holy c***, just discovered ds has worms...,

[lucykate]

he woke up crying saying his bottom was sore. so i had a look and saw a wriggler! so, oh wise mumsnet, quick questions, obviously i'm going to be nipping out to the chemist in the morning (not going now, it's midnight!), but do i need to keep the dc's off school?

also, everything is going to need washing isn't it, bedding, towels etc, at what temp? (i usually do all ours at 40)

how often should i be washing bedding/towels to avoid any re-infecting?

he has some soft toys in bed, are they going to need washing too?

sorry for all the questions, we've never had worms in this house before

[MinkyBorage]

oh yuck yuck yuck, poor you and ds. No experience, but guessing you need to wash everything as high as poss

[Pyrocanthus]

Threadworms, I assume? No, you don't need to keep them off school. Get the tablets from the chemist, dose everyone in the family asap (they take about 24 hours to work), and wash everything. Good point about temperature, I don't know if it matters. There'll be some guidance about washing, reinfection on the packaging of the tablets.

[lucykate]

ok, will send them in, strip beds and wash so hot the sheets melt , the administer meds after school. think i'll wait till after school to tell them what's going on. ds is still awake now and asking what is wrong with his bottom. don't want to tell him in case it freaks him out!

[MonstrousMerryHenry]

Poor you! A nurse friend of mine says pineapple is amazing at busting worms. Fingers crossed they all go.

[Pyrocanthus]

Where do you put the pineapple????

[MonstrousMerryHenry]

The easiest place you can feed it to the worms . They love the stuff!

[frumpygrumpy]

The meds work quickly. Only one of my children seems to suffer which I've always found strange. I now keep some of the meds at all times so I can treat her the minute we discover it.

Worms are worst at night. You could apply a thick cream like metanium or vaseline around his anus tonight (clean first). That stops them wriggling around laying eggs there, which is what the itch is. Also put pants on him and try to get him to itch through the pants if he absolutely has to, rather than straight onto the skin.

Wash everything you can.

Should be heaps better very quickly.

[MonstrousMerryHenry]

More pineapple info here

((lentil weaver alert))

[lucykate]

his bottom is now thick with vaseline. the mind boggles - pineapple!, think there may be a tin of chunks in the kitchen!

once we're all treated, and everything is washed, how often do i need to re-wash? am assuming towels probably every day, but what about his bedding?

feel bad now as he was complaining of a sore bottom a couple of weeks ago, i did have a look but didn't see anything then so just put some sudocreme on. but tonight, spotted what it was straight away

[lucykate]

well, the washing has begun, first load in, about 3 more loads lined up ready to go

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

If I were you, I'd ensure that his nails are kept really short so he can't bit them, he has his own towel and he uses a nail brush to clean his nails with. Eggs under nails, into mouth = reinfection. OUr dd had this a couple of years ago, I went totally overboard and told not only her class teacher but the school nurse too

[lucykate]

his nails are really short already, bitten down. have been and got everyone a nailbrush each anyway and we already all have our own towels. both me & ds have taken our ovex tablet this morning. am just about to dust all the bedrooms with a damp cloth and then hoover.

to top it off, there's been a letter from school about nits, so after all this, will have to wet comb them both tonight aswell.

[PuppyMonkey]

My dd got threadworm a couple of times when she was little, tis nowt to worry about. The tablets work straight away and just wash everything and have a big glass of wine. Same with nits!!

[Carrotfly]

monstrous the link you posted comes with Time magazine. Is that what you intended ?

I'd heard eating raw carrot was supposed to keep the buggers at bay, but tbh I think you have to eat fields of them.

I've never heard of pineapple before. And do you really put it in there ?

[lucykate]

they both have a lot of cuddly toys on their beds, not all can be washed, do they need washing or putting out of bounds for a few weeks?

or is that going ott?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

Maybe freeze the toys for a couple of days.

[Elibean]

When dd1 had worms a couple of years ago, I bagged up all unwashed cuddlies for a couple of months....as well as making sure they were egg-free, this had the added benefit of dd forgetting half of them existed, and I was able to re-introduce 50% less

Lots of handwashing, bedding every few days (as long as pants and PJs on, does limit the problem) and towels daily, along with pants/PJs of course. Re-dose all of you in 2 weeks' time, there's a v high re-infection rate.

Nail biting makes it v easy to catch the horrors, unfortunately.

I did masses of research (how to deal with my panic!) and discovered you don't need to boil wash, normal temps are fine but don't overstuff your machine - the eggs need plenty of water to swill them out and down the waste pipe. Also, hand gels don't work - just washing adn drying.

Hope they go and never come back

[Elibean]

x-post: did see info that said freezing doens't work, the eggs survive that

[Elibean]

Oh, and hoover bedrooms and play areas, then repeat as often as you can bear to...

[lucykate]

at least school is out of the equation, they broke up yesterday for half term, and we have 2 weeks off. with him being a nail biter, think i'd be fighting a loosing battle if he was at school, hopefully i'll be able to tackle that, and get him worm free before school goes back.

no-one else is showing any symptoms, ds was upset again last night saying his bottom hurt again but i couldn't see anything. got the second dose at the ready anyway.

[lucykate]

it's so nice when there are threadworms in the house and the whole family work together to try and combat it isn't it.

not that i would know what that's like. all i'm getting is moaning, moaned at for all the cleaning i've been doing, moaned at for reminding them all to wash their hands (god forbid they might actually take some responsibility themselves for their own hands), and then, to top it off, after spending all day cleaning (again), dh has decided now is a good time to start some diy involving lifting carpets and floorboards in ds's bedroom.

i give up.

[CybilCeremony]

Make sure you wash his bum when he wakes up (I used baby wipes and threw away rather than a flannel)and scrub his fingers with a nail brush.

[lucykate]

yeah, got wet wipes for every morning, pants at night. etc, wet dusting, hoovering, clean towels and bedding every day. my main worry with ds is getting him to break the habit of biting his nails, otherwise he's going to just pick them up again after half term

[stinkypinky]

40% of all children have them at any one time. It is extremely common. My dd had them a few weeks ago - fine now. I had no symptoms until I saw the little biggers, and could not take anything as in first trimester - that was really hard as, like with nits, once you hear them mentioned, you start itching.

Wash their hands and bot before they are fully awake, then put in the bath.

My dd id a finger sucker - the next one will have a dummy

[aWitchForLifeNotJustHalloween]

lucykate, we're in the same boat - was just going to post a thread when I found yours fgs, have washed everything like bedding towels and undies - and with our washer taking a bit over two hours the buggers will defo be drowned and otherwise they've been tumble-dried as well...
Everyone's had the meds today, but now I'm wondering what next - also want to start on the flippin menagerie of bears and stuff from his bed.