HOW TO SAFELY TREAT HEAD LICE ON A BABY

Head lice is most common among school-aged children because they spend a lot of time with other children in close quarters. But sometimes, even the youngest babies can end up with head lice. We typically see this in infants who go to daycare or have older siblings. When their brothers or sisters hold them or snuggle up with them, they can pass head lice onto them. 

While babies often have little hair, lice don’t need much to lay their eggs on. Most lice eggs are freshly laid within ¼ inch of the scalp. This means that if your baby’s hair is only one-quarter of an inch, they can still be affected by lice. If this happens, rest assured that there are safe treatment options that do not involve pesticides, insecticides or chemicals. 

Why You Should Never Use Store-bought Lice Treatments on a Baby 

People are often quick to visit their local pharmacy to pick up head lice treatment products, but we don’t recommend this, particularly for infants. In fact, many of the products are not safe for infants under two months or two years old, depending on the product.

The reason why is because they contain harsh chemicals like permethrin. Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid that can be inhaled, ingested or absorbed through the skin. According to the EPA, this ingredient is a weak carcinogen that does have some health effects, such as headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and skin rashes. It may even affect the liver. You wouldn’t want to use this on your child, let alone a small baby! 

Furthermore, many of the insecticides used in over-the-counter lice treatments are not that effective at killing lice. Head lice have become immune to these ingredients and are often able to escape a head lice treatment just fine. This means that you could be applying insecticides to your child’s head with no effect.

How to Safely Treat Head Lice On an Infant 

You’ll be happy to know that My Hair Helpers offers a full line of head lice removal and prevention products - and they are safe for all ages! Newborns included! But you may not even need to use these products.

Wet combing is often the best way to remove head lice from a baby’s head. Since babies don’t have much hair, you can glide a lice comb through and pick out any lice that you see. 

If you do need to take things a step further, you can use the products from My Hair Helpers without any concern. Our lice treatment for kids and babies use natural ingredients like peppermint and spearmint. You can purchase a lice kit for families  to use on the baby and their siblings! 

Remember, no one is ever too old or too young to get head lice. If your baby is showing signs of head lice, start with wet combing. If this doesn’t work, you can move onto a nontoxic lice treatment from My Hair Helpers. If you have questions or concerns, please contact us!