My 15 month old has lice. My mom discovered last week when we went over to visit and said her scalp was itchy and she thought it might have been an allergic reaction. I jokingly said she had lice which led her to check the kids and the baby had lice. I wash his hair every night and never noticed anything in his hair although I never really searched either. I ran to the drug store and got some homeopathic stuff the pharmacist told me to try and a comb. Poor guy was infested. I called the school nurse to check my other two and they were totally clear. My 4 year old just had nits that I picked off. She doesn't have a lot of hair. I washed all bedding and towels and vacuumed. The next morning I checked his hair and found a couple of live lice. Called his doctor she told me to get a shampoo and I did. I have been combing and attempting to pick the nits but he doesn't really stay still enough to let me. This morning I combed his hair and found 4 live lice. I had also found lice in my hair(I have eczema so being itchy never tipped me off) but have not found any since and my husband has combed through my hair daily. The other kids are clear. What do I do about the baby? I don't want to buzz him but I will if I have to. We have never dealt with lice before and it's making me feel awful that they're on my baby. I have also sprayed his car seat, stroller, furniture with lice spray I bought, and using tea tree oil on everyone else.
buzz those heads!
i mean, it's just hair. it will grow back.
and it will make the nit-combing and head treatments so much more effective.
sorry you've got to deal with this, M..
khairete
S.
The best, sure-fire way to deal with it is to give him a buzz cut. If you really don't want to do that, then try the mayo. It also helps to understand the life cycle of lice. The nits are the lice eggs. If your child had eggs, then he/she had to have lice in order to have eggs laid on the hair shaft. You can't have nits without lice. Lice cannot lay eggs for the first 12 days of their lives. That's why they say do a second shampoo about 10 days after the first. By that time, all nits you missed with have hatched, but none of the babies are yet old enough to lay more eggs.
You need to comb everyones hair everyday, at least twice a day. Lice are the most god awful thing to get rid of and please don't think that only one person has them. The ONLY comb that truly works is "the terminator" found at Ulta. Best thing to do is sit your kids on a chair in front of the tv. Have a spray bottle of water mixed with tea tree oil, a white bowl half filled with water, and your terminator. Separate the hair into very small sections, spray w the mixture, and comb the tiny section starting at top, then bottom, then both sides....like a 4 way stop sign. With EVERY comb thru, dip the terminator into the white bowl of water. Do this on everyone, everyday, twice a day.
Personally, I would buzz any of your boys.
Please don't use the chemical shampoos, they are pesticides and very damaging to skin and penetrate into the scalp.
You can try smothering his hair in mayonnaise and covering it with a shower cap. Leave it on for at least 4 hours, then wash it out.
When our son was 3, he came home from preschool with lice. I called, and the doctor said if our younger son had it, we would have to either shave his head or try the mayo. When the lice shampoo didn't do the trick the first time with our 3 year old, I tried the mayo on him. It worked for him. I figure it can always be worth a try.
We went through this a couple of years ago with preschool. I finally went to Ulta and got the Fairy Tales line, and used their stuff. It worked with 1 treatment, and they have a leave in spray to use in the morning before school so that they won't become reinfested. Great Clips also has the Lady Bugs line. I haven't used it, but I have heard that it is just as effective. I think the prices are the same. Since we started using the leave in spray, we have not had them again, even with outbreaks at school.
http://homeremediesforlife.com/coconut-oil-for-head-lice/
for a baby i would go natural. this site helps with how to do it
Please go to headlice.org and get common sense information.
If you don't want to buzz your own head (haha) put mayo or olive oil on your head before sleep, wrap it in a towel and it will smother them. You can do that to the baby too - minus the towel. You may have to cover his bed with towels that you are willing to throw out. You really need to put away all plush animals and toys (plastic bags for a few weeks) and I'd treat the entire family.
You can add a few drops of tea tree oil to his shampoo, but it is not tear free.
