Headlice!

[Scarlettsstars]

Dd (3) has nits. We used a medicated treatment and that seemed to get them. Now they're back a week later. The treatment said it was a once off no need to repeat but they they are, horrible little things. I'll treat her again tomorrow when the shops are open but what can I do to prevent them coming back. Should I boil her bedding? We washed it last time, even though the nhs site no need to. Any advice gratefully received. Ooh I itch :-(

Make combing with the nit comb part of the hair wash routine, I feel your pain as a mum of 3 girls the little critters were the bain of our life for years. The shampoo isn't great to be honest I'm sure the nits become resistant . Regular combing is the way to go

If she has them again a week later the chances are the child she got them from hasn't been treated. We comb through with conditioner and nit comb every 3 days after treating with hedrin once. Make sure you tie her hair up as much as possible and ask nursery to put out a nit note.

Nitty gritty comb. Wet hair and cover with conditioner, the comb through in small sections, using a bowl of hot water to clean the comb regularly or wipe on tissue. Go through the entire head several times, and if you can go in different directions (ie brush downwards, then upwards) then rinse off the conditioner. Repeat every few days for a week until there are no husks/lice/eggs and then repeat again in a week. It works so much better than the chemicals as it gets the eggs, the lice, the poo, the lot. Costs about a tender but it can be used again and again.

I used this for dd about 3 years ago when chemicals didn't touch them, it worked well and no repeats, until yesterday! Spent an hour going through hair and think I got them all (not too many I don't thinks certainly not riddled) will do it again tomorrow or the day after.

no treatment is a one off application as not many of them are good at killing the eggs so you always need to re-treat to catch the baby ones as they hatch.

it may not be a re-infestation as baby lice could have hatched from eggs left in the hair that were not killed by the first treatment.

Wet combing seems to be the way then! I'll get one of those combs Pavlov. They look a lot better than the plastic one that came in the packet for sure. Should I boil her bedding though or is this berserk? I have waist length curly hair myself which is so thick I find it hard to get a comb through so what goes for dd has also to go for me. DH aggravatingly is bald as an egg so is being rather smug.

I don't bother with the bed boiling, only time I do that is with worms! Parenting is so glamorous isn't it? the nitty gritty comb is super fine so you have to smother with conditioner and brush it through before using the comb so the are no knots. If you wait for it to dry a little, so it's not really wet, it will go through well just be careful at the base of the neck, that gets dd badly!

And yes, you are going to have to do your hair too! The lice are not just happy on the hair of children

Thanks Pavlov. Yep the glamour doesn't end in the delivery room does it? Whatever shreds of dignity I managed to hang on are unravelling good and proper . Urgh urgh urgh I hate bugs!!!!!!!

I remember when DD first ever had nits, clear as day. it was horrific! It was summer holidays and we had spent a lot/most of our time on the beach. She has fine blond hair and had sand in her most of summer. Yes I washed it, but sand is a bugger to wash off. And, in particular the sand is on some of our beaches grey tinted. She scratched her head from time to time, but she had sand in it! I was not particularly bothered about getting the sand out, as we would be going again the next day or so and will have to do it all over again, proper was and that was enough.

Except. This sand, it looked just like nits/eggs/poo, although at the time I didn't know what nits looked like. I washed her hair finally deciding that I would get it all out so she didn't look like a proper mess all summer long. And that sand was a bugger to get out. Slowly dawned on me as she sat there watching tv scratching, that it might be nits.

Fucking hell. When I took a proper look she was riddled with huge filfthy fuckers. I was and and and It Was Vile.

From then on I have been On It, at any sign of scratching or any mark that might or might not be nits, and the comb comes out. only yesterday did she actually have the husks (eggs I think they are), after I spotted what appeared to be a lice (louse?) on her. just a few, but enough for me to know that is all I wanted to see.

So, I so get your dislike

I showed it to my friend the other week how much it looks like nits, as we went to the beach, she got sand in her hair, and you could see how it looked just like a bad case of nits!

Goodness knows how many children got nits from DD that year

Yes boil the bedding as the eggs and lice can live on them!

No application is a one off, you need to repeat after 7 days with most of them as none actually kill the eggs (despite claims to contrary) so any eggs still there after combing will hatch about 5 days later and takes about 24-48 hours for them to be big enough to see. Keep repeating weekly for the next few weeks and comb with conditioner daily as it helps loosen the eggs (the little bastards stick to the hair)

Once she is clear wash her hair with tea tree shampoo and buy headrin spray stuff that you can spray on daily and helps keep them at bay.

My dsc's have them permanently as Dm refuses to uphold treatment.

you do not need to boil bedding. eggs do not live in bedding and any lice that have left the head are old or dying so not likely to re infest. washing is fine but no requirement to boil everything.

Another fan here of the NittyGritty comb! I would pop my daughter on a bean bag in front of the TV with her favourite film on ( so she wouldn't fidget) - she had hair to her waist so it took 45mins to an hour but I found the whole thing quite therapeutic and very satisfying when you get the little critters! The shampoos have some pretty scary chemicals in them but still fail to work.

Well I used my new nitty gritty comb today and got dozens of the horrible little critters out! I'm being a bit of a drama queen about the whole thing and trying not to let dd get wind of why we are so interested in her head of a sudden - not the easiest task! Yikes! Thanks everyone for the advice, looks like we're in for the long haul on wet combing, headrin spray you say wheresthelight? Will look out for it x

Nitty gritty and gallons of conditioner.
DD2 has long thick hair and I use paranix as a short cut sometimes.
It really works and easy/quick to use even leaves hair looking fab (French!) but ££££
Do let her nursery know if she goes so they can let other parents know to check too. (It's anonymous!).

Have been a nitty gritty fan for years! At around £10 it's not cheap but well worth the investment and also think people should know that it's available on prescription!! Unfortunately mines been back in use today!

Ick icky icky ick ick.
Dd got nits at 12 months, I didn't notice them until I picked out a speck from her hair and it was a big fat louse. Eeeeeewwwwwwww! I'd never seen them before but they are horrid.
We used a one off treatment but not only did poor little dd get a nasty red sore head from it but as with you the little sods came right back.
I've found the nit combs really good, if you put a tiny dollop of conditioner in and comb through every few days within two weeks they'll go. And you need to do everyone in the house and tell everyone dd has been with the last few weeks, and the nursery if she goes one as chances are she'll have passed them on.