To panic launder all the clean clothes?

[Gentleness]

My child has worms. He's the child who would get worms and also the one who loves to be nude and needs constant reminders to wash his hands. I need to clean everything. I'm gearing up to do that.

But, and I'm ashamed about this despite the therapist's best efforts, our house is not tidy. I'm coming out of a pretty bad depression/anxiety and have had to manage the meagre amounts of energy I have well. Kids come higher than laundry, so while it is always done, it's not always put away. In their room, and ours, there are ikea bags of clean laundry. Having read about how these worm eggs get moved around so easily and even inhaled, I'm having a panic about whether I need to rewash all those clothes. And what about those (few) in the drawers that have been rummaged through? The list is horrible - the eggs stay alive for TWO WEEKS!

I know the bedding, blankets, soft toys, sofa throws, towels all need to be done. But the prospect of rewashing all the clean clothes is making me want to shut down. But I just have to woman up and do it don't I? Or is this irrational?

[SpeckleDust]

My two DD's had worms a while ago - they are vile but really common.

I emptied their rooms of all their soft toys etc and just washed the things they really needed eg bedding and a couple of toys then vacuumed their bedrooms.

Could you just wash the essentials for now and gradually wash other things as everyone needs them?

We treated the whole family with Ovex to be on the safe safe but I tried to remind the DD's about washing hands often.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I thought it was dust you had to panic about?

[fussygalore118]

Eeek I'd panic as well. Can you throw some money at the problem and send all your bits of to a laundry service?( we have one near me which collects washes/dries and iron if you want lol)

[Gentleness]

I was thinking of black bagging everything so I can work through it according to whether it's drying weather, or go to the launderette if we can. Drying soft toys is going to take forever. Maybe doing that in more manageable chunks even for clean clothes will help us get sorted.

[edwinbear]

DS has had worms twice. I washed bedding and towels, everyone in the house had 2 x doses of Ovex. Did I rewash all the clothes in the house? Did I hell. We were fine, and DS was worm free.

[Gentleness]

Yep, damp dusting everywhere is on the list too. Maybe this will be good for me.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Are you in the uk? It's hot today most places, get the toys washed and out drying.

Do the lot at the launderette, the drums are huge and so will take huge loads.

[Helenluvsrob]

There really is no point in panicking ( I know easy to say). but like head lice , they are a fact of life with small children. They could like in an antiseptic bubble at home but they'll still catch them again from another child with dubious hygiene habits in the next few weeks.

Treat every one, encourage good hand washing , short nails and pants at night, then re treat 2 weeks later.

Then do the same when they get them again!

[KoalaDownUnder]

Umm, maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I've never washed every bit of clothing in the house! Just bedding (including mattress protectors) and used towels, obvs.

I really don't think you need to rewash bags of clean clothes. They're worms, not bed bugs (which are a lot more persistent).

[ToffeeForEveryone]

Eeep how do you start on something like that? Sympathies OP, the prospect of washing everything in my house would make my heart sink.

I'd be inclined to wait for the weekend, load up the car and spend Saturday in the laundrette to get it all done, pack it back into the car sorted by room (e.g. all DC1s stuff in 1 bag, DPs in another, etc), Sunday cleaning the wardrobes etc and putting it all away. Load after load after load in our washing machine would take me days if not weeks (hot wash cycle takes 2 hours!).

But yes, you probably do need to do everything that's fabric I think so includes the already washed stuff in the bags, especially if they have been rummaged through.

and lots of for when done!

[PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon]

MY Dad had them when we were young children (who would have thought a grown man can't manage his own hygiene) and I don't remember my mum washing everything but maybe it was because my dad had them and not us?
Like others have said, the whole family needed treating though we didn't all have them

[idontlikealdi]

God I just wormed the whole family, boil washed their bedding and enforced knickers at all times. Mine like to be naked too.

[JuneFromBethesda]

I agree with Koala, I wouldn't (and didn't) do clothes. Towels and bedclothes, yes, and I hoovered everything - I do sympathise with your panic, I felt similar (and I am a pretty slack housewife so it was a bit of a shock to the system!). I didn't hear anything about damp dusting. Thank god

Make sure everyone in the household gets the meds, child who is infected gets a second dose in two weeks, and you should be fine. I was paranoid for weeks afterwards but as others have said, it's very common and while it's unpleasant, it's not the end of the world.

[unlucky83]

Honestly I really wouldn't bother - I'd concentrate on getting your house cleaner and tidier...but not rewash clothes.
At one point worms were the bane of my life - DD1 was a nail biter and I suspect there was another child in her class who was a symptomless carrier or they were just passing them round child to child. The first 10 or so times I did the wash every thing, damp dusting and 2 doses of ovex -it made no difference (the only time it did was at the start of the long school holidays).
I used to tell the school but they wouldn't send letters out etc (they are supposed to wash bathroom taps etc better and throw out playsand etc -but statistically 4/10 children aged under 10 have them ...so they should just do a proper clean anyway and encourage good handwashing.)
I gave up even telling the school, then I got to the bedding wash and damp dust stage and a couple of times I didn't even bother doing the bedding (eg if it had just been changed)
She had them 4-5 times a year -maybe more. I got her to tell me as soon as she had a tickly bottom - checked carefully (probably tmi but took a good look to see one) and then dosed us all up. In the end I just bulk bought Ovex. Thankfully when she left primary the problem greatly reduced. (Still have one at primary -maybe had them once a year if that since) However (touch wood) we have never had head lice...

[IAmAPaleontologist]

The first time the kids had worms I washed bedding, steamed mattresses, damp dusted, steamed carpet and generally went mad. I washed the bedding daily for around a week and they had clean towels daily and so on plus all the nail cutting, rinsing bums first thing in get rid of any eggs........

They have now had worms so many times (ds1 is a chronic nail biter) that I now just treat and change bedding and towels once. Works just as well as the mega cleaning. We get them fairly regularly but it is always spaced out and not reinfection due to not treating properly. I think you'll be just fine without washing all the clothes.

[Topsy44]

My Dd had them. It's more common than you think - a lot of people just don't broadcast that their child has had them! My Dd and I had the tablets and I washed all bedding on a high temp, hoovered the mattresses and cleaned all surfaces. The worms were gone and touch wood never came back!!

[MissElizaBennettsBookmark]

I would take it all to the launderette - it will be done in a jiffy in the big machines. Also, If finances allow, I'd be tempted to get a cleaner in for a one-off spring clean. Save your energy for putting the clean laundry away afterwards.

My DD had worms when she was little too. One of the joys of parenthood

Depression sucks... Look after yourself OP, and rest when you can.

[RoganJosh]

We washed everything the first time. Now we just re dose at two weeks. It seems to work fine.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

Lordy! I had absolutely no idea you were supposed to do anything other than take a tablet for worms. My children had them once or twice, that's all we ever did. I doubt I even changed their sheets ...

[a7mints]

Don't they say that at any given time 1/3 of infant-aged kids have threadworms.You don't need to do a mega clean.just wash towels and bedding and take the ovex.
My DC used to go to a playgroup that had big bowls of raisins etc for snack that all the DC dipped their hands in, which I am sure was a huge breeding ground for infection.To this day I avoid bowls of nuts on bars.
peppaPig I am sure this is how your dad got them!

[PansyGiraffe]

I've never washed all the clean clothes again. Thinking about it, if you are worried, can't you just wash a few bits and use them but not touch the rest of it for a fortnight, then eggs should die anyway?

I just washed everyone's bed linen and towels, treated the whole house with the medication, and pray it won't happen again. I always have some of the tablets in now and if child complains of itchy bottom, they get a just in case dose but I'm not aware we've had them since.

I did tell the school though so they could do one of their anonymous "someone in Yr 1 has worms" emails. I suspect most people just don't realise when their child has them - how often do you really inspect them that closely?

[Puremince]

When mine had them I just washed bedding and towels and treated with Ovex. It did the trick.

[Ditsy4]

Yep, agree laundrette. Big machines. I used to go when doing up this house and we had no machine( we had no water some days) and I loved my weekly trip. Small son and I used to trek off with several loads. Put it in then off to newsagents for comic and magazine. Laundrette sold tea and coffee so peaceful two hours watching it wash and dry. At the time it was one of my easiest mornings. We had sausage rolls hot from the bakers before we went home. I wonder if small remembers it.
Alternative: put in black bags and do extra load each day till it is down.
Research whether you can bag up and put in freeze for x hours or was that hairbrushes for nits?

[DisgruntledGoat]

Had the exact same problem a few years back when my son kept waking up at night complaining about his itchy butt. We were on holiday at our static caravan at the time and I had to wash and dust everything! And because this happened at the start of our week there I then had to go home and do the same there. I suffer from depression and anxiety too so this was a mammoth task for me but I got through it and managed to keep my sanity. It actually wasn't that bad in the end and I felt so happy and relieved when it was all over. Stiff upper lip! 😀

[Buttwing]

Ermm I didn't realise you had to wash everything! Dd had it and I just washed the bedding, towels and the soft toys off her bed and treated the whole family with ovex .She's worm free now. The pharmacist told me something like 70% of kids have the worms in their body but it's only when they breed and there are too many that it becomes an issue.