Pinworms

Few things elicit a good horror-movie scream from parents like finding little squiggly alive things in your kid’s poop. Pinworms are extremely common in kids and can spread to family members. They spread by kids itching their bottoms—the pinworms and their eggs hang out near the anus, then touching something else that someone else touches, then it somehow makes its way to the mouth, and then you got pinworms. 

After they make their way through the gut, they set up shop at the anal margins and are most active at night. So if you have a kiddo who is nonstop itching their bottom at night, they might have pinworms. The classic pinworm test is called the Scotch tape test. If you think your kiddo has pinworms, you place a piece of Scotch tape over or around their anus before they go to bed. Then when they wake up in the morning, you carefully take the tape off, and if you see small egg-looking things or squiggly white things, you got pinworms. If the pinworm infection has gone on long enough, you can start seeing wiggly things in the poop, if you are so lucky to get that chance. 

We treat pinworms easily with an anti-worm medicine that kids will take 2 times about a week apart. Sometimes if more than one person in the family has an itchy bottom, we treat the whole family.