Question about head lice

amy&girls

New member
3 of my 4 girls have/had it. I have not treated the car seats yet, b/c I'm not sure how. All information I have says to wash on super hot water and dry on highest heat. That can't be good for a cover, right? I also have a spray that I can spray on the cover as well. (I know not the straps, but I'm not worried about the straps). Waiting to be cleaned is an EFTA cover, a Turbobooster cover, and a Nautilus cover. I sprayed the head rest and seat where my oldest rides in a NBB with the spray. Should I just spray all of them and call it a day? Or risk washing/drying? (line drying is also not an option, it hasn't been about freezing here since before Thanksgiving, and won't be for at least another month).
 
ADS

luckyclov

New member
Nits (eggs) don't usually survive for long without having a warm head to continue to mature on. And active louse (lice) can't survive for long off the human head, either. So, what *I* would do is just vacuum the crap out of the car and then remove all of the carseat/booster covers and continue to vacuum the crap out of the shells and covers, inside and out.

My DD (the only one in the household to be affected) had lice (actually, just nits - we never found a living louse on her head) last year. I vacuumed the cover to her carseat (I didn't remove it from the shell) and that was it.
 

MomToEliEm

Moderator
Take the covers off and put them in the freezer for a day. That might work.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7446.html
Another alternative that works well for headgear such as earphones and bike helmets is to place them in a plastic bag and put them in a freezer. If the freezer is 5°F or lower, all lice and eggs should be dead within 10 hours.

When one of my kids had lice earlier this year, I didn't treat the carseats. We just tried to limit our time in the car for a few days. I also vacuumed the seats well. If I kept having problems though, I might have tried the freezer for the cover.
 

April

Well-known member
I have spare covers and seats so I took the covers off and tied them up in a black garbage bag for two weeks, then washed them on hot and hung the to dry (over the bannister)).
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MissAllyLou

New member
I would take them off and bag em up for two weeks, if possible. If you have extra covers and/or seats, that is the way to go. That's what I did when the kids had lice last year, saved me a lot of time.
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Are you in a climate where the car is frozen overnight as it is?

If it's freezing every night, it's unlikely that anything will be alive when you combine the lack of human head and the freezing cold temperatures which can kill them to begin with.
 

amy&girls

New member
We've actually rarely been in the car lately. Last time the girls rode in the car was Friday morning when I picked my 5yr old up from school. Its been barely above freezing here during the day, and well below at night. I don't have spare covers for any of the seats.
 

emandbri

Well-known member
I was told to vacuum them out. I went ahead and washed them as well but I also had spare covers and truth be told they needed to be washed anyway.

My friend's dd had actually used Elizabeth's seat right before we discovered them and she didn't get them, so that is good.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I'd wash them (water should do to them what it does to the hair when you wash it) and then maybe use shower caps to keep the hair/heads off the seats until the lice is gone.

I doubt anything is alive on them, but just because of the ick factor, I'd wash them.
 

ConnorsMommy

New member
Thanks to Mike Rowe on "Dirty Jobs" last night, I can answer your question. According to the expert he talked to, lice can only live for 48 hours when not on a human head. If you don't use the seat for that long (or longer to make sure) then all the lice should die. I imagine leaving the seats in the car all weekend with freezing temperatures would be enough. The expert also mentioned that baby lice are microscopic, so you can't see them on surfaces/hair. He also said that lice cannot fly or jump from one person to another. They can only live on a human head, not any other surface or animal. I hope that helps!
 

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