So my 2 year old I’m pretty sure has it (saw what looked like a teeny tiny maggot on her bottom last night as she was complaining it was really itchy, wiped it away and convinced myself that I was tired and it must have been a bit of tissue… then did the Googling and realised it was probably threadworm) and it’s really freaked me out!
So I had never heard of it before and all the websites I have seen including the NHS one, don’t actually answer some of the questions I have, so hoping lovely mumsnetters may be able to help, so here goes…
- I keep reading about children scratching their bottoms and transferring the eggs to the mouth which get ingested and then hatch into worms in the intestine but what happens to the eggs that stay on the bottom if no scratching takes place?? Get wiped away at toilet time or hatch on the bottom?? Or the eggs that end up elsewhere, do they still hatch in your home within the 2 week period?
- So much talk about washing all bedding, but can the eggs escape from a nappy??
- I have read I should bath her in the morning and wash her bottom, does the water kill the eggs? Or do you just hope they wash away in the bath and not cling to another part of their body?
- I have washed everything I can think of that she touched yesterday and quarantined loads of cuddly toys that I can’t wash, but there are websites saying you need to wash everything on a really hot wash to kill the eggs, then people saying just go around with a damp cloth on surfaces, this confuses me, how do these eggs die? Damp cloth or extreme boiling??
- How long do worms survive outside the body?
- I am breastfeeding and can’t take the tablet, what on earth am I to do? Have them forever if I catch it?
- How long after the tablet will the worms die?
- Will I ever get my sanity back or will I be forever paranoid about invisible eggs???!!!
Thanks from a freaked out mum!