Head lice and 4 kids

[alysonpeaches]

Nits love me. Ive had them twice since we had the kids. Funny thing is I never find any on the kids, but it must be them that brings them home, as there's always someone else at school or nursery suffering.

I usually go to the chemist and get the free lotion (derbac this time hedrin last time) and treat them all.

I never find any when combing through the children's hair with conditioner, or even without conditioner (using a nit comb of course). But both times at least one of the kids has been scratching when I found them in my own hair, so I treated them too.

I detect them in my hair by dry nit combing over a white wash basin, then looking for the combed out lice. Once again, I dont usually see anything when combing through with conditioner.

Has anyone got any top tips please? We are using vosene nit repelling shampoo also hoping that this will repel them, but I honestly find combing with conditioner a bit of a red herring. The kids have had their hair cut shorter too hoping this will make it easier to comb through, and I have done everyone with derbac today.

Apparently there is a child in another class at DS school who is riddled with them but they wont treat her, and the school wont do anything.

The only other thing i have heard of is rinsing the hair with vodka (waste of vodka :0)... but if it gets rid worth it ..touch wood i haven't had the pleasure yet.

Thank you. Can picture DH with glass underneath to catch drips. I suppose if you sprayed it on it would use very little.

Can you see the eggs in the hair before they turn into the lice?

We have only had one problem so far, thankfully. But I found it really difficult to treat my DD (long hair) even though we washed and combed every day - every time I got the lice there were more eggs. In the end I just snipped off all the single hairs that the eggs were fixed to - took a bit longer but no more problem.

No, not seen eggs.

I have seen them on my DD (brown hair) but not on my son (blonde). They are white-ish and attach to the hair shaft. Have fun!

we had them this week, ds1 came home from school with them, next day ds2 & dd had them and on the school run I was carrying ds3 in the sling (8mths) and he had one aswell. That night I combed through my hair and I had them too!!! yuk

I used Hedrin on us all (dh was fine) and have to repeat it on tuesday.

Whats this about free treatment please????

you're making me itch just mentioning nits For girls with long hair, insist they have it tied back everyday for school. A friend of mine swears by tee tree oil to prevent getting them in the first place, mixes a couple of drops in with normal shampoo and also makes a spray up with a couple of drops of oil and water, sprayed on the hair everyday before school. I've always found conditioner and wet combing the best way to get rid of them, takes a few days but does work, just takes ages to do with 2 girls with long hair

Right, DS has had a number 4 crew cut, DD1 has had a "bob" cut and the other two dont have enough hair to style!

I have ordered a nitty gritty comb and some nitty gritty repellant too.

If a child is continously riddled with adult lice ie infested month after month I would tell the school that the child is being neglected and if they don't do something about it you will be contacting social services to report child and school.

Being infested with lice is neglectful because they drink your blood hence the term feeling "lousy"

I don't mean children where the parents are strugging to get rid of and keep away the blighters I mean permanently infested with full grown adult lice.

We have yet to have an evening without catching any lice in the hair of my 3 school age DC.

I wish everyone would spend as much time as we do nit combing and they we might eradicate the problem.

That's interesting cargirl. I was speaking to a social worker last week and we were discussing nit infestations as her kids had had them. The social workers Ive come across have been so hard pressed to get anything done, always whining about been understaffed and overworked, I cant imagine them giving much priority to a persistent lice infestation. Its a good point though, I will mention it to my childminder as her child is in the infested ones class - she says you can actually see movement in the child's hair. She was really upset about it last week, some angry parents were practically setting up a lynch mob.

Just wish the other parents would check their kids hair. I do this & comb through with conditioner - real hassle. Also when they've had nits having to wash all bedding, put toys away fro 10 days, comb & recomb so time consuming.

My DD2 always seems to have them
She's 6 and I go through her hair once a week or so with the nitty gritty comb and if she has any I use hedrin... then follow up after a week as advised.

They go for a few weeks but then she always ends up being infested again.

I always tie her hair up but often she comes home with it down.

My older daughter gets the odd one but they don't seem keen on her.

I'm pregnant with my 3rd daughter.. Good God. I'll need shares in nitty gritty at this rate.

I have a daughter with beautiful long, thick, curly hair. As a 10 month old baby (with a headful of thick curls) she got infested with lice from nursery. She was too young for me to use any of the chemical potions on, so I washed her hair with tea tree shampoo, then used tea tree conditoner and combed it through with the nit comb, then rinsed with white vinegar. I did this for a few days until every egg and louse was gone. I also put all her and our bedding on a hot wash, bagged the stuffed toys, hoovered the whole house and froze what couldn't be washed. She didn't get them again until she started school recently.

Like a previous poster mentioned, I now use a spray I make from water with a few drops of tea tree oil, daily. It actually heps to detangle the hair aswell. I also put tea tree in the shampoo and conditioner. Once a week I comb through her hair looking for nits and every fortnight I use the GHD's on her hair (with a protectant). This is my ultra weapon! No nit can stand the 200 degree heat of those babies !!! I wouldn't recommend it for fine hair on a very young one - but some straightners do have adjustable heat settings....def worth a try. I only ever see the odd egg now, and that gets sorted quick time!