worms

The other day I thought Butterfly had worms as it took extra long to get her to sleep (something like 3 hours! she has never been easy to get to sleep but 3 hours?!) and she was complaining that her bottom hurts (I thought at first a poo that's not coming out). I now doubt it was worms (I looked a few times closely down below and didn't see anything moving (oh, I hope that wasn't TMI..), but at the time, middle of the night with a holiday the next day so even if I knew what to do I wouldn't be able to get anything (and my mum who would know about stuff like that is away and can't help me). Anyway now that I've read some, I think I'd like to share in case anybody might need this information.

I dug this up from a natural parenting site, so most of the remedies are natural, but there is of course a conventional treatment. Here it is called Vermox (as it accepted the spelling, I suppose not only here...) and you need a prescription for it (at least here). You take it once and then again maybe a week later (or two weeks? obviously according to what the dr. says).
I myself am not keen on starting with proper medicine so I would wait to see if anything else helps, but not wait too long because with girls, if they are not treated, the worms can move on to the vagina.

Besides that, whatever treatment you choose, it is important to keep hygiene. The kid scratches his butt, eggs get on the hand (mainly under the fingernails)  and then he puts his hand in the mouth or touches food etc and the eggs  go through the digestive system back to the intestine. So wash hands after scratching and before eating. In the morning wash the butt and change underwear. Don't sleep with a bare butt. Change beddings (and of course wash them) frequently, also air them in the sun as the worms do not like sun light. Wash clothes, sheets etc in at least 60 degrees celsius (sorry, I have no idea what's that in F).
If the child is also suffering from constipation, treat it as the worms could be stuck in the poop in the intestines and as long as there are worms and eggs there you can't get finish treating the worms.

And now for the natural remedies:

• Starve your enemy. Worms like sugar, so don't eat any sugars, including fruit, honey and other natural sweeteners.

• unroasted pumpkin seeds are known in Chinese medicine as helpful in the battle against worms. Recommended in the morning on an empty stomach. Also good is fresh carrot.

• Put a drop of tea tree oil on wet cotton wool and rub the butt. I will add that somewhere else I read that it could burn, so I'm not sure about this.

• Whether you undergo the conventional treatment or a natural one, supplement the treatment with acidophilus which is an intestine friendly bacteria. These help fight the worms from the inside and support the digestive system and prevent it from getting hurt.

• Garlic, to be used in a few ways: 1) crush and put down below. may burn but is helpful [I wouldn't..]; 2) cover a clove in vaseline and penetrate [again, not something I would do. but if you do, make sure when you peel the garlic clove that you don't injure it so as not to burn! I though did put a garlic clove in her knickers); 3)rub bottom with some garlic oil; 4)garlic capsules as suppositories; 5) eat foods with garlic; 6) cook milk with garlic sweeten with some honey and drink it.

• oregano oil [not sure what to do with it..]

• A sugar bath - for an immediate relief even if temporary. Worms love sweet, so this method tempts them to come out.. You melt 1/2 a kilo (I think that's about 1 pound?) of sugar in warm water and then pour it into a bath with only water, no soap. Don't fill bath too high, only so the water will cover the child's bottom. Put the child inside and within minutes the water will have worms in it. yuck, yes! take the child out, empty the bath and give a proper wash to the child. [I tried that one tonight, just to be on the safe side. Nothing came out and a good thing because she was also trying to put the (sugared :-) ) water in her mouth. so it sounded to me like a great idea but you might have to watch your child carefully..].

• At night rub vaseline on the child's anus. Worms that come out at night get stuck in it.. Wash in the morning.

• Pomegranate - boil the peel of a pomegranate in water and drink about a 1/4 of a cup, can add milk.