Lice Treatment For Nursing Mother

Detecting the presence of lice in your head or in the head of your children is embarrassing. School going children often get lice from other children. These get transferred from the head of one child to the other through head contact or sharing of certain things like clips or ribbons. Once these get onto the head of the child the possibilities of these moving toward the head of the mother are abundant.

Extra caution needs to be taken if the mother is breast feeding a child. In this case use of chemicals should be done carefully as certain chemicals have the tendency to penetrate the skin and enter circulation system and has effect on the milk, which the mother is feeding to the child.

Lice generally grow and multiply in the hair and get their food from the skin by sucking the blood. They lay egg on the scalp and these stick to hair shafts. The lice are ready to lay eggs in about three weeks. If there is unnecessary itching in the scalp your head needs proper checking.

The best way of removing lice in case of breast feeding moms is combing of wet hair with a comb having very fine teeth. However if chemical treatment is required the following can be used:

• Permethrin is extensively used for treatment of head lice. This chemical kills not only lice but also their eggs. A solution containing 2% of this mixed with water has been found safe even for use on children. As per the research small quantities found in breast milk are not harmful for children.

• Pyrethrin is another chemical often used in shampoos for treatment of lice. This kills the lice and not the eggs. Due to this reason eggs need to be combed off, and the shampoo needs to be applied frequently. This has been found safe by the researchers for use in case of breast feeding mothers.

• Anise, coconut oil and ylang oil contain permethrin the spray of which on the head can help eradicate lice. Anise is considered safe in food of children and also for breast feeding mothers. However this can cause rashes in the scalp.

In case you are a breast feeding mother and there is need to apply any of these chemicals to eradicate lice, ensure to properly read and follow instructions printed on the wrapper. You can also try certain nonchemical methods to treatment of lice. These include thorough and proper massage of olive oil or petroleum jelly on the scalp. After massage cover the head with a cap and leave the oil or jelly overnight on your head. Next day wash the head and hair with clean flowing water. The principle is to suffocate the lice. This needs to be repeated very often and can be followed by milder chemical treatment.