So are we all agreed that wet combing is the best treatment for NITS?

[Enid]

dd1 is infested! Not too stressed as we have managed to avoid it for 6 years. I had a feeling that the hive mind of mumsnet recommended wet combing so have duly bought nit comb and conditioner. Is it not a good idea to use chemicals?

Her best friend keeps getting them and her mum uses the dog insecticide shampoo on her

It's just not your month is it, Enid?

So far and touch wood we've avoided them but I'm guessing dog insecticide is not the way to go...

no have had shite month so far

still things can only get better as D Ream so cleverly put it

does anyone know if Piriton is good for stopping the head itching?

I wouldn't have thought so. Because the itching is because there are little creatures scuttling about in your hair, isn't it? Piriton is for itching in the skin itself. Does that make any sense or is it nonsense?

I disagree. I think you can wet comb until you are blue in the face and they will keep on returning. I use Derbac M- you must leave it on overnight. None of those 4 hour thing work. then you need to comb and pull out eggs with finger nilas and then repeat the whole thing 1 week later. Always tie girls hair back for school. DD is nearly 9 and touch wood we haven't had the since she was 4 and bent down to kiss her newborn brother and 1 crawled across his neck. AArrgghh I am also very wary of people who say in a blase way that they are conditioner combing as who really has the time to do it properly and then they reinfest their friends. Obviously I would only use derbac irregularly but I think you need the epace of mind that comes from knowing the bu*** are dead and out of their hair. Conditioner combing doesn't remove the eggs does it.. so it is only a matter of time..

The itching is apparently due to some children being slightly allergic so it may help, thats why not all kids itch. I sympathise but think you are lucky to avoided thus far, I often do the wetcomb thing, but if I get really peed off (four kids passing it between them!) I go for the full on chemical approach which nukes them al;l in one swoop, I know others won't agree but PMT and nits = nightmare in our house

Derbac M - sounds like the biz. I do the conditioner comb thing and I hate it with avengance. It is so boring and tedious and snakes of cold hair all down your shoulders and having to do it every three days...who has the TIME???? Not me, but I do it. But if this Derbac M kills the whole lot in one fell swoop then I am up for it. Is it available in pharmacies or do you have to get it from B&Q?

Just done a google on it and it kills pubic lice and scabies too. Wow. Killer stuff.

Wetcombing the method of choice here. The first full infestation we had I was pregnant with ds, so couldn't go the chemical route, but never seen any reason to change my mind since. I particularly like the Bug Buster Kit which you can get from Boots IIRC. Contains idiot-proof instructions, and little reward stickers for the kiddies. Sadly doesn't include little reward G&Ts for stressed mothers, but you can't have everything...

yes I am pg so dont want Derbac M

what was the stuff that can give kids hallucinations?

i heard that wet combing and using tea tree conditioner is the best. i don't know whether it's true but i was told tea tree snaps the legs off the nits so they can't escape whilst you comb them out!

I too have four kids passing them to and fro. I've tried herbal stuff and full-on organo phosphates. Nothing works. I've also tried an overnight one (messy, expensive and ineffective). Now I just comb every second or third day with the Nitty Gritty comb and keep them under control as best I can.

I have just been to Boots and was recommended 'Full Marks Solution' - no toxins. I am not certaion dd has them....she is itching her head a lot but I haven't seen then. The only thing I have seen is little white flakes (eggs?) about 1 cm from her scalp.

Does anybody have any tips on identifying the little buggers? Is a nit comb and ordinary conditioner enough to get rid?

Yup!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cardy - if the white flake you can see are glued to the hair shaft then they are nits- or actually the eggs of the louse. If the flakes are free and don't move on their own it is good old dandruff! I have a card somewhere with sample on I have collected to show to nits virgins!!

yup if it doesnt move when you wipe it it is an egg

dd1 had one a few days ago - now she has seemingly hundreds

One weird nit identification point - their bodies are quite oblong, so almost look like folded-up wings. When I first saw one, I thought, weird, a bug in DS2's hair. But it can't be headlice, it has wings.

It wasn't until I saw another, a few days later, and got a more experience mum to check, that I realised they were nits. Whoops.

I read somewhere that they can alter their colour to their hosts hair colour for camouflage purposes. I'm in full battle with them at the moment.

I too am loosing the will to live over the little buggers but am currently conditioner combing, Lucycat had some good advice on my thread the other day, 'Nits I am at the end of my tether'

Yep I'd agree! I only ever treat dsd when she has them really badly - we're talking hundreds - and when she's staying for a week so I can do the two treatments. For dd and I, when we catch them from her, wet combing gets rid of them. It can take 2-3 weeks and means combing out every 3 days, but it definitely works. I've never bothered with picking bits out by hand, I've always just used the comb.

I have to say though, dsd has 3 other siblings at home and if I were her mum I'd probably have a weekend's nuking of the whole family! It's easy to keep on top of mine and dd's and dsd when she's with us, but dsd's poor mum has 5 heads to comb.

Someone has done a link on another thread to some research which showed that wet combing is more effective than chemical treatment.

Enid - dsd scratches a lot when she's got them badly. That's when I comb her out daily and after a couple of days she stops scratching. I've never used piriton.

Any scratching adults? Do they pass easily from kid to parent? (not that I have been doing any scratching lately, honest!)

Aha, didn't read your post properly there, Surfermum, so they do like Mums as well, unfortunately!

They're not fussy they even like evil step-mums! Of course dh gets off scot free he's completely bald!

Blast, better double-check my mane just in case then! Now I'm scratching at the thought ...!

two nights of wet combing and none at all this morning - its a miracle as she had tons on Monday night

will carry on the combing for teh rest of week

well we've been wet combing with conditioner every few days since september now. dd1 is the problem her hair is really thick, you can comb for an hour twice a week and still not find them all in there. other dds have finer hair which is far easier.

we did try derbacm, it seemed to work, but they came back a few weeks later so we're back to the combing. am anticipating a twice-weekly comb for ever at this rate, frankly.