Lice - Reading, PA

Hi, finally someone else that can relate. My daughter used to get it all the time from school. I tried everything even the doctor gave me a presciption and I even did the mayo treatment which did work. What I do now to prevent it is I pull my daughters hairback everyday with a little gell.

Hi L.. I can sympathize with you. My daughter's father used to live in a fashion that was not to my liking. I told him that if he did not clean things up, I was not going to let my daughter visit him anymore. I also told him that I would come clean his house for a fee that was considerably less than commercial, and he agreed. I don't know what kind of relationship the two of you have, but maybe he would agree to let you come spray the house and wash all the linen. As long as he pays for the chemicals(which are outrageously expensive). Sometimes men just don't know where to begin when it comes to a mess that's been overwhelming them. Good Luck!

Hi,
There is a website called lacetoleather.com/keepliceaway. They have natural remedies which involve things like putting lavender oil in your shampoo. They list some things that I guess lice don't like so they just stay away. This might be worth a try. It didn't sound too hard. As for what to do about her father's place, if she keeps getting lice from there, how clean is it otherwise? Sounds a little iffy. Good luck!

Hi L.,

I'm not sure how often she goes to her father's, but if its possible you can try. and load up her hair with gel and hairspray. It will give her hair a coating and the lice will not be able to grab on to anything. Maybe you can try and also have her wear a cute hat or something over her hair until you can really solve this problem. Although these are only temporary remedies maybe they will help! Make sure you document everything she comes home with. I'd imagine after so many times of you having to go through this it would have to be something the courts or social services would have to look into. Good Luck!

Hi L.,
When my oldest daughter was young, she got lice from school and I was horrified, the nurse told me that lice actually attracts to clean hair, well once she got it it was sooooo hard to get rid of. Then we had a girl visit our house from out of state and she had it so anyways to make a long story short I started putting essential oils like lavendar and there were a few more ( it was awhile ago) in our conditioner and she never got it again. You could go to an aromatherapy website or buy a book and they will tell you what oils to use for different ailments. You have to be careful because some oils are harsher than others especially using on a child but lavendar is a very mild oil. I used a mix, sorry I wish I could remember what it was, if you are really interested I could dust off my books later tonight and try to find it, just e-mail me at ____@____.com......good luck, hope this helps, worked for us.

dear L.,
your not alone, (try not to let it freak you out) i also have a daughter, 10. i have had a constant battle with lice for the past 3 years. i also have a very clean house and child, thats part of the problem, the little suckers love the clean kids. in the past three years my daughter has had lice so many times i cant even remember anymore. i did everything trying to control the situation, even going to the point of cutting her hair to about an inch long all over her head. i even had the school envolved because that is where she kept getting it from. there is not a lot you can do to keep your little angel from getting them but what i did find that helped was using a leave in conditioner after bathing and also keeping her hair pulled up. once you get rid of them, keep hair products in her hair. mousse, hair spray, anything. lice seems to stay away. i have used every kind of lice removal products on the market, dont use the same brand everytime, the lice become immune when you use the same thing all the time. also, check daily for nits, i found this to be helpful; you catch them right away. i did find a product that works very well, it is a little expensive but very well worth it, since using it twice i have not had another reaccurance, thank the good lord. as far as going to dads, i found that if my daughter goes to someone elses house to spend the nite, a disposable shower cap on the head at nite time is a great way to try and help. my daughter would rather wear that than go through the nitemare of having to be treated again. oh, the name of the the product is "LICE CURE". the directions say to use half of the bottle the first time and then the rest in a week or whatever, i found that if you use the entire bottle and than retreat with another bottle, it works. (havent needed it since)
well, sorry this was so long, hope i could be some help to you, i now this problem all to well and i know it can be very flustrating. i have cried many, many times over this.
good luck
patti

I don't understand why child services can't/won't do anything. I would be sure to document each occurance and perhaps persue legal advice. It surely can't be a healthy place for your child to go if she ends up getting lice.

Good luck!

#i call the board/dept of health on your husband. Tell them the situation. You can tell them you have tried ccs and you were told nothing could be done.
#2 Hairspray, gel, mouse, etc. Kids her age don't use them and that's why it's so common in elementary schools but drops off there. It's not common in jr high or high school because most of the kids are wearing hairspray, gel, mouse, remember they only like clean hair!

Lice can be very hard to get rid of. My step-daughter is 10 and she has had it a few times. I thought we acutally got rid of it the first time but even one egg left can cause them to multiply ALL OVER AGAIN! She used someones brush at school.
Can you talk to your husband and explain to him he REALLY needs to clean his house from top tp bottom and get rid of them. If not, I would not let her go over there anymore! RID worked good for us, we also used the furniture spray and washed everything in hot water. HTH. Good luck.

L. ive been threw this as well , it dont matter if your clean or not ,, use SCOPE ,,,yes it works its been yrs sents we have had them ,, use nix as the cleaner for your hair , let it sit for a little while then use the comb,, then later on use the SCOPE , wash your hair and let the scope set in your hair like a condioner .. then comb it good .... i still to this day use scope in my hair every other day some times twice a week ,, ive not had them sent ive done
this best to you all ....some times cutin hair a little short or havin hair thined out helps too .wash with rain water also with scope helps .. good luck

If it were me and I had spoken with my ex about the situation and they have done nothing to rectify it, I would not allow her to go over there until he does. IF you have court ordered visitation and he gets mad about it, he will threaten to take you to court, which is where you want to go anyway. Let him initiate it , or clean his home of the lice. Sad part is that if she is getting it every time she goes over there, the others in that home have it as well, and dont seem to care. How awful for you daughter to have to be subjected to the torture on a regular basis.

Hi, L. --

Boy, lice are the worst. But preventing them should be easier than getting rid of them, if what I've read is true. The lice-remedy sites say that lice eggs don't stick to hair covered with oil gel, conditioner, or hair spray. I don't know how long your daughter stays with her father, but when she goes ... glop up her hair and make sure it doesn't get washed while she's there. (We leave a thick conditioner like Pantene on for a couple days. Leaves hair soft and shiny!) You might want to braid her hair to make the experience more pleasant.

Don't know if this discourages the live lice, and you'll still have to wash all her clothes, but it's worth a try. I've read that lice hate certain substances, including tea tree oil and the smell of green apples. Someone also said lice were repelled by Avon's Skin So Soft. Try googling "lice remedies" for more.

Good luck! And if you find anything that works, please let us know.
W.

Well I would say that your child getting lice isn't something to be laughed out of court about! Do you or did you have a custody attorney; if so contact them...let them know the situation and tell them you want a modification of the court order until the situation at her fathers is under control. Contact your daughters doctors office and get a visit scheduled and have them document it! Take this and the documentation to the courthouse and ask for an immediate modification of the order. BY LAW anything that could be hurtful to a child has the right for an emergency modification. Know your rights, talk to legal services in your area and get the modification order into effect...but make sure you have your daughters doc document it!

As some one who has been fighting this since 9 yrbold daughter went to church camp. Also has missed a lot of school. A house with two little girls one of which is school age I would recommend a product we just found. Called lice shield, the 3 step kit. Safe to use every day and repels lice. Once the lice is gone use lice shied to keep away.

Hi
I worked at schools and have seen this alot. i feel so bad for your daughter. It may be hard to prevent them but: lice hate dirty oily hair which is the reason for a decreased incidence for african americans due to the oils they add to their hair.
A few at home remdies less harsh and could do prior to going to Dad's: Leave olive oil or mayo in hair for 45 minutes and comb through and rinse out and shampoo. Do this everyweek even when she does not have it. Always put gel and hairspray in her hair, and have her wear it up. Tell her why and she will want to do it. Ensourage her not to wash her hair at Dads so it stays dirty( I know gross but it will prevent the lice at least a little) Hairspray and gel make it dirty and in NC where I lived and worked as a counselor I always had it in my hair b/c no freeze for weather = no end to lice season.
Also, they are right about the social services and court thing....we have had kids miss more than 50 days b/c of lice and it is not a social services issue nor a court one and they are all excused absences. The children are the ones suffereing at the hands of adults. Also, srya the seats if not leather of your cars and sofa esp. if you p/u her from dads so she does not keep bringing it in the house aqnd causing more work for you...also, treat her with the mayo or olive oil when she comes home too.
Good luck and I feel for you.
H.
Eastern Shore, MD

Hi L., I had this same problem with my 12 year old when she was 8 as well. She kept getting it from Summer camp. There isnt anything you can do as Lice Like Clean hair. If you skip washing her hair a day or 2 it really wont matter. Try Talking with your EX husband as well about this. I have gone over this with the school nurse as well. No matter how clean ur house is your child can still get Lice. It is not a dirty disease and no way should u be ashamed of it. I finally went to the pediatrition and they gave me a prescription for something called OVIDE 2% You do have to be careful apply it as it can irritate the scalp, but it stays on the hair for 48 hours or something like that, and let me tell ya it works wonders. I used to use the Store bought remedys and Nit removers and i could still stand over her head and see them just by looking at the top of her head because i became a expert at spotting them. They also tell you that the sprays for mattresses do not work either. Just wash the sheets and bed clothes in the hotest water possible, and store any stuffed animals for a week in dark garbage bags.
The State wont do anything because its not child endangerment. Does she go to school at your house or at dads house there may be somewhere else shes getting it. Including a friends house especially if there is comb borrowing, hat or hair band borrowing, Trust me ive seen it all. My 4 year old has been in daycare since she was 2, everytime they have a break out of lice in the daycare say its on weds, I dont let her wash her hair till friday evening when she isnt going back to school, and you know what??? SHes never got lice.
As one more point, Pple of color do not get lice because of the greases they use in there hair, a friend of mine even went so far as to add a small amount of oil/grease to her daughters hair because she was getting it from another daycare she attended, and she didnt get it again.
So good luck and mention OVIDE to your childs dr you might be pleasently surprised at how good it works.
M. C

Unfortunately, this is a basic hygiene problem on your ex's end. I don't know what kind of situation you have with your ex, but is it worth it to, say, hire a cleaning service to go over there and clean/bleach all of their bedding and generally clean up (or even do it yourself)? Unless she's using a clean pillow and pillowcase, she's just going to pick up the lice again.

And lice can't get resistant to the commercial products, they're not like antibiotics, they're like pesticides. Which sounds gross, but have you ever heard of ants getting resistant to ant spray?

The whole essential oils in her hair products thing can't hurt, though.

you may want to send her wit some spray. so she can spray her bed and stuff over there. tell her to use her own brush and not to let no one use it. and u can even put some olive oil or grease in her hair while she is over there.keep her hair pulled up in a ponytail.

Just a suggestion. He might want to buy a bug bomber and try and use it to get rid of the lice in his home. No guarentee it will work though. Lice like clean hair so maybe everyon eis his house should be checked for lice as well.

As far as your ex is concerned I'm not sure what to tell you to do about that. But when my step daughters came over with lice three different times we actually used the NIX brand hair conditioner. At first we tried RID but that was just a shampoo and the girls ended up crying when we combed through their hair. Then we purchased the NIX and it seemed to make combing through their hair a lot easier than the shampoo. The girls didn't cry at all. Sorry you're in such a difficult situation. Good luck!