This morning my little guy (who is 4 years old) said his head hurt when he lay down on one side. He pointed and I thought it looked like a scab on his head, when I asked he said he fell down. Once I got him into the light of the bathroom however, I was shocked to see the "scab" move! It had legs! And it was in my baby's head!
Yuck. A nasty little tick. In Lyme Disease country. Crap.
I did the good mother thing and stayed calm (while I ran downstairs for the camera and the tick spoon) and they took a quick photo before prying the tick off with the tick spoon. All in one piece, thank goodness. The tick was really wedged into the slot in the spoon, so I felt OK in showing it to Zach. He was a bit freaked out, but did great!
We washed up the bite with some mild soap and water, and put on some Neosporin. No band aid as it was on his scalp.
Then I did what moms now-a-days do: I called the triage nurse at the pediatrician's office while I got online to google "found tick on my child" and "tick lyme disease" to try and identify the thing. I suspect it was a deer tick. The doctor's office had me drop the tick off for further lab testing. As my son is young, they will not treat with antibiotics unless the tick is positive for lyme. I am crossing my fingers that it comes back negative.
I'm sharing this as a simple reminder to not get complacent. I was the one who was helping Zach with his bath last night, and even washed his hair quickly. Key word is "quickly". I feel really bad that I might have missed this. I'm hoping that the tick hitched on for a ride from the pile of leaves the kids were raking and playing in on Sunday.
I will say that I was never so happy to have attended a boy scout pack meeting that had a presentation about ticks! That's where we got the tick spoon that made it much easier to remove the tick. Unfortunately, I handed in the tick spoon with the tick for testing. Hope I can get another from Atlantic Pest Solutions from Maine.
Will keep you posted. Have you ever dealt with ticks? We've found them on our dog Zoe, but never actually on a child's body.
4 more things to say about this:
We've been lucky and haven't had to deal with as many ticks now that we don't live in New England any more. I know my 11 year old daughter would totally freak out. Hopefully, your little one won't need antibiotics for it. Those tick spoons work great. My sister lives in NH and it gets a lot of use.
Ticks are a fact of life in Upstate NY, and my son seems to be a magnet. Fortunately, he knows how to check for them in the shower as they creep into every crevice. We've never used a tick spoon, but we're handy with the pliers.
Unfortunately, we became tick experts after my son was diagnosed with Lyme disease 5 years back when he was in Kindergarten. And that wasn't until after he spent weeks wearing a leg cast because it was thought that his joint pain was due to a hairline fracture!
Was just reminded that the early spring means the ticks are back! We'll be starting the regular tick checks again.
Zach did end up having to go on antibiotics when the tick that bit him tested positive for Lyme. Two weeks of meds (and lots of yogurt) kept him feeling OK.
Happy Spring!
My daughter had one stuck in her head a while ago and we went in to the ped because we couldn't get it all out. It was a larger tick, so not a big deal. You can get those tickedoff removers at Lebanon Feed & Supply too. Just used mine today on the dog. ugh. I hate ticks!
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