Before you start reading this article about how to get rid of pinworms, please, finish your drink and snack. This article is about the little white worms and their eggs, and even if the articles here on Expertmom.info try to keep a clean language, you are bound to read a thing or two in this article that might make you lose that appetite of yours…
Ok, you finished your drink and cinnamon roll, now you can get into the nitty-gritty details of how to get rid of pinworms!
First things first…
Are you sure that these are really pinworms? The most common sign of pinworms is the itching, but there are other symptoms that could indicate that you have a case of worms at hands. Things like restlessness, the child keeps waking up, bedwetting, nightmares, grinding of teeth, and of course, complaints of bottoms that are hurting and itching, could all be sure signs of the little white thingies being hard at work. It is very important to remember 2 things here:
1. You will most likely not be able to spot a worm with your eyes since most of them are tiny and their eggs are microscopic.
2. Your child might not be able to express itching and might say that it is hurting in the bottoms which you might not understand properly so take any expressions of discomfort in this area as a suggestion of worms.
Medical Treatment
You always have the option of medical treatment that your pediatrician can prescribe you. This is very simple. You give the child from the medicine twice in a span of a week to ten days, and then the worms are gone. This is effective and great, but the problem is that you haven’t really gotten rid of the source of the problem, namely the eggs. The eggs can survive for more than a month, and all they need is to get into someone’s mouth for the process to start again.
For the medical treatment to work, you need to couple it with complete spring cleaning of your house. This means that anything your child’s hands have touched during the past month must be washed and aired out. The next step is to ensure that your child will not touch anything in the house when coming home from playschool or school. Hands must be cleaned and clothes switched right as the child enters the home.
You might also want to treat the entire family with a family pinworm medicine
Natural Treatment
You can also choose a natural method for getting rid of the pinworms. One could be to give the child a tincture of woodworm, woodworm pills
Procedures you must follow to get rid of the pinworms:
1. Use some kind of treatment, choose natural or medical, and treat all children in your household that show signs of worms. If you can, discuss the issue with other parents or teachers to make sure that everyone makes a joint effort in getting rid of the worms.
2. Trim your child’s fingernails and get finger brushes for the sinks in your house. There should also be liquid soap available at every sink, and the child needs to learn to clean the fingers with soap and brush after the bathroom, and upon coming home from playschool and school.
3. Switch all bedding in your house. When the child is suffering from pinworms the eggs will end up wherever the child put his hands after itching. This means that beds are highly likely to contain thousands of these eggs. Clean out the bedrooms well, and do it more often during the treatment period.
4. Clean the toys by showering them down or laying them out in a very sunny place. The eggs are ruined in direct sunlight so this is an effective method for getting rid of them.
5. Try to establish a working communication where your child will tell you that it is itching without actually touching. When you hear this you need to immediately wash the bottoms with soap and water, and change underwear. This should be done even if you are woken up in the middle of the night because of the itching.
Remember that pinworms are not dangerous. They can’t harm you or your child, and you should be much more concerned by lice which is also a common problem picked up at school and in playschool. Just continue with the steps described above, and you will see that the worms won’t have the same hold on you and your family, even if they decide to show their ugly heads and tails again…
Things that can ease the discomfort
No matter what method of treatment that you pick for the pinworms to go away, you will see a relief of the symptoms pretty quickly. Still, if your child has been itching on the bottoms for a while, and is red in the area, you can soothe this by getting regular Vaseline. Each time you wash the bottoms with soap and water you add on a layer. The eggs will stick in this Vaseline and not be directly on your child’s skin which can make it much easier to deal with the worms and make them go away. Some even mix the Vaseline with some garlic to kill the worms in the process, and if you have the time and patience for it, it might very well be a great idea to go for. You can also try to reduce the sugar you give to your child to eat since this is something that the worms are feeding on.
Good luck and happy riddance of the little white ones!