Nits

[Anon7876]

Just a couple of questions,
What treatment would you recommend?
How often do your little ones get nits?
Any prevention tips?
My DSD has them every week when we pick her up, it’s getting tedious treating the whole family every weekend.
Thanks in advance!

Hedrin once. Sadly her other parent needs to comb between visits to ensure all gone.

In what way do you treat the whole family? Hedrin is supposed to be good as it suffocates the lice rather than using a pesticide. Dd has had lice twice and ds has never had them. The life cycle is 3 weeks so you need to treat several times to get rid of any hatchlings. Do you use a nit comb too?

Hedrin mousse.
Treat everyone.

Treat those with definite visitors again 10 days later.

Then weekly checks: slather kids hair in conditioner and comb with nitty gritty before washing. This is your first line of defence as you'll get any maraudering bits before they get chance to breed.

According to my hairdressers the best way is to buy a nit comb and use loads of co dictionary and not comb through in sections every night or two for a few weeks

You're not supposed to treat without seeing live lice. I wouldn't treat everyone but check everyone first with a nit comb.

After you have treated her do you know if her other parent checks the hair every day and picks the eggs (nits) out with fingernails? If this is not being done daily then chances are the initial infestation hasn't been cleared. You need to be 100% sure that every egg is picked out - unfortunately combs won't get them all. Otherwise when they hatch the cycle starts over again. Have you spoken to her other parent about it?

Nitty gritty combing did the trick with my DD. You have to do it frequently and it's a bit of a faff but it does seem to work.

Someone on here recommended using a hair straightener after treating.

I don’t know if it was a coincidence, and that we’d actually got them all out the first time round, but it worked for us

I check my DS’s every night before bed, they are fair haired and they find it relaxing (odd I know!) so I only treat them when they have picked them up off DSD. I do my hair twice a week with a nit comb (I’ve become paranoid about them, I have thick dark hair so they’re not easy to spot) and my husband gets treated when he picks them up off DSD. We’re all clear until the day after we pick her up.
Her mum doesn’t treat her, doesn’t tie her hair up for school and refuses to let her get it cut shorter.
I just don’t know how to stop it happening, the poor girl must be bored of sitting with not lotion on every weekend, I feel cruel sending her up to the bath as soon as she walks in the house to stop them spreading!

DD aged 5 has thick hair with a length past her bum. DD 3 has long and very curly hair!
They got nit before xmas! I wanted to cry!
My amazing children, I cannot praise them enough, sat there for 2 hours each night for 5 nights getting their hair combed. I bought the nitty gritty! It removed eggs and lice! They were clear after 3 days.
I now spend 30 mins on a Saturday morning.
I remember nothing working with my eldest (11) when she was younger. It takes perseverance and a little bit of child bribery!
As soon as the kids get them, I dye my hair.

Oh also, to prevent there is a spray in Asda. The time we ran out was the time they got nits...may be a coincidence

Poor child, lice can be so uncomfortable especially when it goes on for a while.

I use The Lice Programme. Last time, we used hastily bought Hedrin on Day 0 with very little effect, used baby shampoo as recommended which helped more, and we used Superdrug's own brand Head Lice Spray, which quickly became a favourite as it comes in a nice big bottle that I found easier to use and make sure it was well coated better than Hedrin on Day 7 and we were clear a couple days after that for the rest of the time. Never had them gone so fast when more than one of them had it before.

How old is DSD? Any chance she can be taught to comb herself? Not as good as having an adult do it, but after I read some of the nit information to mine, all of mine now ask or comb themselves if they get itchy heads and it might help a bit.