Parents Uhhhmmmm.... Head lice......?

[mamaoftwo]

So, I got a call from one of DD's teammates mom last night. Her DD has a bad case if head lice. She and my DD are pretty close and have a lot of playdates, so yeah I pretty much freaked out. In fact, this little girl was in my car last week....

Why am I posting this here? Well... apparently this other "gym mom" called her DD's school, and there's one other girl with it, too. The school would not give out specifics, but did say the girl isn't in the same grade but does also go to our gym...

So, Dh has combed through DD's hair. I have combed through it. Finally, the other gym mom took a peek for us today, as she apparently knows what it looks like! My DD has very long hair, so it's terrifying to think... Well, not going to go there. She may be getting a bit of a trim, though!

So, I was wondering if any of your gyms have this? It hasn't been posted in our gym at all this year. We'll see if they do today. I know last fall another girl had it in a different class, and it wasn't posted (though the mom told me herself). The year before, the gym DID post it because they had an "outbreak". It was over winter break, so they just canceled open gyms, etc, and figured it would die out.

A rumor, per other gym mom, from her teacher friend... is that 8 girls in one school (the one she apparently teaches at) all got it in a row, and they all went to our gym.

I know it's apparently the right time of year for it. I also know we can get it from ANYWHERE. I also know the schools have some incentive to perhaps want to "pass the buck" so to speak.

Naturally though, this makes me a little cautious (and nauseous!). Part of me wants to keep DD home from gym today, as the other little girl (who I truly do adore, she's very sweet) was just there with it on Tuesday. I am not sure what to do. That girl's mom is discussing pulling her DD from the team and the gym, as she truly believes it's a hygiene issue at our gym...

So, do you all think I have cause for real worry? I did buy a "repel" shampoo, conditioner, leave-in conditioner and a spray... Overkill, I know, but I'd like to prevent it if I could, even if it's only marginally effective.

Thanks,
A Terrified Mamaoftwo

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Nits are becomming endemic in our school system these days - when I went to primary school we had "Nitty Nora" The nurse who weould check everyones hair and if you had lice you wer sent home till clear. This is not doen any more and we just get a note home if someone in the class is found with them.

There is no prevention and they prefer clean hair to dirty !

I now wetcomb the childrens hair every week to remove any lice they may have caught. - the way I do it is to wash their hair, mix a handfull of conditioner with 6 drops of teatree essential oil (which is an insecticide), lather hair with this mix and comb out with nit comb til no lice and eggs come out, rinse well. If lice are present do this every 3 days until clear.

This should ensure you never get an infection as the lice cannot reproduce until they are about 7 days old.

hth

'Margo

 

[SGMOM]

Our gym has been passing it around since June. My kid has not had it yet. We use the lice comb a couple of times a week just as prevention.

 

[mamaoftwo]

Thanks, guys. Glad to know it's not "just" our gym. Today I tightly braided DD's hair and put it into a bun... May be her new "look" while there!

I will buy a comb, as suggested, and use it occasionally to make sure. I was tempted to today when I stopped by the children's salon. The shampoo, conditioner and leave-in-conditioner from FairyTales all have tea tree oil, citronella and rosemary. They claim it is "100% effective at prevention" if you use them together. While I am not convinced it'll actually work, I did buy them. At least I can have peace of mind that I tried my best to avoid it.

Gymnastics has some downers all around, I guess. Injuries, cost, lice.... Eeeekkk. DD is luck she loves it so!

 

[Quadqueen]

It is gross, but it's not a "gym thing"!! It goes around my kids' schools every year. I'm surprised that this gym mom is considering pulling her daughter out of the gym?! I can understand not having her go temporarily until there are no more cases there, but that's as far as I'd go.

 

[sally]

They actually come in clean hair. You think about it as people with dirty hair. If I find out somebody in her class has had them I just go and buy some nit shampoo and just do her hair for the just in case. So far it has worked, she hates it though lol. Another thing I have heard is about nits not liking hair spray so maybe use that.

 

[Shewhodrives]

Lice loves everyone! They are yucky and I feel your pain/stress! Ewwww! I spray my daughters hair everyday with lice repellent and I USUALLY (as I look at my profile pic) wrap her hair up tight! Another little thing that I do (weird, I know) is make sure that my kids put their coats into their backpacks at school! I think I have a lice phobia. I hope I never have to deal with them in my house, but lots of parents have dealt with it and it isn't the end of the world.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

coincidence.

 

[kiwiflyer]

It could be worse... It could be gastro. I was unfortunate enough to catch head lice from one of the kids that I coached. Thankfully my son doesn't really have enough hair to get lice in because it was one nasty experience that lasted ~ a month and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I swear by tea tree oil. After trying the chemical-type shampoos with no luck, I tried tea tree oil and it got rid of the little (and not so little) critters. It also smells a whole lot better and I found it soothing on my scalp. Anyway, fingers crossed that your DD doesn't get it

 

[emorymom]

What you are doing should be totally adequate.

There is a mom around here who means well but has a lot of stressors and says things the wrong way. Last outbreak she called me up and told me ... not quite verbatim but close ... "my daughter got lice from A and I know your daughter spends time with A and my daughter so please make sure your daughter doesn't give it back to mine." Yeah got to love it. Lice stresses us all.

Lice are not really analytical creatures. They will only jump off a host for another host. Otherwise it's suicide because they will dry out without a blood source. If it doesn't smell like hair to them, they aren't jumping on it. That's why tea tree oil, heavy hairspray, or oiling down the hair with something like coconut oil and putting it in braids keeps them off your child.

We breezed through the last outbreak with my daughter in coconut oil and braids. Not a popular caucasian look I know but it is very good for the hair, protects at swim team practice, and I don't really care what people think if I don't have to nit pick.

 

[Blackie6]

Just got a note home from our gym last night. With 3 kids, and this going around school all the time, I am not surprised. My one son wrestles and you don't even want to know the kukamonga crud rash he had last year! Tis the season and just can't be helped and you never really know where it started, but it is very common.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Nit shampoo is poison. I would certainly not use it as preventative measures. Coating the hair with mayonaise and wearing a shower cap for a couple of hours is more effective than any chemical at killing the lice (ask me how I know!). It really is just a fact of childhood.

 

[cher062]

Its that time of year not alot you can do about it. If your kid gets it they notify the whole school that there is a case in the school. The gym should also notify all their gymnasts as well. Lice aren't dangerous and they don't spread disease, but they are contagious and can just be downright annoying. Their bites may cause a child's scalp to become itchy and inflamed, and persistent scratching may lead to skin irritation and even infection. I am hoping that the girl with the lice isn't at the gym at this point until she is treated.
Lice are spread from person to person by direct head-to-head contact, for as long as the lice are alive on the infected person. Head lice can also be spread by sharing combs, hats and other objects such as carpet, car seats and bedding. Although head lice do move quickly, they cannot fly or hop off to another person.
Unhatched eggs cannot be spread from person to person. Pets do not spread head lice.

Until live lice and viable nits (eggs) are eradicated, infested persons should be excluded. This includes isolating the person for 24 hours following application of treatment. The lice-infested person or child should wear long hair up, preferably in braids if ossible, to avoid spreading the lice to furniture, clothing and others.

Ok can you tell my daughter has been down this road a few years back. she got them from her friend after a sleep over at her house - her mom neglected to tell me that most of her family had lice and they were treating them at that time.

My DD's hair at the time was down to her bottom (a good 2 feet long) and its very thick so needless to say it took a few hours to go through her hair. her Dr said to treat every day so long as we saw live lice. She had to have it done for 3 days. We let everyone we knew she had come in contact with so they too could treat. If your DD has been in contact with this gal it wouldn't hurt to do a lice treatments and see if there are any dead lice that end up in the tub or sink from it. That is what my DD's Dr suggested and that everyone in the family do the same. Of course with her hair being so long and thick it took two treatments each time to cover the whole head and hair. Yes the shampoo is a pesticide but better to be pro active than spend days trying to get rid of them with several treatments after infested.

 

[notjustgym]

Nit shampoo is poison. I would certainly not use it as preventative measures. Coating the hair with mayonaise and wearing a shower cap for a couple of hours is more effective than any chemical at killing the lice (ask me how I know!). It really is just a fact of childhood.

I have gone through a couple bouts of Lice with my DD's.. This treatment worked the best!

 

[Kiwi]

Yikes, I just discovered these critters for the first time on younger DD's head a couple of weeks back. I think she must have got them at school. I would never put insecticide on my kids, so we have been using other treatments. I found one that is a mixture of oils, including coconut oil, jojoba oil and neem seed oil. I treated our whole family. After several treatments I think they're gone, at least I hope they are. It is school holidays here so she hasn't had much opportunity to pass them on to anyone except immediate family. I'm also going to try tea tree to prevent reinfestation.

 

[cher062]

if you don't want to use the over the counter stuff then any oil based product can work - mayo can work but you need to leave it on for at least 12 hours wrap your head in plastic so it is toatlly covered.

My DD hair was down to her butt so that's alot of mayo the over the counter products were a better choice for us it works quickly and honestly it left the hair very soft and shiny. Don't know what else is in that product but if they ever make it with out the pesticide I would get it.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

we have both pesticide based and non-pesiticed based products here. The pesitcide contained in them is malathion or phenothrin, we used to have permethrin as well but that has been withdrawn for headlice use down to resistance.

Non-pesticed products useDimethicone, which coats the lice and sufficates them.

The main method advocated is wet combing

 

[Maitland]

Killing the live lice (no matter what method you use) is only part of the battle. Many schools no longer require a "no nit (eggs) policy", but that is really the best way to stop the little critters. Shampoos and other treatments do not actually kill the eggs, so if you kill the live lice, and don't remove all of the eggs, then you will just have to start all over when the eggs hatch. Nit combs might not remove all eggs. The best thing to do is to remove them by hand. The eggs are small and attach to the hair, usually closest to the scalp (this web site has some good pictures to see what they look like--LICE!). When you find a nit, pinch it and pull it off of the hair. It takes a long time, particularly if you have a child with thick, long hair. Work for a while, give yourself and your child a break, then keep going. After you think you removed all of the nits, check again the next day. I'd then make it a point to check in a week and again at 2 weeks. Wash everything in HOT water or throw in HOT dryer. Also bag up anything that you cannot wash for at least two weeks. The cycle will be broken. My child has not had lice but I work at a school and we see it every year (and we have a no nit policy.) Remember, it has nothing to do with being dirty...I tell the kids it is like being stung by a bee...the bees are out there and sometimes you will get stung no matter what you do.

 

[gymmomtoo]

First, you guys are all making my head itch!

Second, never had lice here (knock on wood!!), but also never seen a note go home from gym that girls have had it. No idea if that's because the parents don't notify the gym or the gym just doesn't pass it on (I think school is required to, but gym is not).

Third, though I've never had it in our house, I have heard the oil/mayo treatment works great! Good to know the shampoo stuff is so easy on the hair though. I'll keep that in mind if we get an outbreak.

 

[cher062]

nit removal on long thick hair is VERY time consuming. When my DD had it it took hours to go through her whole head. I would have her wash her hair so it was wet and clean. then with the silver type hair clips section off very very small parts go through every strand then twirl it and twist it up and clip it in. Tight hair keeps the lice out (most of the time) so you know that section should be ok. When done her whole hair is small mounds of little twisted hair which she liked to keep in because when it finally dried (that took forever too on thick hair) and she took the clips out her hair was nicely curled the way she liked it.

Did this every night until I couldn't find any more. Thank God she has dark dark hair and it made it easier to see the nits but the lice was dark so it was harder to see.