Head lice :(

[AngelofTroy]

My nearly 4 year old has head lice. I only noticed when I started itching myself and found about 5 lice when wet combing my hair.. So I pinned DS down and he was riddled! Apparently he didn't have any itching at all so we had no idea.

Anyway I've bought Hedrin treatment which is safe for me as a breastfeeding mum and for my son.. But not for anyone under 6 months.

I'm so worried my 3 month old (who has tons of hair!) will have it too as they're always cuddling. I haven't found any in her hair yet but ia there anything I can do?

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Get a comb for him xx

 

[LoraLoo]

Just comb hun, condition and comb comb comb... You need to do it every day for a week in case any eggs hatch x

 

[noon_child]

Yep like the others said wet combing is the most effective. Every other day while lice are found, then weekly until you have had 2weeks of no lice found. Once you find a louse you must go back to every other day and repeat the process.

I also bought the Nitty Gritty comb as (although expensive) it removes a large percentage of the eggs too, so cuts down on the number of repeats needed.

 

[lau86]

Are they easy to see? The recommendations from school are to do a check every week but I don't know what I'm looking for. I've got the nitty gritty and just go over their hair but I just spend a few minutes it's not like I inspect every tiny bit of scalp?

 

[AngelofTroy]

They're not easy to see at all! I quickly checked DS's hair when it was dry and found nothing, but with conditioner in the bath there were loads. Yuck.

 

[jodilee6]

Ahh the joy of kids!

As above can't beat the nitty gritty - well worth it as an investment! Also comb & treat everyone you can and also wash towels/bedding

How about tea tree spray/shampoo for the baby - it's good at keeping nits at bay and is fine to use

 

[Boo44]

I'm also wondering what they look like? How did you know you had found lice when you wet combed? What did they look like in the bath on Micah's hair? I hope you don't mind giving details, they are ALWAYS around Jack's school and I don't think I know what I'm looking for x

 

[AngelofTroy]

They look like little bugs! I don't think you could mistake them, I remember peering over fluff in the past wondering if it was a louse, but they were quite obvious once combed out (very hard to spot in the hair though). I don't mind at all, just had to do OH's hair for him, ice spent a whole day dealing with the little buggers!

 

[Boo44]

Oh no! Poor you. I'm going to invest in a comb and start checking the boys weekly. Some good tips from this thread thanks xx

 

[noon_child]

Are they easy to see? The recommendations from school are to do a check every week but I don't know what I'm looking for. I've got the nitty gritty and just go over their hair but I just spend a few minutes it's not like I inspect every tiny bit of scalp?

I'm also wondering what they look like? How did you know you had found lice when you wet combed? What did they look like in the bath on Micah's hair? I hope you don't mind giving details, they are ALWAYS around Jack's school and I don't think I know what I'm looking for x

I think a grown adult louse is easy to see in fine hair - like a baby's - as they are about 2-3mm long and have the classic louse shape which is quite wide at the front with legs sticking out sideways to grab the hair (imagine a scorpion without a tail and its that kind of shape). Newly hatched small ones are tougher to see and in thick hair they are all hard to spot as they move very quickly while you are looking and hide easily doing this. Eggs are really tough to spot too as "live" ones are brownish and only go white once the louse has hatched.

I think it takes about 15minutes to do my daughters head (she has quite fine hair)when wet combing as you have to take fairly small sections at a time, work methodically, and wipe the comb out after each pass to guarantee catching what is there.