My child's had headlice for weeks

[Boxhoarder]

About 3 or 4 weeks ago my 10 year old dd started complaining of an itchy scalp and thought she had nits. I checked her hair thoroughly but couldn't see anything. She then developed what looked like a heat rash on her neck and her head was still itchy. I checked her hair again but still couldn't see anything apart from a few brown flakes.

Anyway when I checked behind her ears today I noticed her head was riddled with headlice.

I feel absolutely terrible that she's had headlice for weeks now and I didnt notice. The rash on her neck also got worse and I realise now it must be because of the headlice.

How did I not notice? I feel absolutely terrible.

Slather her hair i coconut oil, especially close to her scalp, leave overnight( put a towel over her pillow) comb it through with lice comb then I'd leave it for as long as possible before rinsing to suffocate the little buggars x

Sorry I should have said, mine were all into primary school years when we did this. Yes don’t do it if there’s a risk to your child or they are very young.

It’s such a shame when this happens, as it means someone in the class is not being treated and is reinfecting all the kids who are being treated. It happened to my daughter one year, and then the summer holidays broke the cycle and she never had them again.

Vosene shampoo with tea tree in it seemed to work as none of my other children caught them off her.

I didn’t know Dd had nits until l saw them jump!

Don't feel bad. As others have said, they can be hard to spot. Despite my best efforts, my daughter regularly got lice, as not everyone spots it on their child right away, so it can be a vicious cycle. You can be doing your best, but if the BFF's mum isn't, then it's a continual battle!

My advice is to get a bottle of Hedrin (or at least the best brand, it was Hedrin when my kiddos were school age) to get this particular live infestation dealt with and get yourself a Nitty Gritty comb (they really are the best ones) and a big bottle of cheap conditioner. Treat tonight, then comb through with the Nitty Gritty and conditioner every other night for the next two weeks.

Moving forward, keep the Nitty Gritty comb in the shower/by the side of the bath and comb through once a week or so. I did that, and it just became routine. In fact, my youngest is 17 and the Nitty Gritty still gets put through her and my hair everytime we think about it (I'm a teacher, so I still take care just in case). I only ever bought lotion on about 2 or 3 occasions as I wet-combed regularly.

Also, never send her to school with her hair down. They don't like lots of hairspray so my daughter always went to school with hair tied up (mostly braided) and with lots of hairspray.

Good luck!

Don’t worry. Last year DD got them and they spread, not only to her brother, me, and her farther but also to all 6 of her cousins and her aunty! We basically had to get a production line of delousing going. It was a fucking nightmare.

My daughter had them a few times in yr 3 but I didn’t catch them. I credited straightening daily. She’s now yr 6 so we do straighten her hair now and then too. Not had a re-occurrence. Fingers crossed!

so frustrating when you get cleared up but other children aren’t treated and it starts again.

Same happened to me, id never had them myself and was shocked when my daughter got it. Bought Hedrin and it seemed to work well. Reading your thread has made me anxious again! Days of combing...i suspect mine were caught through people sharing hats at school, groan. Bring back nit nurses!

On the few occasions my daughter caught nits (we were lucky), I would deep condition 2-3 times in a week with coconut oil. I'd leave it in for 20-30 mins, then used the nit comb. After that, I applied a few drops of tea tree oil to her scalp. She did get a bit sensitive to the tea tree oil after a couple of uses, but then I mixed it in with the coconut oil which seemed fine. As a deterrent, I'd use Vosene Kids to keep them at bay once cleared.

The lotions are rubbish I would get rid of them and they would get them again from school. But started using the kids tea tree shampoo and conditioner lots of wet combing. When they went I carried on using it to wash their hair. If they did get them they only had a few. They hate the smell.

It happens.

My daughter had been complaining about an itchy head but we checked and didnt see anything so assumed it was the shampoo. After about 2 weeks (including regular checks) I saw a big fucker on her hairline. She was riddled. 😪 Next time she complained of an itchy head we just used nit treatment straight away.

She wouldnt tolerate having conditioner combed through pre-emptively.

The brown "flakes" are lice poo

Hi OP, we got through the whole of primary school without them. She left year six and we went on holiday to Cornwall.

Her and a friend had their hair braided by the harbour. They put a hat on you and pill out the strand of hair that's going to be braised. Turns out, the person before had nits, which my daughter caught.

We were camping for the holiday and it was warm and humid and there were lots of bugs everywhere. DD complained for the rest of the holiday about bugs in her hair, but I told her we all had it and it would be fine once we got home.

I was HORRIFIED when I saw she was overrun with nits when we got back. I literally sprayed them with nitty gritty spray for 7 years and then I took my eye off the ball and she was riddled. 🤢

Two hedrin treatments and a nitty gritty comb and she was fine. But I was devastated at my parental failure!

Horrible things, one of my children had a friend who was never treated and so caught them constantly and infected their siblings. 6 lots of treatment to cover the whole family cost an absolute fortune, several times, back then. They are all adults now and still talk about me spritzing them with tea tree oil and how awful it smelled.

Few drops of neat tea tree oil in conditioner when you wash hair should keep them at bay

How long were you on holiday for? It takes weeks and weeks to get to the point where a child is really infested so unless you were on holiday for 3 or 4 weeks she will have had them before you left I’m afraid…

Iwhen dd first caught them which actually was just after we’d gone into lockdown, worst bit was she’d only been back at school for 4 days after having chicken pox. She kept itching, I instantly checked behind her ears, and the nape of her neck hair, she was riddled, took a week to get rid of them. They were all congregated when the bath let out,. She’s not had them since thank god, she hates me checking for them as had to do intensive checking for a week. We tried about 3 different shampoos but in the end this is what worked for us.

DD1 had them from July to November last year , she has waist length thick hair, I think the lice she had were immune to all the over the counter treatments and I tried pretty much all of them. Her hair alone took one bottle and I was buying two at a time to treat her and the rest of the house. At this point I think I had PTSD . I was €550 out of pocket and the little bastards just would not go ….i saw a homemade lice removal recipe online and it bloody worked !! Mix one tub of coconut oil (warm slightly if hard) 6 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and about 20 drops of tea tree oil and mix together.

coat the hair with the mixture really well , put on shower cap and leave in over night , following morning brush hair with normal hair brush to break up the hair then use a nit comb . Rinse hair , shampoo, rinse, final rinse with apple cider vinegar mixed in water about 50/50 per cup. Watch the little blighters float away. The coconut oil in the overnight mixture smothers them, the apple cider vinegar dehydrates the eggs and kills them it also loosens the glue that sticks them to the hair, tea tree oil deters them and the final vinegar rinse gets the left overs. I only had to do this once , hair is now in a braided bun every day during school and I spritz the hair every morning with diluted tree oil in water . Fingers crossed 🤞 all clear since . Apologies for the long post .

..did feel lousy…

pmsl sorry! V appropriate turn of phrase…

That is exactly what happened. The mother in question said they were a natural phenomena, she didn’t believe in chemicals and they would go of their own accord. However, the school didn’t shut this utter shite down until year 6 despite multiple complaints. People were really tolerant, including me, as the child didn’t have a stable home life but was a lovely child. Eventually the child was suspended until she was clear with intervention from social services. Admittedly I was really angry that my daughter had to suffer for so long. It was really traumatic.

I’d just get hedrin - another chemical nit killer and be done with it
Remember to wash pillows and bedding at at least 60 degrees c including any hats

my child has Afro hair - nit combs can’t be used

Whatever you do, don’t use hair straighteners like some people suggest! It doesn’t kill any lice, just melts the eggs onto your hair! The lice are too close to your scalp to kill with the straighteners and they’ll just keep laying more eggs! https://youtube.com/shorts/jisbruPA-vI?si=IC0hZKabDxyHzKlD&utm_source=MTQxZ

I empathise. It wasn’t a highlight when a live louse fell out of my hair at work onto my desk. Bloody kids!

I did notice as I typed it.

To be fair I did have that irrational itch for a month afterwards 😂
Fortunately I'd been keeping my hair well tied back and out of the way prior to the discovery and nothing turned up on my regular checks (or the rest of the household)

When looking for head lice it’s actually best to look for the eggs they are easy to spot