days without a host. There used to be a great lice info page available through the Harvard School of Public Health but I can't find it. Here's another decent one. http://www.schoolhealthservicesny.com/faq.cfm?subpage=80

[Starr]

People have good results using the cetaphil soap treatment. google has the info

[AmyontheFarm]

My first instinct would be to fire bomb the house and start over, but I have heard from friends that they used a service which came into the house and nit picked the kids and them and gave advice on what had to be treated and so on.  The fee cost a bit, but I know one lady who had them come in and followed exactly what they said to do and didn't have any reinfections.  You might look into something like that.

 

 

[AMJ]

Lice need a human host to live so they will not survive long on things. I can't remember exactly how long they last but you could put them in plastic bags for a week and you shouldn't worry at all. I'd wash the other bedding and perhaps vacuum upholstered sofas, chairs, and carpets.

 

My number one lice tip is to pick any lice and nits out of the hair by hand, using whatever method you like. If you do that thoroughly, they will not spread or recur. Start doing it twice a day and set aside an hour each time to do it. Do not rely on any special lice shampoos. Whatever you decide to use or not use, just pick, pick, pick them out.

 

P.S. Lice don't jump so as long as no one has direct contact, they should be fine.

 

Personally, I think treating the whole family with prescription products is excessive.

 

ETA: Just checked. Lice die within 2 days without a host. There used to be a great lice info page available through the Harvard School of Public Health but I can't find it. Here's another decent one. http://www.schoolhealthservicesny.com/faq.cfm?subpage=80

 

Thanks for the link.  Looks like if we could just abandon our house for a couple of weeks we could just ignore and forget that supply (lice die within 2 days if they don't have blood to feed upon, nits take a week to hatch, so starve the little buggies for at LEAST 9 days).  But we can't do that, and it would only risk infecting other places.

 

Looks like I also have to deal with the cars, as well as the people and the house.  I'm calling the vet as soon as they are open to find out if we need to treat the cat, who sleeps on DD's bed.  The cat is on flea & tick meds, so maybe she's fine.

 

I've notified family.  We were in close contact recently, so they are all on the lookout now, too.  And we are all supposed to be getting together for Thanksgiving -- we'll have to see how that pans out.  If we go we are supposed to be bringing along several signature dishes, which all have to be cooked today, as well as all of the de-lousing work.

 

This is proving to be an unexpectedly hectic end to NaNoWriMo month.  I'm past 46,5000 words, and now wondering when I'll get those last 3500 words written.

 

Thanks for letting me whine, too.  Time to get breakfast and start tackling it all.

[AMJ]

Thank you, everyone!  Once the hecticness dies down I will post what we actually ended up doing and how it all worked.  In the meantime, please feel free to keep posting any suggestions.

 

Thanks for the support, the help, and the laughs!

 

[Ravin]

Anything that can't be washed on hot and dried on the dryer can be double-bagged in plastic and stored for a month. This will ensure no survivors.

 

I wouldn't trust the medicine to do the job alone. Many lice are resistant. Oiling hair can make it harder for them to stay put and drowns eggs by gunning up the air holes. They catch more easily on clean, dry hair.

 

I'd oil everyone's heads, have them sleep in shower caps for a few days, and any infected person should be thoroughly combed with a nit comb daily. Wash all bedding and pillows on hot and dry in the dryer.

[Scarlett]

My son and I got lice last summer. First time ever for either of us. My mom was a public school teacher and has picked out her fair share of nits. She is convinced that the reason some kids get repeatedly reinfected is because the nits are not removed. It is a painstaking process. It absolutely necessary along with properly washing other potentially infected surfaces.

 

I only have one child, so I really feel for those with many children. What a nightmare. I have long thick hair and y mom spent about 3 hours on my hair. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have her. Probably hire a service.

[coralloyd]

We just got over lice about a month ago. First I tried to use a shampoo and do my kids heads. I thought I was very thorough combing them out. I was not able to get everything. I ended up calling a service. The girl was great! We were bug free after her visit. I payed $275 for me and my two girls to be treated. She checked my husband and son and they didn't have any. It was worth the money for the peace of mind. She also told me what to do with the house. Do not freak out. It is not that hard. Wash and dry on high what you can, vacuum furniture, put things like stuffed animals in plastic bags for 48 hour. Lice cannot jump or crawl off your pillow case and find their way onto your pillows. They are just not that smart. Animals cannot get lice. So do not worry about your cat. I know it is nerve wracking, but the biggest thing you can do is, make sure you have no nits or bugs left on your heads. Sorry you are dealing with this during the holidays :(.

[bolt.]

My DD got lice last month. None of the rest of us got it, and we just treated her -- with the medical 'shampoo' twice, 8 days apart. In between we used a tea tree conditioner and a nit comb almost-daily.

 

I washed all bedding on hot, and dried it in the dryer. Also, the recent clothing and outerwear.

 

I removed all stuffed things/pillows, left them a while, then just dryer-ed them.

 

I put the hair pretties in the freezer, and washed combs and brushes in very hot soapy water.

 

The skating helmets were well frozen in our outdoor van, as were all parts if the van itself.

 

We have has no reoccurrence. I think the reoccurrence some people experience has more to do with nits in the hair than with any kind of long-term survival of lice apart from a host. I know that some lice (on a host) can be "resistant" but I guess ours weren't. Ours were easy-peasy.

[nmoira]

You need only worry about items that come into contact with the child's head: clothing, outerwear, bedding, throws, brushes, stuffed toys, etc.

 

Items impractical to wash can be placed in a deep freeze. The length of time depends on the temperature, 12 to 24 hours for deep freeze, to 72 hours for 32F.

[Tiramisu]

I have used the picking method, picked twice a day for two to three weeks, and we never had lice spread from one person in the family to another or have an in-house reinfection. Try not to worry too much. They don't take over so easily. 

[Kari C in SC]

We used cetaphil and retreated with listerine. Not a huge problem at all and know combing for nits.

[Laura Corin]

I've never treated the house when the children got lice.  I treated those who were infected (with OTC louse-smothering fluid), treated again to catch any late-hatchers, and that was it.  Lice need to suck blood - they don't survive for long off a human.

 

L

[Bree]

They have combs that shock the lice. I have one called a robi comb. It kills them quickly and you can use it to make sure there are no living ones when your family comes. I had lice once and with crazy thick hair it's hard sometimes to make sure u have them all. I think I got it at walmart. It was a life saver for me :)

[twoxcell]

Throw all bedding in the wash. Wash with hot water and dry. For pillows and stuffed dolls throw them in the dryer for at least 20 minutes on high heat. Anything you can not dry that you are worried about you can seal up in a bag for a couple of weeks. Also vacuum all carpeted areas and dispose of bag/or empty and clean canister. My dd's got lice in the summer and I did all of the above as well as treated everyone in the house twice with the lice shampoo. I also went through and nit combed the girls hair multiple times using spray on conditioner. When I was done nit combing them I french braided their hair tightly. I also did the Cetiphil treatment a few times and left it in over night with their hair braided. We were able to get rid of them fairly quickly because we knew of the exposure right away. I only every saw a couple live bugs on each girl and a handful of nits.

[AMJ]

They have combs that shock the lice. I have one called a robi comb. It kills them quickly and you can use it to make sure there are no living ones when your family comes. I had lice once and with crazy thick hair it's hard sometimes to make sure u have them all. I think I got it at walmart. It was a life saver for me :)

 

Interesting!  I'll look into those.  Might come in handy in the future.  Thanks!

[Joker]

My dds had it for the first time about two months ago. The best thing ever was taking them to a place nearby that uses a dryer treatment. Then, they picked out all the dead nits, and put an oil treatment on their heads. They guaranteed it for 30 days and did a free recheck at the end of the month. We've had no problems since.

 

The only thing we did in the house was wash what we could on hot, the stuffed animals in the dryer for 30 minutes, and vacuumed daily for about two weeks.

[AMJ]

Thanks, everyone, for your support and recommendations!  I'm sure this thread will be sought out in the future by others facing lice for the first time.

 

Here's what we did.  One week later we appear to be lice free, though I will confirm with a very thorough combing later this afternoon.

 

• Filled the Sklice prescriptions (one for each kid), and bought a Rid lice removal kit (I wanted the nit comb, and something in case DH and I needed it).  Turns out the spray inside was handy to have, too.
• While I was out picking up stuff DH stripped beds and got the girls to stuff all of their pillows and stuffed animals into plastic bags.  Anything we determined at any time to not be washable we stuck in the freezer for 12 hours or more.  We are still cycling stuff through (DD9 has LOTS of stuffed critters and sleeps & plays with them ALL regularly).  Bedding, clothing, anything we could we cycled through the laundry on HOT.  Hot wash (long stain cycle) for most, and hot dryer for whatever we thought would tolerate it.
• Rooms were vacuumed thoroughly, and curtains and upholstery were sprayed.  We also sprayed mattresses and box springs (sides).  Curtains were treated because in the girls' rooms the heads of their beds are against the curtains, overlapping the windows a little.
• The cat got her latest dose of flea meds, and her bedding (on the foot of DD9's bed) was thoroughly washed as well.
• Care was taken whenever moving stuff between laundry machines, or in/out of the freezer, not to get the clean stuff in contact with anything not yet cleaned.
• Bathrooms, bookshelves, and other areas received their usual deeper cleaning and dusting, since I was already doing much of it in the lice chase.
• DH and I took it in shifts to work through the kids' heads.  Sklice technically is a "10-minute" treatment, but that's 10 minutes of letting it sit on the head after getting it properly applied.  Proper application to a head of long, fine, densely-populated hair took more than an hour.  Combing through after the rinse-out (necessary to remove the adhering nits) took a couple of hours.  Child #2's hair was shorter, coarser, and contained less lice and nits, but still took quite a while to work through. 
• NOTE:  no matter how fine the teeth are on a nit comb they will not get every nit if the hair itself is fine.  Nits are TINY, and we had to be very vigilant in inspecting while combing, and picking them out by hand.  This is easier to do if you have not bitten your nails to the quick earlier in the day.
• NIT COMBS ARE ALSO TWO-SIDED, WHICH CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS WITH LONG HAIR.  When using a two-sided comb on long hair be sure to keep the comb on top of the hair as you draw it through a lock of hair -- do not let the hair lay on the comb as you draw it through, or the hair will wrap around both sets of teeth and tangle in the comb.  This is a BIG pain, so remember:  comb from above, or tape off one set of teeth of the comb to prevent this problem.
• After putting the girls to bed in their freshly clean beds (blowing goodnight kisses instead of hugging and smooching heads) DH and I went over each other while our mattress pad washed and dried.  Neither of us had any, but we thoroughly inspected each other and treated me to be on the safe side.  DH said if there were any doubt about him he could just shave what little hair he had (very short, #2 comb on the clippers).
• We fetched clean sheets, blankets, and pillows out of the spare bedroom (which the girls hadn't been in at all in over a month) and threw the rest of our bedding in to wash overnight.
• Oh, and we also sprayed down the headrests and seat backs in the cars, since it's warm here.
• We have been washing and freezing and vacuuming and dusting and wiping stuff down every day, on top of cooking our share of Thanksgiving dinner and spending 4 days running over to my in-laws' house to visit with family (some unexpectedly came in from out of town, and we were happy to see them).
• I had forewarned family about the lice (we couldn't be sure the lice were picked up after visiting family the weekend before, so some family needed to check their kids, too), so everyone just played without putting heads together and was mindful about not dressing up or doing other games that might spread stuff.

I've been inspecting the kids in the morning when they brush their hair with their freshly cleaned brushes (washed in sinks full of hot water, soap, and Oxy Clean -- closest thing I could come to the Calgon soak my Mom used to do on the family hairbrushes every month), and I haven't seen any sign of anything returning.  We go to Aikido later this evening, so I will have the girls wash their hair first and I will closely inspect it before we go.  I will also inspect their hair again afterwards, since this is one possible venue for the girls catching the lice in the first place (no way to know for certain; it's just possible).  The kids come in close contact with each other when they practice, and I want to be sure we won't be going through this again anytime soon.

 

 

[flyingiguana]

We go to Aikido later this evening, so I will have the girls wash their hair first and I will closely inspect it before we go.  I will also inspect their hair again afterwards, since this is one possible venue for the girls catching the lice in the first place (no way to know for certain; it's just possible).  The kids come in close contact with each other when they practice, and I want to be sure we won't be going through this again anytime soon.

Yep. After all that work, there's likely to be some kid around who will reinfest yours.

 

This is why keeping lice a secret is kind of a dumb idea. If everyone knew who had it, it would be easier to keep track of reinfestation potential.

 

FWIW -- I suspect washing items is probably a waste of time. By the time the hot water gets into the washer, it's already cooled down below 140 degrees F. (Unless it's supposed to be 130 now?) The dryer's a better bet.

 

Well, unless your sheets needed washing anyway. Which is where I'd be.

 

The big thing is getting them off the kids heads. Even picking nits is not all that useful unless they're quite close to the scalp. They hatch pretty quickly, and then it's just empty nits you're picking off. Pulling off live lice can be useful -- but are these louse shampoos now claiming that they sterilize the lice? If so, you could just leave them all. (Not that I'd ever ever want to.)

 

I suspect most louse infestations are from lice moving directly head to head, with perhaps some from contact with pillows and brushes that have just been used.

[busymama7]

I haven't read all the replies but I successfully got rid of them in five kids by nit combing with a metal nit comb everyday for 2 weeks. I did bag stuff up, wash bedding and use live shampoo but we got reinfected. I was overwhelmed thinking the tiny things could be anywhere so I just decided to comb them out everyday. Then if I missed one in the couch and it climbed back on a head I would get it that evening.

 

It worked for us and they never came back.

[catz]

They really don't live long off the head. I did wash up all the bedding, dried on high, and then changed pillowcases every day for a week. The first 2 weeks, I combed every day, the following week every other day. I actually never saw a lice after day one. We did use Rid, but I don't feel like that was the key. Comb with a metal comb and it's important you do combing beyond the length of time it would take for everything to hatch out (beyond 14 days). We were very successful getting rid of ours - no problem.

[AMJ]

Life got VERY busy for the last 2-3 months, and lice was only a small part of it.  Here's a quick follow-up post:

 

Right around Christmas we not only got reinfested somehow, but some of my nieces also got lice as well.  I suspect it came via one of their schools, as the youngest victim had it the worst and there was a known outbreak in other classrooms there (small school, so yes, they were close by.  Kids also sit very closely together in school assemblies.). 

 

In helping my SIL in checking all heads in her house and delousing those infected I discovered a new tool that proved quite helpful:  an electronic comb.  This proved to be quite handy when working on the youngest (super fine, pale hair) as the comb would stop whining whenever it found something.  Even if it failed to come everything out it helped jar me out of ennui to look more closely and get the nits.

 

In the end we dry-combed with the electronic comb, then treated with lice shampoos.  Everyone who was checked and declared free of lice and nits was treated with lice repellants.  It required diligence over the next many days and GOBS of house cleaning (and we bought new hairbrushes for everyone -- no more sharing allowed!), but we finally got everyone louse-free for more than a week before school started.

 

I think other families also used the winter break for ambitious delousing.  I haven't heard of any further outbreaks at the school.

 

[Tiramisu]

Life got VERY busy for the last 2-3 months, and lice was only a small part of it.  Here's a quick follow-up post:

 

Right around Christmas we not only got reinfested somehow, but some of my nieces also got lice as well.  I suspect it came via one of their schools, as the youngest victim had it the worst and there was a known outbreak in other classrooms there (small school, so yes, they were close by.  Kids also sit very closely together in school assemblies.). 

 

In helping my SIL in checking all heads in her house and delousing those infected I discovered a new tool that proved quite helpful:  an electronic comb.  This proved to be quite handy when working on the youngest (super fine, pale hair) as the comb would stop whining whenever it found something.  Even if it failed to come everything out it helped jar me out of ennui to look more closely and get the nits.

 

In the end we dry-combed with the electronic comb, then treated with lice shampoos.  Everyone who was checked and declared free of lice and nits was treated with lice repellants.  It required diligence over the next many days and GOBS of house cleaning (and we bought new hairbrushes for everyone -- no more sharing allowed!), but we finally got everyone louse-free for more than a week before school started.

 

I think other families also used the winter break for ambitious delousing.  I haven't heard of any further outbreaks at the school.

 

If you hear of any more outbreaks at the school, you may want to insist the school is treated. The carpet in my dd's first grade classroom was harboring lice. All the kids kept getting it. Finally, one mom insisted they treat the classroom, and they did. After that, no one else got lice for the rest of the year.

[Scarlett]

Honestly getting the nits all out is the single most important thing.....but also avoiding exposure as well. It won't matter how much work you do if your kid sits next to a kid with lice they will get lice again.

[brookspr]

My daughter (13) and her BFF got it last year and both of us used different treatments successfully.  No matter what you decided to use, you must pick the nits out of the hair in a painstakingly long process to make sure no new lice can hatch, as many have already said before me.

 

My neighbor used the lice shampoo she got from her pediatrician.  It worked.  I used a combination of tea tree oil with a carrier oil (might have been olive oil) and covered my daughter's scalp and hair with it.  Made her sleep in a shower cap with her hair up in a bun.  Did that two or three times over the course of a week.  Lice don't like tea tree oil, which is a way to prevent them from even attaching themselves (use a tea tree oil shampoo or just mix a little with another oil and comb through the hair once in a while) and the combination of that with the carrier oil basically suffocates them so they die.  In between the oil treatments we washed and picked every day.  Nobody else in either family got lice and we neither saw a return of the lice once we got rid of them.

 

Good luck!