Worms..again

[saramcmuffin]

DD,4, had worms 6 weeks ago. Treated with ovex twice and deep cleaned the house, washing bedding, clean pants and pajamas each night etc etc.
Now she has them again and I'm so paranoid we didn't clean enough. I'm exhausted as she's just had a tummy bug so we've had zero sleep the last week and I've had to take annual leave today to clean and wash again everything again while dealing with her endless energy.
Surely so close together she must have been reinfected with eggs in the house?
I'm also super cross with her as her hands are constantly in her mouth and she seems to show No awareness of hygiene despite us telling her constantly. It's exhausting.

Bump!!!

You are doing the right thing. Just treat, clean and keep reinforcing hand hygiene. Unfortunately this is not unusual at 3. I highly suspect that far more children experience worms than some parents realise. It seems like some children are far more sensitive to the sensation of having them or react to the sticky substance the worms use when they lay their eggs. Keep going and this too shall pass.

@Justyouwaitandseeagain
Thank you. My boss reaction to me was 'oh that's disgusting, my daughter never had them' which made me feel like shit. I had to take a days leave due to her being sick so had to tell boss why. We are very clean and I have a schedule to clean the house each week as im a bit OCD so it's made me feel really grubby.

I started my own thread about this recently. DD5 had them for the first time, only discovered because I caught them from her too (shudder). We're 10 days in and I'm paranoid about reinfection.

I also have anxiety and OCD and absolutely exhausted myself with cleaning the first week, I sympathise.

If you find my thread though there were lots of people saying that they've never done any cleaning, just used Ovex and been fine so I'm trying to relax.

Your DD probably got reinfected from school, it might be worth letting them know to send a note round to other parents?

And then just keep reiterating hygiene measures to her and wait until they are older and this phase passes. DD is a thumb sucker so I feel doomed for the foreseeable...

I wish I could enjoy her childhood without constantly stressing her with hand washing and not letting her relax downstairs in her pyjamas like she wants to.

Fingers crossed it passes for us soon!

@SpirallingNighttime
We mentioned to her nursery and they just said oh dear. She started there in September and she's had them twice, surely that can't be a coincidence?
Yes my sister said there a normal part of life and just to ovex and change bedding.
Can you link your other thread please?
I'm sat here still thinking there are eggs all over the house :-(

I think they are a pretty normal part of this age of children. Them and headlice!
I just did the ovex, treat everyone and wash bedding, towels etc. Nothing more than that.
I always had ovex in the house, so you could give it at the first signs.

Clean the bedding and cut nails short, fresh PJ's every night for 3 nights to ensure all worms dead then change the bedding again, put Vaseline round bum hole before bed (they don't like to lay) and wash hands and bum first thing in the morning. Then give another dose after 4 weeks even if no symptoms.

Short nails, handwashing, pants at night. And ovex twice, two weeks apart.

But if they are rife at nursery they will keep coming back I’m afraid. Playdoh and sand tables are awful apparently for harbouring eggs.

I think all you can do apart from the things above is keep an eye out for the signs and ovex right away - usually waking up itchy or unhappy about an hour after going to bed, or getting itchy after a period of sitting still (like when watching tv).

People may think their child never had worms because they are difficult to spot and because child may not recognise the symptoms.

@minipie
She has no issues at night, I only saw her squirming a bit and asked her if her bum was itchy and she said yea. DH thought I was being paranoid.
Her nursery told us they never have cases of worms and have stringent hand washing but it seems an odd coincidence she's had them twice since starting.
I really can't face all the washing and cleaning again in a few weeks time

My daughter keeps catching them and I'm getting pissed off!
We do all the cleaning ect ect but she's obviously getting reinfected from school.
She's had nits as well since September when she started a new class and became friends with a child who has very dodgy hygiene and parents that would definitely not treat their child if she was also having the same issues!

Eating loads of pineapple sorted my dd out in the end, it's apparently a natural dewormer!

Unfortunately people don’t often own up to their child having worms as they think they might get shunned or told to stay off - and as I say lots of parents don’t even realise as the kids don’t feel it or don’t know how to describe it - so the nursery may think they have no worms but in fact…

IME all the endless washing and cleaning doesn’t really help, washing stuff that touches their bum is important but the rest not so much. Short nails, handwashing, pants (so they don’t scratch) and ovex are the key things.

@eatdrinkandbemerry
It's so bloody irritating isn't it. We have just sent an email to nursery. Unfortunately DH teaches the child of the manager so was oddly reluctant to, but I think they should have informed parents. Her previous nursery made parents aware of everything.
Plus worms are bloody gross, harmless or not. And I say that a a teacher who has caught a fair few things from kids (tho not worms).
FYI with nits, I always coated my hair in serum and wore it up, a head teacher once told me to do this and I've never caught them in 12 years of teaching 6 year olds. She used to work in a rural very deprived school were they were rife and rarely treated.

Also would say I quit yea hung last year after covid, hfm, conjunctivitis and norovirus amongst the things I caught so I'm aware kids are gross. I just think she's getting reinfected at nursery and they are being too blasé

I feel your pain, I can almost visualise eggs all over the house.

Here it is: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4950121-threadworm-aftermath . Only read other people's messages though rather than my negative, anxiety-filled posts in the middle of the night 😂

Rationally, I'm sure it will be fine to be honest but this is the typical type of things I catastrophise about so it's hellish when I'm in it. About 80% of how bad the situation is is because of what I make it to be in my head rather than the reality of it. I wish I could switch my brain off.

My guess is it will be another child at nursery has them and she's catching from there. I work with kids and seen it happening one child constantly scratching their bum and clearly uncomfortable and parents don't do anything when it's raise with them/deny they have worms. Other parents of other kids comments that their kid keeps getting worms when they are treating and cleaning the whole house. Until your kid washes her hands and stops putting them in her mouth you may be in for a lot of this.

Are you treating the whole family? I once nannied for a family with recurring worms. Mum and kids regularly treated and the massive house cleaned. It caused a lot of work for that poor mother. When I commented they had been worm free for a while the mum confided dad had been refusing to take the medicine saying he doesn't have worms and they had had a massive row. Once he was treated with the rest of the family they were gone for good.

Wait till she gets nits.

@PurpleBugz
Yep treated whole family even tho DH and I don't have them, and did last time.
Fucking nursery. The manager emailed back to ask if we thought it was any food we were eating. Nope.
Am nagging DD constantly but obviously I'm not with her at nursery to instil it.

@SpirallingNighttime
Same here. Thanks for thread. My sister is much more relaxed about it as DN has got them a few times as a nail biter.

@saramcmuffin hey! I know this thread is quite old, but did you manage to stop reinfections?