Nits. What if a child won't be nitty-gritty combed?

[megletthesecond]

12yr old DS got nits for the first time last week. We've all had Hedrin a couple of times already and will re-treat this week.

But 11yr old DD won't let me nitty gritty her hair and has a meltdown over it. Shall I just use Hedrin/ lyclear a few extra times to make sure she's ok?

I've been through her head with a torch and can't see anything, although I'm not sure how visible nits and eggs will be. The hairdresser found the nit on DS's hair.

At work, will check back later.

need I don't think she had them. DS got them on weds by coat swopping the wally. The hairdresser found two, no eggs, when we popped in after school that day. I kept him away from DD until he'd been Hedrin-ed that evening.

The life cycle is fairly easy to find on google- I think treating once a week for 4 weeks would eradicate them.

If she is 11 can you get her to do it herself?
Wet hair lots of conditioner , help her section it out and get her to comb as much as she can.

Stop treating Ds unless there are still live lice. Don't treat 11 year old unless she has nits. The eggs are not that difficult to spot. A recent infestation will have eggs near the scalp. Just section her hair and look through each section. You will be able to distinguish any eggs from dandruff, as with dandruff you can flick it or blow it off, but nits are stuck.

OK I can type a bit more now as on a PC

The three times once a week is because nits take 7-10 days to hatch. If you only do the treatment twice you run a small risk that one that is just laid on the day of the first treatment (H day ) has not hatched out by treatment 2 (H day plus 7) and then goes on to hatch

I agree with PP I think they are supposed to kill the nits too but personally if I wasn't combing I wouldn't rely on this

There isn't a need to comb to kill them if you use this and no doubt they'll drop out eventually but the hairdresser is not going to want to see her anytime soon so I would encourage her to let you comb them out

And yes its difficult to wash out. We used to put on before bed, sleep in a shower cap then wash out in the morning. Two shampoos with fairy liquid then third normal shampoo and lots of conditioner

My Aunt has quite severe additional needs & I know when she got nits & Gran was unable to comb her the GP suggested treating & then brushing through with a normal hair brush & blow drying her hair (Aunt likes her hair being blow dried). Would your dd be ok with this?

Suspected as much, @megletthesecond . I'm sorry it's so hard Hedrin Once for five consecutive weeks should work, it's just more expensive and a bit harder than the prescribed treatment. Still, probably easier than attempting to comb in those circumstances.

All the best

I used NitWits (I think it is similar to Hedrin Once as it is dimethicone based). I had no one to comb my hair and I was fairly certain I couldn’t comb my own accurately enough as I have long thick hair. I left it on everyone in the family overnight, and I never found anything else alive afterwards (even with nitty gritty combing on kids and dh). I think the oil based smothering one are effective but you have to totally saturate the hair and treat everyone at the same time.

I can't get the comb through dd1's hair ( asd plus very thick curly hair). We use hedrin once, repeat it once a week until it seems like she's clear. Usually just need to do it twice. We soon know if we haven't got rid of them as I catch them from her ( I nitty gritty comb my own hair a couple of times a week and treat her if I find anything on me).