Head lice nightmare! How to keep them away?

[Shootingstar2289]

My three year old son keeps getting lice at nursery. I think the problem is my son is very cuddly and often likes to cuddle the staff who perhaps have lice or he gets them from other children. I check his hair all the time and I'm almost guaranteed to find one in his hair.

My son has never had loads as I check regularly and use the nitty gritty comb twice a week. Which is a struggle as he's started to hate having it done :/ I give up with treatments such as Hedrin as they are expensive to buy often and never seemed to work properly.

I wash his hair every day as it's very blonde and he seems to get it so dirty when he's out and about.

I've tried using the vosene shampoo and spray which is meant to act as a repellent but hasn't seemed to work.

Any other ideas to keep them away? I'm going slightly mad at combing so often (as have to do my long hair too). I've heard tea tree oil is good but worried as me and my son appear to have sensitive skin and worry it will be harsh on our scalps.

Any advice?

[MinimalistMommi]

Did you know that any child can get head lice lotion on perscription from their doctor?

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

Nothing much to add to all the remedies etc.....(Last year I did the lot, cider vinegar, gold Listerine, you name it I lobbed it at my head) BUT.....for everyone talking about getting them again. You're not, you're not eradicating the first lot properly, trust me....I had them last year for almost 5 solid months, and as an almost 50 yr old grown up, I know I wasn't rubbing my head against anyone else's big or small!

I caught them from dd, and fairly quickly (every other day nitty grittying with conditioner after initially hedrin-ing) got rid of hers, but because I was nitty-grittying myself, I never quite managed to get the lot.

The only remedy listed here I haven't tried (because finally got rid) was the Dr Bronners (but I remember the poster telling us about it, and I got some in, just in case) but IMO the only way is the daily conditioner and nitty gritty. (I guess the Dr Bronners works on the same principle, smothering the bastards)

[VenusDeWillendorf]

OP it sounds like you are never getting rid of your own child's nits.

Try hedrin, and re try a week later. All this "use tea tree or lavander oil" is actually very bad advice.
Lavander and tea tree oils affect your child's hormones, and can bring on puberty. My dd's endocrinologist is adamant that the over use of "natural products" is causing our children to have precocious puberty. Think about it, why are oils like this banned in pregnancy - because they have an effect on the hormone system.

You're much better going for a tried and pharmaceutically tested product like hedrin.

Also, most people dont know that it is absolutely necessary to vacuum all around the beds, wash all the towels, pillow cases and bedding in a 60degree plus wash, every time you notice the nits, and every week anyway.

Get your boy's hair cut, or tie it up, and see if he'll wear a hat for you if he insists on hugging other children- he could give them nits!

[dreamingofsun]

do you use conditioner? someone once told me to and kids never had them again. may have just been co-incidence. i think the view was that it made the hair shinier and therefore harder for them to grip.

[BritInTDot]

I'm in Canada and here the schools have lice checks every month. If a kid is found with eggs or nits they are sent home and can only return when they are completely nit free, and a letter is sent out to parents to be extra vigilant (child is kept anon of course!) My daughter has only caught them once in the three years we've been here and it was only a mild case.

Personally I get the GHD's out and burn the little blighters after having washed with tea tree shampoo and conditioner, combing through with the nit comb and removing with my fingers to if necessary. I then spray with a heat protectant and a homemade spray of tea tree oil and lavender oil in a spray bottle with water before drying and bringing out the GHD's. I finish with a thin layer of coconut oil on her scalp after straightening. She has a thick mass of curly hair and loves having easy to comb straight hair for a few days so it's win-win. If a letter goes out, she gets this treatment and we haven't found any since that one time.

As you have a boy, I would just cut his hair and keep it short until he's a little older and stops getting them.

ewww just typing all this is making my head itch!

[bigbuttons]

I always use listerine original now, it works. Doesn't kill the eggs so you need to repeat weekly for a couple of weeks. Strangely it is always my 12 year old dd who has them, none of my primary school age dcs

[MamaMimi]

DrankSangriaInThePark, you do have to smother your head in the Dr. Bronner's soap solution which will smother the lice, and wetting the hair will render them immobile but they aren't killed by being smothered/suffocated they are killed because the soap dissolves the lices' exoskeleton.

It just kills them physically, not with chemicals as such, therefore there is nothing for them to become immune to.

This soap solution works the same way on aphids, dust mites, ants and anything else with an exoskeleton.

If I hadn't discovered this method I would continue using our Bug Busting Kit and do the conditioner & combing routine with the combs from that. But you have to be so thorough with it and it is tricky to do on yourself. I have found an effective alternative that doesn't require the same amount of work and is easier to do on yourself and it is the method I will be using at anytime in the future should either of our dds bring lice home again!

[Kirky12]

www.amazon.co.uk/Nitty-Gritty-Head-Lice-Metal/dp/B001PML6Y6/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

I've just bought this for my DS2 who is three. Weirdly my older DS1 who is at school has never had them but they have very different hair type. Anyway I was away for the night and my mil took it upon herself to go and y some horrible chemical treatment so I can't vouch for it yet ( seething about this but that's another forum )

[rainbowshine1]

I could have cried last nigt, I do my daughters religously. Nitty gritty comb, tea tree shampoo / conditioner, tea tree leave in spray, headrin spary, headrin leave in for 4 hrs, lyclear, you name it, we've tried it, usually only get one or two runners, last night was INFESTED! I literally pulled a clump of the blighters out. So we combed and combed and combed some more and we sprayed and I read about hair straighteners to kill the eggs? So we straightened within an inch of its life......fingers crossed!

[wheresthelight]

Neem oil or tee tree is the best thing!! You can buy a spray in most pound shops or home bargains that you spray on and leave

But you have my sympathy as I spend hours treating my dsc's only for their mum to do FA and they come back to us riddles again