To feel utterly defeated by nits ?

[Biggadyboo]

Have two kids with learning disabilities. They have both had nits since January. Which means I have too.

Treated them first with Hedrin, three times every seven days, wet combing mid week.

still there

Then tried nitnot , no difference.

was advised by a GP friend to try Lyclear as different active ingredient. Have done that three times now. No change.

the kids both utterly hate having their hair combed. Their learning disabilities and sensory issues make it a stressful battle.

But nevertheless I’ve been fucking combing it with conditioner as much as I can the last two weeks . Almost every night. It’s utterly hell, screaming, crying, horrible. But I’ve been doing it

and today there are still literally hundreds of the bastards. I literally can’t comb them all out. There’s just too many

i don’t know what to do😭

They can live for 48 hours away from the head.

Put the chemicals on (eg hedrin mousse) and leave for 24 hours or 48 if you can stand it then wash out. One week later do the same again - chemicals and leave for 24 hours or more. Combing is a pain in the ass and I’m not convinced it works if the kids have long hair - too hard to get all of them. You look a sight when the chemicals are on but it does clear it, plus minimises all the combing.

We’ve all slept in the treatments, repeated then as per instructions

I do think the combing is too difficult for us, I try and section hair and work methodically with Netflix on and other incentives. But kids are screaming, crying, wriggling . It’s too bloody difficult. And if I miss one then it’s all for nothing

I think the nit hoover people are the way to go

How are you wet combing?

You need to wet comb everyday for 2 weeks (atleast) and often into a 3rd week.

Have a bowl of warm water and dip the comb between each comb of the hair and wipe off any lice or eggs that you find into kitchen roll.

I’m wetting hair, Putting conditioner on , combing top , then putting it in bobble (wiping comb each time, always about a dozen nits each time) . Then do another section, put in bobble etc. Usually manage 4 sections .

The mum had 4 children and nits were an issue in each of those classes. I’m not aware he got excluded - our primary head teacher was a lovely teacher but very weak when it came to difficult conversations with parents. My Dc are now 13-17. Some parents are just stupid - she was an anti vaxer too. Probably thinks measles is “natural”.

If you can't comb every day religiously then I don't think you have any choice but to all have grade ones for a while
That's what we did with DS one year

What kind of comb? The only ones that strip out eggs imo are nitty gritty ones.

When we were doing this with DD, wash and condition every single night and then comb. For at least a week and probably a fortnight. Every single night.

Yes nitty gritty

Are you combing it right? .... you might not be using enough conditioner.
Dry hair, 1/4 bottle of cheap conditioner and the comb glides through really easily.

The treatments didn't work with my daughter but combing with a shedloads of conditioner worked pretty quickly.

I found dry hair much better as wetting her hair first watered down the conditioner too much.

Hi Op I feel for you my two daughters had them for five months one has hair past her bum and has sensory issues the other has autism. I tried all the same treatments as you none worked … my eldests hair took an entire bottle as it’s so long. I was in tears frequently. I saw this remedy on line it worked. I was already down over €500 on treatments and was prepared to try anything .. mix 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar , 15 drops of tee tree oil into a jar of coconut oil, soften the oil slightly in microwave if too hard. Coat both kids hair in it , put on shower cap leave on over night .

in the morning brush through , rinse out mixture , second rinse, mix cup of apple cider to cup of water ratio, took about 4 cups then shampoo with tee tree oil shampoo. It worked first go. The coconut oil smothers live ones , the acidity in vinegar kills eggs and loosens glue that stick the little blighters to hair . I watched so many float down the plug hole. I probably had gotten a lot through wet combing but the final ones were really stubborn . You may need to do this a few times. I hope it works for you. I also spray my girls hair with tee tree oil mixed in water every morning , plait hair tightly then wind into a bun then spray again. Fingers crossed nit free seven months.

I used to pling the comb every time to get everything off of it. We had them on and off in primary. Finally stopped. I asked why it might have stopped and dd1 said "we stopped standing back to back to compare heights".
Sounds like enough of a nightmare for you that a professional service is probably worth it!

Like I said earlier, me and my mum witnessed an adult headlouse live for 2 weeks in a jam jar.

48 hrs is a myth

I’ve cleared them with vodka, tea tree and lavender oil in a spray bottle before

This is going to sound so gross but ds first caught nits from playgroup when he was 2.

He’d had his first proper haircut a week before I saw any lice, I kept one of his long ringlet curls, wrapped up in foil and put it in a drawer and forgot about it.

We moved house a couple of years later and when packing, I saw the foil, opened it to find ds hair and some massive, dead lice. So the hair must have had eggs on it, which hatched after it was cut off.

So that was nice.

I know it will be very costly, and has been mentioned upthread but the Hairforce does work and they are experienced working with a wide range of children and adults with special needs
https://hairforceclinics.com/clinics/

I 100% recommend Nitwits. I battled with my daughter's (and then my own) headlice for months. The combing and conditioning and treatments I bought in the chemist just wouldn't work. I bought Nitwits online. Got rid of the headlice and nits. Never had a problem since

I too start with dry hair, if you stand he conditioner in a jug of hot water for five minutes it takes the chill off ( stops dc complaining) and seems to make it comb easier.

Hair dryer on hot heat does the trick too

My dc was repeatedly picking up nits from yr R up till yr 6.

I found that washing and applying a lot of conditioner every other day and combing with a Nitty Gritty comb was what worked. I didn't bother with the medication after a while as it was the combing that kept it at bay.

At one point I wasn't waiting until I thought Dc had them, I was doing the combing as a preventative measure.

I had teatree spray - that seemed to help.

Can you get your dcs hair cut short to make the combing easier?

Old fashioned remedy everyone used in Spain when I was living there: apply white vinegar. It worked.

Eww @Poppyyoutwat

Having kids is so gross is so many unexpected ways 😆

No! they don't, they can't live more than a day away from host before dying off. This boiling of bedding, steaming furniture, freezing soft toys is completely unnecessary.

The biggest problem is it only takes missing one tiny egg for it to start all over again very quickly.

My neurodivergent daughter had very thick hair and when she was younger we went through a period where I thought I would go crazy trying to get rid off them so I completely identify with you OP, especially with 3. I eventually roped in two friends, bought snacks, put Disney movies on and we cleared them together with the nitty gritty combs and cheap conditioner and repeated a fortnight later to catch the eggs we had missed that had hatched. I recently cleared my neurodivergent grandson with short hair overnight and keep and now go through his hair with conditioner once a week. If I lived close to you I would definitely come and help and bring a friend 💛

If you can afford it I would go to the hoover people, can't put a price on relieving some of that stress. I have 3 neurodivergent grandsons now and one lives with me, it's really hard going without hair lice 😵‍💫 Please don't make it harder by pointlessly over washing everything. Your doing great 💐

I’ve often fantasised about getting them removed by professionals, but it would be a pointless waste of money as they would be reinfected again the second the set foot in school.