oh god oh god, is this what threadworms look like?

[paramum]

Helped dd (just 4) wipe her bottom after doing a poo, and as I was about to chuck paper in bowl I saw several (four or five??) white/translucent things writhing around together at the surface. Wriggling, FFS.

Thing is, I thought threadworm would be tiny - these were at least 1cm long, maybe closer to 1.5cms, seemed vast to me [vomit]

I will buy Ovex first thing tomorrow, cut nails, and wash all sheets, towels, clothes, stuffed toys......hoover sofa and carpets.....Dettol wipe all likely surfaces...anything else??

And should I treat dd2, 14 months? I know its Piperazine if I do, but not seen anything untoward in her nappy. Yet.

And why do I feel as though my beautiful, innocent, pink-loving little girl has been defiled? Mad, I know.

Yep.Foul isn't it!

Pripsen is what they prescribe for under 2's BTW, I think you can just buy it over the counter though.

Thanks, think I'm sort of relieved to hear that they sound like threadworm and not some new, ghastly, incurable type of parasite.....was thrown (and revolted) by their size.

Do you think big threadworms means she's had them for ages, or is it the luck of the draw? She's had occasional itchy bits on and off for months, but she has eczema so I've always thought its that - am now feeling and that I didn't treat her sooner.

I didn't measure them (oddly enough!) but the ones BabyDragon had were that kind of length and as she was in nappies, I know she hadn't had them long.

Phew. Thank you. I am now going to attempt sleep (with visions of drowning worms and - hopefully - psychosomatically twitching bottom: fat chance) to gain energy for tomorrow's cleaning frenzy.

Thanks again, feel slightly less panicked now!

Don't forget to dose everyone! It's a lovely family moment... rather like the headlice DS2 discovered when all my family were together for easter. My 16 yo niece was not impressed...

they grow very quickly paramum and are a nightmare to get rid of,...especially for school age children. you strip the beds, cut nails, insist on thorough handwashing, but do they do it at school?... Nope! do the toys etc at school get disinfected?... Nope! It's rather like nits, the first time you get them you're nearly retching, you're blase by 2nd time! Make sure you treat twice, with a fortnight gap and I also do a little torch check at night now and again just to make sure.

We had this a few years ago, and DD refused point blank to drink the medicine (I forget what it was called) I had bought a special cup for her as DR had said it was not a very nice tasting medicine. She refused point blank. We had not told her why she was drinking the medicine, in sheer panic I told her that we had worms inside us and we needed the medicine to get rid of them. The medicine soon went. I still can't believe it to this day. She was 3 and a half and now she is 13 and can still remember her Postman Pat cup and why she had it!

Aah, thank you ladies, its nice to have company

Everyone treated this morning, baby included (resulting in bright pink diarrhoea, worm-free, poor lass) and beds done etc etc. Can't cover all toys/surfaces - totally impossible task - but major cleaning tackled.

You're SO right about schools, though, I told both her teacher and her deputy head (pre-school) and they looked literally away whilst saying very quietly 'oh well, it happens' I said 'I thought it might be important for the school to be aware, I've done all I can at home' and they almost shooed me out of the gate.

dd, on the other hand, is a star: she said to her teacher 'did you know, I had tiny white worms in my poo poo?' in a tone of great interest And she promises she hasn't touched her bottom once today

oops, so much for the name change. Though why I changed it at all I don't know - dd is a far better example of openness than me!

Reading about you daughter's comment to her teacher reminded me of a very funny incident in my childhood. We were on holidays in a little country village and went along to sunday mass. The church was tiny and as it was very busy, we mongst others, ended up standing near the doorway as there were no seats left. A little girl standing nearby with her family turned to my brother and told him , at the top of her voice I might add, that she had nits! As you can expect, there was a miraculous parting of the waves as everyone standing near the poor child fled Her poor mother looked absolutely mortified, as you can imagine!

Sounds like dd in another life

I just hope we never have anything truly embarrassing in our family, because dd is all for telling people things the way they are!