Threadworms??

[NellyTheElephant]

This is so gross..... this evening my 2 yr old DD2 called me to say she had done a poo and I went to go and wipe her and found her standing over the potty staring at intently. She said 'look mummy, there's a wriggly worm in my poo', and there was - it gave me quite a shock (she was extremely pleased with it of course!). It was about a cm long and white and thin and a quick trawl of the internet has convinced me it's a threadworm, so really I just wanted to ask if any of you have any experience of treating threadworms which you can share with me. I understand that the whole family will need to be treated, which slightly worries me as I am still breast feeding DS who is nearly 4 months - any ideas on this? I assume it's fine for DS and I to take the medication to get rid of the worms too?

[FluffyBunnyGoneBad]

Yup, sounds like a threadworm. Make sure you wash all the bedding and pop to the pharmacy in the morning. You do indeed have to treat all the family. Chat to the pharmacist to see if it's OK to take them whilst breastfeeding.

[lollyheart]

Sounds like threadworms to me.

There is a pill you can take if bf.

For the baby he can have pripsen but i suggest for the older ones to get ovex supension as the pripsen is not nice, i think you can also have that too, but still check with the phamacist.

[barnsleybelle]

Take the pills... wash bedding and towels and start afresh with clean pj's and clothes etc.
They can come back very easily in the next 14 days after treatment so give each family member their own towel and wipe surfaces and particularly door handles regularly. strict hand washing also.

It's very common and nothing to worry about at all but is very easily transferred from person to person.

[barnsleybelle]

Oh and i forgot to say threadworms cause itchy bums particularly when warm so your dd is likely to be scratching in the night. Make sure you wash her hands first thing as its transferred straight back into her if she puts her hands in her mouth. I would try to make it so she can't get to her bare bum to scratch in her sleep if poss.

[PrettyCandles]

My dd has had threadworms several times, and each time I was either pregnant or breastfeeding and was not allowed to take the medication. There is a medication that I could have taken, but the GP prefered me only to take it if I had to, ie if I got the infestation.

The rest of the family ddi take the mediation, and we were all scrupulous about hand hygiene for several weeks. We kept nailbrushes by every sink and basin, and taught the dc to use them.

You're told to wash bedding and clean everyting, but I'm not convinced it's worthwhile, as the eggs are so fine they can float in the air like dust-motes.

Whenever we discovered an infestation, dh would strip dd's bedding and launder it, to minimise the risk of me inhaling eggs. But apart from that, we didn't do anything different regarding household cleaning.

The very first time dd got threadworms, before we learned the signs, it was several weeks until I took her to the GP, and dh thinks he may have been infected in that time. But appart from that time, nobody else in the family has cuaght it from her (or at all, for that matter).