Headlice - how the heck do you get the nits out?

[mumoftwinz]

Kids started school and promtly got headlice for first time. Treated it with Nydra, as far as can tell nits are all dead, but are so small the nit comb does not comb them out. Too many to pick out one by one. Any ideas?

I cracked each and every eggcase between my thumb nails last time, just to make sure the buggers were dead if they were hiding in there.

sitdown - are you sure you didn't just ENJOY doing that as part of your weekend entertainment ?

i have just used conditioner and the nity gritty on wet hair on lovely son't hair before bedtime.

loads of tiny black stuff was visible in the sink when i washed the comb out, stuck to the bottom of the sink when i let the water out ! yuk !

what is that stuff, they were long-shaped, black, very very small, not baby lice, are they ?

not big enough to be lice, i have seen adult ones, these were much much smaller.

they are eggs i think

yuk ! let's hope they were all dead eggs as i zapped them with a pesticide on my poor son's head the other night.

he has just started reception at primary school.

can someone tell me if multiple infections are possible, i.e. now that we have used a pesticide, is my poor baby likley to get reinfected many times as he is now in contact with over 60 children ?

Don't know quite how to break this to you katface, but headlice are a constant joy of primary-school-aged children. Although DD1 has suffered far more than DS.

This is why you need to use the conditioner and comb regularly to catch the little critters before they settle down and start a family.

DS1 has just started Yr6, Ds2 is in Yr4. We have never ever had nits. DD is in Reception for 3 days and all of us (with the exception of DH) got bloody nits. DS's are having the wet combing treatment as their hair is fairly short. I have very long hair, as does DD who also has very thick, curly hair so we went for the chemical/nuke the little barstewards option. We're going to be wet combing every week for the next 7 years aren't we?

Katface the long thin dark things in the sink were live eggs.

Chemicals do not kill the eggs - which is hte big advantage of the nitty Gritty as this is the only treatment that will remove live lice. This is socially much better IMO. If you treat with chemicals you kill the crawling lice. Then have to wait another week before the repeat treatment. In that week the eggs are hatching and the new lice are off to infect friends and family. With the Nitty Gritty you remove the eggs before they hatch - so no lice to spread. You do have to repeat the Nitty gritty as it is not 100% effective as it is difficult to get the comb in contact with every single egg and louse...I reckon I am 80-95% efficient with a lot of practice.

Have you informed the school or nursery? You DS probbaly picked them up off another child and if that child(ren) isn't treated then he may well get them straight back again.

Thanks for the good news then

Random, I treated him BEFORE he started at Reception. He picked up the lice at a holiday club he was at during the summer. He does not have an infestation at the mo., so if those were eggs, I seem to have got most out 3 nights ago, i.e. before they hatched.

Should I being doing the conditioner nity gritty every 3 days or so to make sure ?
Is twice a week sufficient ?

Yes.

With a bug buster (which treats lice but not eggs) the regime is every 3-4 days for 2weeks. The timeing is set like this to break the life cycle.

The regime should be the same for Nitty Gritty. It is much much more effective but not 100% effective - hence the reason to repeat.

thanks random. washing ds hair with conditioner and nity gritty again tonight to make sure there are no fresh eggs. so will do it twice a week now.