To wonder how my son has got headlice

[SunflowerSuit]

When we have been isolating for weeks?

I don’t get it! The internet says that you can’t catch them from cats.

He must have had one or two that you never spotted a few weeks back and they’ve since ‘erupted’ on the wee souls head.

Good thing there’s plenty of time to get shot of them before school is back.

He has probably had them and you haven’t realised.

Must have already had a couple and they've now multiplied.

Mines got a cold, the pair of them actually and they’ve but been anywhere so not sure where from!

Not*

So odd! I discovered today that my DD has them too and I was wondering the same thing. Just spent the last half hour googling the best way to deal with them. Can only assume she’s had them for weeks and I’ve not noticed

Good luck getting rid of them - at least the chances of reinfection are slimmer at the moment - as long as all the family are treated - so maybe quite good timing!

He had them in the last week before lockdown and I treated us both (15th March) then combed through with a nitty gritty comb for several days. Fortunately I decided to buy some head lice spray stuff ‘just in case’ that week so had it here in the house to treat us both tonight. School closed down on 20th March and we haven’t seen another child since then. find it hard to believe that I wouldn’t have noticed nits/lice in all that time!

Is it at all possible that nits could live in sand/rocks? We went out for exercise two days ago and had spoke around on a rocky beach nearby.

Or could eggs have lasted all that time on a hat/clothing?

Check your delousing methods.
It could be that the treatment didn't work - apparently you are supposed to check with a local pharmacist what the local nits might have become immune to. It maybe that you need a different medication.
You say you've combed for several days, but but I think you need to comb at 3 day intervals for several weeks.
It only needs a couple on bedding to reinfect. Everything needs to be washed at high temperature, cushions, pillows, sofa covers, hats, everything! You need to be combed regularly as well.
I think it's unlikely that DS caught these from rocks, much more likely that the treatment didn't work 100%.
Down load instructions on delousing and follow the time scales exactly.
It's really grim, I know a friend of mine spent several months trying to get rid of them from the heads of her 3 daughters.Good luck.

Your treatment likely missed some nits and the subsequent lice will have matured in the meantime. They can multiply very quickly indeed.

He already had them, its the only explanation. Whenever my dc have had them i treat them once a week for three weeks, sometimes four, it's the only way to be sure you get them all.

My ds has head lice a few months ago and we treated with the shampoo, used a nit comb and washed the bedding and towels.
Then for the next 7-10 days I checked his hair every night before bed. I then stopped checking his hair for a week or so, checked again and the little fuckers we're back!!!
This time they were very small, you almost couldn't see them. I must have missed some of the eggs. My ds has very thick hair.
Anyway, my point is that they are bloody hard to get rid of, you have to be meticulous and on top of it, miss a few tiny eggs and they'll hatch.

Oh God no.

Argh

It’s so horrible. Will also have tomgethisdadto do the same as DS goes to his at the weekend. Fucksticks.

I think often you don’t find them until they’ve reached the fourth or fifth generation of the colonisation of that particular head.

Tea tree oil in normal shampoo and lots of conditioner when you comb are both really helpful.

No matter how meticulous you are about following instructions, they can be very hard to eradicate. For us, treating on Day 1, Day 8 and Day 15 seemed to do the trick. Even if it says "once" on the treatment it is best to follow up to break the life cycle, all it needs is for one pregnant female or a single male and single female to be missed and you are back to square one. I think I read somewhere that one pregnant female can store her eggs and lay 10 every day for 10 days - cue infestation! People have reported success using hair straightener to kill lice and nits, may be useful if your child will tolerate this. The Boots Electronic Lice Comb is a very useful tool also, good for detection, and you could follow up with a treatment to be sure.

I’m itching my head reading this 😳

Eggs, dormant, waiting for the right conditions and a juicy harvest 😫😫😫
Or in a hat. Waiting patiently. Bloody things.

Same thing happened here. Treated them a week before lockdown but some little blighters missed the cull.

Also you say he hasn’t been out and then you say he’s been out for exercise and still goes to his dad’s. Also possible then that you, his dad, dad’s partner, siblings all have them too and he’s just been reinfected.

The most likely cause though is that you didn’t properly clear the first infestation.

I think you probably just missed an egg or 2 when treating. With words they can have them weeks or even months before they become prolific enough to be noticed 😬

As pp's have said, very difficult to eradicate and very easy to miss one. That's all it takes and a few weeks later you've got another infestation.

I hate them. [shudders] but now ds is late teens I hope we won't have to deal with them again.

I never got them as a child because my mother was absolutely meticulous about combing my hair and used a now-banned preventative shampoo called Suleo. But I've had them twice since I had ds, once when he was 5 and once a few years later. Second time wasn't as bad, I caught them early and got rid very quickly. First time I didn't twig for ages why I had an itchy head because I often have an itchy head anyway.

You didn’t comb for long enough, lice are persistent buggers.

It's a good idea to do at least weekly nitty gritty combs as part of a Sunday night bedtime routine forever more tbh. I do with my girls and we've yet to have an outbreak.

Same here op. Ds hasn't been at school for nearly a month, hasn't been near anybody at all especially other children.

Last week I caught him scratching so I checked and found one so put him in the bath with a head full of conditioner and nit combed his hair and I found quite a few. I've done this 3 times since and found a couple here and there and plan to do it again until he's clear.

I assume he had headlice without me realising and they have been slowly festering away until I caught him scratching, poor kid

I had checked 2 weeks before school closed as we had a text but he was clear then.