Ew.
That's my first thought when I hear "head lice". Tiny little bugs living on your scalp, laying eggs, feeding off your blood? Yeah, stay FAR away from me, thank you!
But then we get a phone call from Leah's school. She's got head lice. She needs to be picked up.
And...queue freak-out.
As soon as she came in the door she was beaming. Smiling from ear to ear, "Mommy, look at this! I got head lice. See, the bug is taped the paper, and an egg too!" Oh, their sweet innocence. They are so untainted from this evil world. This world of judging, name-calling, mean people. I wish it could always be that way. I was honestly expecting her to be more uncertain, nervous, or sad. I guess my kid is just a confident one.
I asked if I could have a look near her neck and she willingly bent her head over. The nits were clearly visible and I don't even know how I didn't notice anything. That's one thing I never understood with kids getting lice. How did the parents not even know? Do they not brush or do their kid's hair?
I bathe the kids 2-3 times a week depending on how busy we are. I do Leah's hair everyday. French braids, pigtails, buns, pony-tails, and I never noticed a
thing. I didn't even notice itching!
I've personally never had head lice so I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. But with
head lice in my home(!!), I felt extremely antsy and had to do
something while I waited for Matt to come home on his lunch to pick up treatment. Here's what I did and what I suggest you do if you know your child has head lice:
- Put all couch cushions, blankets, throws etc. into the dryer for 35-40 mins. on high heat.
- Gather all hats, coats and either wash and dry or just dry for 35-40 mins as well.
- I also stripped Leah's bed of all bedding, pillows, stuffys, as well as the other beds in the house (just in case)
- What can't be put in the dryer, vacuum if you can. Otherwise put aside for 48 hours. Some people suggest placing things in garbage bags for 48 hours but it doesn't matter. Lice can't live off of the scalp.
- Collect any bath towels they recently used and place in the laundry. I gave Leah a new towel each time her hair was washed.
- Make sure they wear different pyjamas every night.
- Boil hair brushes and combs
- And lastly, give them a hug and kiss because yes, they can transfer from head to head but they cannot fly or jump and giving them some love will definitely make the both of you feel better
Once we got the treatment (we used
Resultz Head Lice Treatment, which I highly recommend) I bathed Leah and did it with her still in the bath. Basically you soak the head and let it sit for 10 mins then wash out with shampoo. Afterwards, she got in jammies and we sat to the kitchen table. She had a snack and I combed her hair and went through it with the lice comb, removing the eggs (nits). Im going to say she had about 50 eggs max. And honestly, that might sound like a lot but its totally not (they can lay between 10-50 eggs a day). I found ZERO bugs.
She had to stay home for 24 hours and the night before she was to return to school she got in the bath again so I could wash the rest of the oily residue out. I went through her head again and only found 2 eggs. SO YAY!! That means no mature lice laying eggs. (I think we caught it early enough!)
I'm going to continue going through her head every night before bed since the eggs are so small, chances of missing some are high. And in 7 days she's due for another treatment.
**Some other suggestions:
- Tea Tree shampoo! Lice hate it. Only use a small amount though, it dries out the scalp. I used a little too much on Leah and she was itchy from dry skin :(
- Once you're done combing through hair, braid it and use hair spray.
This wasn't a great experience but it was an experience nonetheless. I can now take better precautions to prevent it in the future. It's obviously something I don't wish upon you, but if you ever find yourself in the situation I hope you find these tips helpful!
