Don’t panic. If you discover your child is itchy and has pinworms symptoms, this is what you can expect.
1:57am
Number one, out of sheer humiliation and panic this article is being submitted anonymously.
Number two, BCP says they’re the big sister we all need, so of course, at 12:26 a.m. I type “pinworms” into their search bar fully confident they’ll walk me through this one.
Spoiler alert: I’m met with nothing remotely helpful enough! One post that comes up in the search lets me know what I should stock in my medicine cabinet – including one pinworm medication recommendation that I don’t have on hand.
But I needed more tips.
So, I’m going to journal my family’s struggle with this nuisance and share what I can with you. Please, fellow moms, help me by leaving comments below in regards to what has helped for you.
In my limited Googling at 1 a.m., I discovered that pinworms are pretty common in children, especially girls. It’s extremely catchy. Important preventative measures include keeping nails short and clean as much as possible, and washing hands with soap and water after using the bathroom and before eating. For context, I pride myself in being a clean and efficient balabusta. We wash our linen weekly, shower nightly, and change towels daily. We also cut nails every Friday. So I’m feeling pretty despondent and a little grossed out.
The most effective and common treatment seems to be Reese’s PinX – and like BCP shared in this post, and as they noted, it would be wise to keep a bottle at home because pinworms tend to reveal themselves during the night. See? Between Carpools WAS being a good big sister. I just feel like we can have a longer conversation about this! (A friend later tells me PinRid has a much better flavor and comes in chewable form.)
I also read that it might be wise to treat the whole family at this point since pinworms are highly contagious. I also read that some pediatricians recommend taking the dose again in two weeks to prevent further infestation. But now let’s continue and see what my doctor said in the morning.
How did I know that my child has pinworms?
(Note that pinworms can also occur in adults. My friend had pinworms post-birth and her Dr. said it sometimes gets picked up after a hospital stay.)
Typically the patient will wake up during the night with extreme itchiness. If you shine a flashlight to the itchy spot, it’s likely you will see a worm (or worms) crawling out of the vaginal or anal areas (or both). Do not panic–that will not help. If you have the medicine at home, you’re lucky. We didn’t since this is our first rodeo. I did not tell my precious princess that she has pinworms; she’s 7 and I don’t see how that’s helpful information for her to have at 1 a.m. Or ever.
After trying to hold her hands while laying next to her, I see she’s really suffering and I give her a MeloChew (use at your own discretion) and a dose of Benadryl. This stops the itching and helps her fall asleep within the next few minutes.
Ok, she’s asleep, maybe I get some sleep too? Mind over matter. I can forget the visual of that worm for now–can’t I?
9:08 a.m.
“Hi Dr. Roth ? My daughter has pinworms–help!”
The medication is delivered within the hour and my daughter takes her first dose right away. The nurse said to give her a second dose in 7-10 days. She doesn’t think we need to treat the whole family at this point. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Seeing as I laid in her bed last night, I’ll definitely be taking the over-the-counter dose. I think her brother who’s closest to her age will be taking it too.
I stripped everyone’s linen to reduce the risk of any stray eggs working their dark magic again.
10:30 a.m.
I’m so grateful we got through this with only one night of drama. I’m so grateful my daughter slept the night. In the last two days I learned that high sugar intake increases the likelihood of pinworms since they feed on it. It seems that pinworms live in the intestines and a known natural remedy is garlic which can be taken in vitamin or suppository form. I welcome any feedback from moms who’ve tried that or anything else that has helped.
We now keep PinRid on hand. Somehow I feel like if we have it, we won’t need it. We survived this right of passage.
We used Reese’s Pinworm med until we heard from friends and checked with our Rav that it’s better to use Cara PinAway for Kashrus reasons. Super important tho is that the dose MUST be repeated 2 weeks later (even if no symptoms) bec it takes 2 weeks for the pinworm eggs to hatch, so you won’t entirely be rid of the pinworms unless you knock out those now-hatched eggs. BUT as per Dr. Shanik you can NOT take 2 doses closer than 2 weeks apart, its extremely unsafe as the medecine is very potent. Also NOT for anyone under 2 or pregnant.
Also at the end of the day, the best prevention is keeping nails short and frequent handwashing. I know of those who caught pinworms while pregnant and could not take the medication. By keeping nails very very short and washing hands all the time they were able to be rid of the pinworms thought it did take time. Gluck everyone!
I feel like this sums up pinworms very inadequately. And doesn’t give much information on whats out there. This was very surface level and doesn’t sound like coming from a lot of experience dealing with pinworms. It takes a lot a lot of work to get rid of them
So so hard but you’re handling it like a champ! Changing underwear every night/morning, hand washing and the meds twice is key. When my kid had it I treated the siblings too although none had symptoms thank Gd. Have her munch on pumpkin seeds and worms can be caught from animals that have them. Good luck!
So I had a whole slew of children that never had pinworms. Until this summer. My three year old was having frequent accidents – something she has not done in the past. We went to the pediatrician twice and took a urine culture both times- which came out negative. The next part is quite gross, so skip if wish, but a couple of days later I happened to notice a lot of white ‘things’ in her stool.
It was clearly pinworms – and chat gpt confirmed. I was so so very grossed out. But i quickly got her reeses pinworm medicine and gave her a dose. The next time she used the bathroom there were oh, so many worms, paralyzed from the medicine, that were now sent out the next time she used the bathroom!!! I was very uncomfortable with the whole situation but also happy that i was able to help her!!
After giving her the medicine, I examine my baby’s diaper. I noticed that he had pinworms as well. I treated him too.
I wanted to continue giving doses because i wanted to know they were gone, but as one reader above says, the medicine is very potent, even though it over the counter and can damage the liver if given more than closer than 10 days apart.
So that is my pinworms saga that i hope to never deal with again.
I am sharing this becasue prior to this I knew about itchiness and pinworms. However, my very verbal and articulate daughter did not complain about itchiness at all. Is it possible that this is due to the worms being more internal than close to the openings, or external.
Either way if this is helpful to someone, I’ll be happy.
Hatzlacha!!
Just note that a lot of children pick up pinworm eggs in play sand at pre school
The first time I experienced pin worms with my daughter I didn’t even know about them. My daughter woke up saying she was itchy and she couldn’t sit still. She was freaking. I called the on call nurse and she said try desitin so I did. No luck. Called back an hour later she said maybe pin worms.
I had no meds in the house… I saw the worm and decided to try to wipe her and try to get it out. I was successful and she slept! No pharmacy was open at 2am and I’m not sure I was going out but I called the doctor the next day and they said the medicine to do. Now I keep 2 bottles in hand! My daughter is 5 and I think she gets it almost every summer. Since she’s toilet trained…. It’s annoying! She showers every night wash linen once a week also and I did tell her – if u wash your hands the worms don’t come. I hope they don’t come back!!
My daughters had pinworms for a year and a half straight. None of the canned internet advice works, fingersnails, changing bed sheets etc …all the time..did all that and it didnt help.
What really worked for my kids was something very simple.
Take the pinworm medicine (any) and then every single morning without fail, use a baby wipe to wipe the kids from any pinworm eggs (no you wont see the eggs) and change the kids underwear. Take the second doze of medicine as recommended. And continue with this morning routine for a long time. I did it for a few months.
also tea tree oil mixed with olive oil (1 part tea tree oil 3 or 4 parts olive oil) is very effective for itching relief.
To stop the itching right away until the medication starts to work I’ve found it very helpful to clean the area very well with a baby wipe & then put a large blob of vaseline over the anal opening – this paralyzes the pinworms and prevents itching.
Thank you for opening up the conversation. I’ve been struggling with this and tried searching BCP for answers too,. Hatzlacha to everyone dealing with this
“All these pinworm remedies help on the 4th of never”,
Some blog i came across 3 am trying to figure out a cure for pinworms!
You can be super clean ,short nails, shower, wash laundry like a crazy person but some people are just prone to it. Some of my kids never have, some always. Reeses usually helps for a bit. I find the chewable to be less effective. The guy in the health store told me it comes with strep and strangely the kid who is constantly reinfected with pin worms is the kid who can’t get rid of strep. So there must be some kind of connection.
I cope by trying not to think too deeply abt the ick factor and just keeping meds on hand.
Iyh this too shall pass!
The hardest part for me was knowing if it’s pinworms or not- not wanting to give the meds needlessly.
If anyone knows a way to know for sure…. I did not see anything.
I ended up doing the meds after a couple of weeks bc was so stressed but feel like it was risky and maybe spread (I treated everyone).