LICE

kimia222

I searched this, found a post on it but it was when we were all pregnant. Mine is a little different so I am posting. A week ago my DD was scratching her head more than usual. That same day I went to my in-laws and mentioned that my DD was doing this and that I was concerned. She then says to me that her other grandchildren (my husband's brothers that she babysits ALL the time) had lice last wk. Hmmm, would've been great to know this especially since my 2 yr old loves to play with them and they are always all over her. Not only that but I had a 2 week old around them too!!! I was so angry after I found out, maybe hormonal. A phone call wouldve been great to warn me.

Called lice patrol that was extremely overpriced but got the job done, or so I hope. Not only did my DD have it but so did I. After having treatment and after cleaning the house, toys, clothes, etc... I finally had time to think which just made me more angry. Lack of sleep, being extremely fatigued, hormonal, probably experiencing postpartum blues, still bleeding, pain with breast feeding, and taking care of a 2 yr old, last thing i needed was lice. Not to mention my 2 wk old that I was so intimately holding, breastfeeding, and burping over the shoulder was at one point 1 inch away from bugs crawling on me, in my hair. I am terrified of insects, bugs, and spiders which is why I was thankful for lice patrol. The thought of my baby being near it just killed me, especially bc she is so helpless. I feel like I messed up but in reality I had no clue. I wasnt even itchy!
Lice patrol checked my newborns hair and said she didn't have it. Of course, I'm paranoid and when I check her hair I think I see lice. I guess the point of this post (other than venting) is...has anyone experienced this or known anybody to experience a newborn around lice? I was wondering if newborns can easily contract lice. My newborn has hair, not full yet but a good amount. Sorry for long post and vent.
Btw, not embarrassing but imagine having to tell people who want to visit baby

redfallon

https://www.thebump.com/a/lice-baby

Saw this...

brittbee0715

Yes!! My stepdaughter has lice I swear about every month since she started school. It pisses me off cuz her mom is so lazy that she doesn't do anything to get rid of it. She MIGHT clean her hair but doesn't clean anything else so she ends up getting it. Then she comes to our house and is all over everything. I was paranoid when I was pregnant and am even more paranoid now that LO has arrived. She likes to touch him and help with him but I'll die before she holds him! I talked to the pediatrician about it and if there was a way to help prevent the spread and he said no. Not even the nix or rid help anymore. He said that lice are becoming more resistant to the chemical in the shampoo. Before it would paralyze anything live but now it just makes them a little "drowsy". How we've kind of managed is that we check her hair whenever it's our weekend and if we see anything we take it out by hand or run the comb through her hair. Also as far as newborns go if they end up getting it you need to take them out by hand. Also babies don't take baths everyday so their hair most likely is oily. Lice don't particularly like oily hair because their eggs don't stay as well as if the hair was clean. I would just continue to check for the next week and if you haven't seen anything then they should be fine.

kimia222

@brittbee0715 thank u for your response! Have you heard of fairy tales? Lice patrol lady used it on our hair. The conditioning spray says safe for everyday use/prevention. I'm almost ready to use it everyday. It must be hard for you guys with your stepdaughter's mother not keeping up with things. We cleaned the house like crazy! I've checked my baby's hair and she seems fine, no eggs so far and no bugs. I didn't think this would be a problem for me yet since my daughter doesn't go to school, day care, nothing.

blended10

I use fairy tails spray on my son & his backpack - he's never had lice but I remember sd & ss getting it when they were young & it was a pita!
Can't imagine dealing with that now! I'd be livid, too!

kimia222

@blended10 that's great he's never had it. Which spray is it you use?

brittbee0715

I have heard of fairy tails. I think I've seen it at target before. We used lice shield before. They are great to have but I just wish they were fool proof. They are not 100% guaranteed to keep live away. I also wished that they sold furniture spray in the stores. You can get it online but it would be so much more convenient if it were in stores.

beccabeeee

If her hair is staying oily then I wouldn't worry too much. You could also use excess baby lotion after baby and smooth it over her hair. It would make it very hard for your baby to get live with something like that in her hair. Also, it keeps the hair contained a bit lol. Good luck!

elbou

My girls have gotten it twice since DS1 was born. The first time he was about 3 months old, and the second time was just a couple months ago. He was about 2.5 years old, and I was still pregnant with DS2. DS1 has never gotten lice. I credit that to his hair being too short when he was a baby, and a super quick haircut and prompt treatment for his sisters as soon as I found them the second time. I know it may not be the best option, but maybe cutting her hair as short as you can would give you some peace of mind?

If you don't want to go that route, then the pp's suggestions to keep the hair oily will work. I actually treated my girls hair at home the first time they got lice by smothering their hair with baby oil, leaving it overnight (covered with plastic/shower cap to protect the bedding!), and combing it really well the next morning. It worked great and was pretty cheap, but it was a lot of work!

The second time, we caught them really quickly thanks to a phone call from a friend's mom, so I skipped the baby oil, and just did a really thorough combing. I also took a pair of manicure scissors and cut any strands of hair that had eggs attached....much easier than trying to remove the egg itself! Since we caught it early, we didn't have to cut very many strands, and it wasn't noticeable at all.

kimia222

@elbou my gosh, she has really curly hair. I would hate to to cut it short because it takes FOREVER to grow long and show long. I know when I was little my mom cut mine and it was bad. Lol. I was older though and in school. I'm wondering if I should put some kind of oil in my 2 yr old hair? Maybe I'll just put a little and then brush it through. Then tie her hair back. @beccabeeee thanks for the oily suggestion.

blended10

kimia222 said:

@blended10 that's great he's never had it. Which spray is it you use?

This one:

melanietannae

When my niece had lice we used coconut oil. Worked very well. We even just kept it in her hair when she was around other children that had if and she didn't get it again.