Treating the Toys When Your Child Has Head Lice
headlice November 7th, 2007
During a Lice infestation, most toys do not present a problem at all. Only toys on which a child has likely laid his head are a concern. The main guilty parties are stuffed animals. As we have said previously, lice do not burrow into furry toys by nature. The only concern is a surviving louse that may have strayed off the child’s head directly on to the toy or a stray hair stuck to the toy with a viable nit on it. This only applies to a louse that has had the opportunity to feed on a human head within the past 24 – 48 hours, or a nit that has grown for a few days while on the head, and is likely to hatch soon.
Stuffed toys can often be put into the dryer on high heat. Such toys should be put into the dryer for ½ hour. If the toys have delicate parts, or cannot withstand high heat for any other reason, they should be placed into large garbage type bags, and sealed for 48 hours.
Additional items to pay attention to are headphones from play stations or personal music gadgets, bicycle and sports helmets, and any other toy that is used on your child’s head. Seal the bags securely with a knot or a tight twist-tie. As we have explained, in our professional experience treating thousands of families with head lice, 48 hours is a sufficient amount of time to assure that there will be no re-infestation resulting from the toys and protective headgear.
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