AIBU not to treat my daughters hair?

[suecy]

Luckily have got to 10 and 8.5 without any experience of headlice, so am a novice!

DS complaining of itchy head, examined and found some lice and eggs,so treated him last night, all sorted - hopefully!

Combed and examined DDs hair and found nothing obvious - do I treat her or not? Do we all need to be treated? Should I be washing all bedding etc? Am I being a little paranoid?

Have washed all of DS's bedding, dressing gown etc and will re-comb him in a week as precaution.

WWYD?

You definitely need to do your other child and yourself.

I wouldn't treat your dd but check her every couple of days for a couple of weeks.

I have four. Only ever treated the ones with lice/eggs. Ds1 never got them, he's 28 now and has never had them.

Do the wet combing with headlice comb on your dd's hair; loads of conditioner then spend time going through hair with comb. They might be lurking somewhere

I'd be treating everyone.

If there's nothing there then she should be fine, just check again every couple of days to make sure any eggs you may have missed haven't since hatched. Same with DS because some treatments don't get the eggs.

Comb & conditioner will do!

you only treat if you find live lice - do not treat on the off chance as that is how resistance is built up. Check everyone but only treat those that have lice present.

treat everyone or it will just be re infestation again and again

I would be conditioning a combing both every other day, especially your son. I do usually treat both though, even if only one has it.

I would buy conditioner, put it on your and DD hair and leave for about 5 mins and then comb with a "nitty gritty" comb. If you do find lice I would do this every other day to break the cycle.

Best to do a wet check - that is, soaking wet hair lathered in conditioner, then a very thorough comb through. The moisture will stop them in their tracks for a bit. It's amazing how well they can scurry away and hide in dry hair, and the light brown freshly laid eggs are much harder to see than the white empty egg cases (nits).

Itchy now

nhs says this:

It's difficult to prevent a head lice infestation. Regular detection combing - for example, on a weekly basis, is the best way to find new lice quickly.
Medicated lotions and sprays do not prevent head lice infestations and should only be used if a live louse has been found on yours or your child?s head.

You need to re-treat in a week, not just comb through. Your best bet is to get a nitty gritty comb and go through both heads every night for the next 2 weeks with lots of conditioner. Then do it every 3 days forever You can get them on prescription, the info is on the website, I printed it off to show the doctor as he hadnt been aware that it was available.

Ah the joys of nits!

You don't treat unless there are live eggs, its not preventative.

nit comb, big pot of cheap conditioner and wet and slather hair of everyone and comb through every couple of days.

nit treatments often don't work and are an unnecessary dollop of chemicals onto heads and into the water system. if you comb every two days you interrupt the reproductive cycle and get rid of them.

I would not apply nit lotion unless necessary. I would definitely do conditioner and nit comb on your DD every few days till your DS has the all clear.

My flatmate and i got nits once at an adult, and we managed to get rid of them through combing and conditioner alone. You need to be very thorough and keep doing it for this to work though.

p.s. dd has had them twice and I treated her. DS, me and dh never got them so we werent treated (did the conditioner/combing but nothing found on us)

Nitty gritty comb is the best thing nit related I ever bought.

I put off buying one for years due to the cost but actually I haven't bought any treatment for 2 years now and DC have barely had them during that time.

Those other combs are rubbish in comparison!!

No need to treat her but wet comb with conditioner and a nitty gritty comb for the next 2 weeks (daily) to make sure.

My eldest would be pretty much permanently infested with nits when younger. She was a nit magnet. Nits just loved her and her very very thick hair. DD2 has totally different hair (very fine) and has only had nits twice despite them having "sleepovers" in each others vedrooms and sometimes even sharing a bed.

Some kids dont make good nit hosts, maybe your DD is like this. But you still have to check reguarly.

I certainly wouldn't treat somebody if there was no evidence whatsoever of any lice or eggs. But I would keep a close check. Why does my head always itch if I read these threads.

Don't treat her but wet combing with conditioner will keep her clear.

comb everyone daily. look on pillows for little black dots - nit poo. you might also see their cast off skins as they grow. only treat if you have clear evidence of live infestation.

We did not treat with any of the pesticide washes that are sold after the 1st few head lice episodes. I would wash their hair every day (twins) and comb through conditioner with the lice comb while they were in the bath. A couple of weeks doing this and the life cycle is broken and they are free of them. It's quite bonding and therapeutic too for all involved.

Some lice are pesticide resistant, so I'd go the combing route, and I would smother every head with conditioner and comb with a nitty gritty every two or three days for a couple of weeks (getting the hatchlings from any missed eggs as they emerge, before they are mature enough to start breeding). Then I'd make combing a weekly routine.