Oh, Crud. Cricket has Lice.

[Tapioca]

Cricket's been scratching her head, and I was hoping it was her sulfate allergy raising it's ugly head again. So I checked her over with a fine toothed comb and.... crud. I found a louse.
So. I've slathered her hair in coconut oil and put it in a bun. I'm about to do the same to my hair (I wasn't itchy, but just thinking about it makes me shudder). I plan on washing all of her and my bedding this afternoon, but what do I do with her stuffed animals? Her mattress? What about the couches? Aaaaaahhhh!!! :: pant, pant, pant:: Okay, I'm better now. Seriously, any advice?

(Oh, and Cricket is seven.)

[Coan-Teen]

I wouldn't worry too much about the couch and carpet. Lice can only survive for a little over a day without being on a human being. Make sure you wash all Cricket's clothes and bedding in hot water and dry on high heat if it won't mess up your fabrics. If not, keep them separated from the rest for a day so the lice can all die. The stuffed animals, same deal. Either wash and dry or keep separated.

There is one thing, though. Vacuum your carpets, clean out your drains, etc. to get rid of shed hairs. Eggs can live on those for about a week, so maybe a good once over with the vacuum on all those questionable items like stuffed animals and couches wouldn't be a bad idea. Once her head is totally lice free have her sleep somewhere else in the house for a night to give any escapees on the mattress time to die.

ETA: Oh, sorry, I can't edit my posts yet, but as an addition, coconut oil may not kill the eggs so you'll probably need to recheck every few days to make sure none of the eggs survived. If you find any, repeat all of the above, and until her head is lice free be super careful about shed hairs.

[teela1978]

Poor Cricket! I have no idea what to do with all the stuffed animals, but I'm sure you'll figure it out soon. I hope the little buggers are gone quick!!!!

[Merlin]

My suggestion would be that depriving a 7 year old of her favourite cuddly toys, even for a short time, is going to be far more traumatic than head lice for her

[Dolly]

I have heard that it helps if you take the stuffed animals and store them in those space bags (if you have any), as they are airtight.....leave them in there for a week or two and then take them out.....not sure if there is any "scientific" evidence to back that up, but that is what I heard.....

As for your hair, they also say that slathering your head in mayo can also help smother them out....

[GRU]

I've heard to bag them up in garbage bags (airtight) and leave them long enough that any eggs will have hatched and starved to death before they were able to lay any new eggs.

[Tapioca]

I'm going to go ahead and go the pesticide route, and the kit came with a spray for non-washable things like mattresses and stuffed animals. We're going to let her pick out a few animals, spray them down and take the upholstery attachment of the vaccum to them, and bag up the rest. Blargh. What a pain. But at least I'm getting a deep treatment from the coconut oil in my hair.

[Speckla]

Toss them in the dryer on high heat. Let them tumble for a while and the heat should kill anything on stuffed animals.

[Anje]

Toss them in the dryer on high heat. Let them tumble for a while and the heat should kill anything on stuffed animals.
I've read this before. You can cook the lice out of a few stuffed animals (preferably the ones that can take that treatment and ones that can't be bagged for a week) and bedding in a hot drier. Actually, I recall reading somewhere that the washing machine doesn't kill lice (which survive normal hairwashing, after all), it's really the dryer that takes care of them. This site (http://www.headlice.org/faq/index.htm) suggests that vacuuming is better than lice sprays or even bagging. (That said, quarantining items for 2 weeks should ensure that any nits on them have hatched and died.)

ETA: I'd like to just direct you to Headlice.org (http://www.headlice.org/faq/index.htm) in general. The website is a little cutsy sometimes, but they do a good job cutting through the information.

[tinywife]

I just had a similar situation, and the wonderful LHC members came to my rescue: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=58876

I hope this info is as helpful for you as it's been for me! Good luck!

[Angelica]

Lice can't survive for long off the head, they need blood to survive. They are little blood suckers. So they will be all dead in the fluffy toys anyway. Washing them is okay because it will make you feel better, but really lice can't live very long once they have lost contact with a head. Their legs have probably broken anyway and without those they can't cling on any more.

It is a good idea to vaccum fluffy toys though because dust mites can cause a lot more mischief in the long run and they indeed are everywhere and especially bad for eczema or asthma sufferers.

[Tapioca]

Thank you so much, everyone. Her few favorite animals were sprayed with the RID spray, then vacuumed, then tossed in the dryer for a half hour. We washed her bedding, bought her a new pillow (the old one was thrashed and lumpy anyways) and swapped her mattress with the one on the bottom bunk that she never uses.
I just checked her over again with the lice comb, and nothing. No lice, no eggs, nothing. Yay! Now just to find out what her school's policy is.