Nits and lice!

[catchyjem]

Just discovered today that my three kids and myself have caught head lice. It's our first ever experience of this. I immediately got out the nitty gritty comb and combed all their heads through with conditioner then did mine as well as I could. My dh has brought home some lyclear shampoo but couldn't use it tonight as it was too late and I'd already had to put the kids to bed. I plan to shampoo all of us in the morning and go over with the comb again. Is it necessary to change bedding etc? What else should I do?

Also, my son has had an itchy pimply rash the last week mainly around his neck and chest but also a very little bit on arms and legs. The chemist thought maybe allergy and advised piriton but this was before we realised about the head lice. Could it be related to the lice???

Yep you need to wash bedding, towels, clothes like coats, dressing gowns and literally anything as you don't want a reinfection of it. Also wash and treat hairbrushes. You'll want to wash bedding and towels again after using the treatment as well there will be lots of dead lice.
Often you need to do more than one treatment and do the comb for a few days to get rid of the eggs but the shampoo instructions should tell you.
I'd be surprised if the rash was related to the lice but it's possible I suppose.
Good luck, lice are a nightmare but happens to most kids at some point

You will also need to kill any nits/lice on teddies. I put my kids teddies in a carry bag in the garage for 2 weeks (I.e somewhere cold). Only washed bedding first time round and didn't get reinfected from home. I wouldn't advise using the nitty gritty comb after you've put lyclear on because it'll pull all the treatment off

Thanks both for the advise. I'm going to launder all the sheets towels etc today. Not sure about the cuddly toys though as they have hundreds of them! Do you think I'm ok to send them to school/ playgroup tomorrow? The playgroup have previously said to keep them off if they have nits. But if they have been treated and combed surely that's ok?

My school said they could go as long as they have been treated. Nits are always going to be around in nursery because of the close social contact they have all day