My Lice Nightmare

I never in my life thought I'd be writing about this subject but I want to share my experience with other parents. If you ever had them, you know what a pain it is to get rid of them. If you never had them, well, I hope that you never get them. 

One of the common misconceptions is that only people who are "dirty" and children can contract lice. WRONG! Anyone can get them, even the cleanliest person. From what I've heard and read, it's more common for elementary school children to contract them and is spread by head to head contact. The best way to try to avoid getting lice is to make sure your child doesn't share hats, combs, brushes, clothing or any type of bedding.  
  

My husband is the one who discovered one of the super teenie tiny bugs in Baby E's hair. I did some research and found that those tiny bugs were nymphs, which are baby lice. I immediately called the pediatrician to schedule an appointment. After careful inspection of my own, insanely thick hair, I found that I had adult lice and nits. 

I felt like screaming. I actually cried. I've never had lice in my life, not even as a child. How I contracted them, I have absolutely no idea. We haven't been sharing clothing or in contact with any children who had these critters. It will forever be a mystery.

After confirming what we thought, Baby E's pediatrician wrote us a prescription for a shampoo that was safe to use on infants. The doctor explained how common lice were and the crazy amount of cases she's treated. She said its basically an epidemic in elementary schools.  

I really didn't want to use any type of chemicals on myself or my daughter but ended up buying the prescribed medication anyway. I followed the directions carefully but after a day, I noticed Baby E still had nymphs in her hair. The over the counter treatment I was using for myself didn't seem to help much either. After a lot of reading, I discovered a more natural way that is said to be very effective. I used olive oil to remove the lice and vinegar to get rid of the nits. I'm now going to share with you exactly what I did to get rid of these nastyyyyy parasites. 

First, I covered my scalp and hair with the olive oil. I then wrapped plastic wrap around my head to cover all of my hair in order to suffocate the lice. I sat with it in my hair for 2 hours and rinsed, trying to get as much of the olive oil as I could out of my hair. 

I combed the knots out of my hair using a detangling comb and when I was finished getting the tangles out, I parted my hair in small portions and used a metal nit comb on my damp hair. 

A few hours later, after my hair had fully dried, I soaked my hair in white vinegar to loosen and kill and nits in my hair. After leaving it in for a few minutes (10-15), I rinsed it out and washed my hair in baby shampoo. I then used the nit comb again to comb out whatever nits were left. 

I repeated this whole process 2 days later then again after 7 days.  

With Baby E, I was given the ok to use the olive oil from her pediatrician. I basically went through the same process I had gone through with myself but left the olive oil in her hair for about an hour. Instead of plastic wrap, I used a sun hat on her head. I was lucky and E wasn't bothered by it much. She tried pulling the hat off twice but was easily distracted with toys. 

Treating the lice on our heads wasn't the end. Both my husband and I vacuumed like crazy! We vacuumed anything and everything including the couch, chairs, bassinet, bed, etc. I also did what seemed like a million loads of laundry. I would wash our bedding and clothes at least every other day. I wish I could have done wash every day but we live in an apartment building and it costs us $2.25 per wash and dry. We spent about $30 on laundering. 

If you ever find that you or your child has lice, I highly encourage you to consult your doctor or pediatrician if you are considering trying this method. I also recommend checking out http://headlicecenter.com/ which had a lot of great suggestions and information!