best stuff for head lice (for a baby)?

[mommie]

there are 3 cases of head lice at my dd's nursery and i want to buy something just in case we get caught short at weekend. don't want anything too strong for dd's head. she has very wispy hair and i don't want horrible chemicals penetrating her little head! any recommendations?

How old is she?

Tbh I wouldn't buy anything in just in case, instead i'd use preventavie measures like combing through the hair regularly with a nit comb with a mixture of conditioner and tea tree oil (which they hate!!)

Even if she does get them i'd use the above on a baby. Hth!

I agree with essbee, I wouldn't buy the lotions. They are crap anyway!

she's 18 mths

my 1 year old has wispy hair, her sisters had headlice last year. with wispy baby hair it's quite easy to comb them out - dd3 only ever had a couple and they were very easy to find and deal with.

i wouldn't worry too much, just check her weekly and start combing if you find any.

there's a nit comb which is recommended by lots of mumsnetters called a Nitty Gritty. but otherwise you get the normal sort from any chemist, if you want to be prepared.

am nit expert lately

am off to buy a nitty gritty...it's so glamorous being a parent

coat hair with baby oil, and put on a shower cap or wrap head in cling film (put over another hat to keep in place). leave for 2 hrs max, and shampoo off. This really works, it soffacates the little b***ds! and totally harmless. I wouldnt touch chemicals - they do not work.

You can get them on prescription from you GP, or your HV would probably be able to write you one for it. Mine used to write me scripts for nit lotions for dsd.

The nitty gritty comb is fantastic. DD is 2.10 and catches them regularly from dsd. I've never had to use any lotions on her. When she was younger I just used to comb it through with the shampoo still in, but now her hair's thicker I use conditioner.

Where do you get tea tree oil?

fine wispy hair is fantastic if you have a nit plague. am sure it deters the nits as they have nowhere to hide. in contrast my dd1 has thick hair, copious amounts of it. it's an absolute nightmare for nit combing. you can comb for an hour and not be done with them. they hide in the thick bits.

You can buy tea tree shampoo and conditioner specifically for kids from tescos, boots etc. Oil can be found in the skin cae section as it is good for zits.

Agree fennel, fine hair is the best, you can see them perfectly, tbh wet combing is the most effective way of eradicating nits.
Lotions are rubbish, nits are becoming immune to them.

tea tree is great too

If she's got wispy hair, I'd got for the electronic comb. Otherwise, if you want to save yourself a tenner, nitty gritty comb's available on prescription.

DD2 is 2 next month and is always catching them from dd1 (nearly 8), because she is blonde they are quite easy to spot, but normaly I wash her hair and go through with a nitcomb and she loves the pampering.

My dd cannot bear having her hair even brushed and she has had lice on and off for months. It takes bribes of chocolate and pennies in her money box to wet comb her hair. It is a nightmare. She is only 3 and they must love her hair. It doesn't help that her hair is curly!

we use Biz Niz, its a conditioner, you use a very tiny amount, run it through their hair every morning. its a great preventitive, lice hate it, it contains a mix of all the oils they hate.
it smells nice to, kind of lemony.

you can also use it in larger quantities to kill lice as well.

you can get it in a health shop.

we also have a lot of customers who use tea tree as a preventative, but we get much better feedback with the biz niz (hence this is the one we have been using on our pre-schooler since sept)

When you are wet combing if you do it when they are plastered with conditioer it is much easier too, so 2 birds one stone.