Headlice (merged)

looby75

jenniferpa wrote:

Well of course the obvious solution is to cut the child's head off - that will solve the problem. :rotfl:

I think that would solve most of the problems we have with kids LOL

It's sufficient to either heat the items in question or freeze them or seal them in a plastic bag for a couple of weeks.

yep like I said personally I think that the us system of headlice irradiation is well over the top.

Most evidence one hears about this problem is anectdotal - all I can say is when my children were small 1 letter a year regarding this issue was about as frequent as it got.

Its definitely got worse over the years IME. I have a little brother who is 13 yrs younger than me and he got at least a letter a week home from school about headlice. My daughter is 13 now and the worst year for her/her class was when she was 6/7 and some weeks we got up to 3 reminders to check for headlice. My son is 5 and just started school this last September. It's a constant problem in the infants...but the school isn't allowed to send letters home anymore which is making things even worse, the only time you get a "warning" now is if one of the other parents mentions it at the school gates Its no wonder you hear someone complaining about nits every single day :mad:

jellyhead

here's a link about the coconut nitlotion, i got it from my pharmacy but from what i remember the coconut oil was the only ingredient. maybe olive oil will work the same way. can't remember how long i left this coconut stuff on for either.

http://www.shantys.com/products/head-lice-comb/index.shtml#nitlotion

the combing afterwards was the worst part, it really hurts, and as has been said perhaps not all parents are doing that properly if the child is screaming.

ScrumpyJackRussell

I too got fed up with nits on my kid's hair - other parent's don't give a so as soon as they go to school nit free they catch some more straight away. I wish they'd exclude some of the nitty little ones at my son's school, you can actually see the nits jumping on some kids hair!! One mother was overheard saying she knew her daughter had nits, but as she had paid so much money for her daughter to have her hair braided she wouldn't be treating her!

I have found the only thing which works for us is the electronic nit comb - these aren't as harsh as the normal combs on the scalp, it emits a very satisfying buzz when it kills a nit and best of all, the kids can draw that through their own hair once a day without too much hassle. Mine do their hair every day with it, it only takes a couple of minutes as you do it with dry hair, and they have been nit free now for months.

You can get the combs from Argos for £15 ish http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0541837.htm or http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4404767.htm which is cheap compared to what they charge for the lotions!!

loopylass

my daughter is at middle school and she still gets them sometimes it was a lot worse when she was at primary school
I dont like putting chemicals in her hair so i comb her hair and get whats in there then i put loads of conditioner on her hair and leave it over night then i change sheets,duvet cover she has her own towel etc in the morning i shampoo her hair comb again and check every day until i know shes clear i have 5 metal nit combs(long story i had 2 then lost one then bought another found the one i had lost) i find them better than the plastic ones but what ever one you have its hard to get the eggs out
When she was at primary there was 1 girl that had them and every child knew she had and a lot of parents complained
I think if they have got nits the child should be kept off school until they are nit free
It really makes me cross when some parents dont check their childrens hair because if every parent done that then there wouldnt be such a big problem
I think they should bring back the nit nurse because there wasnt a big problem with nits when they had one and more information to parents are needed because some dont know how to treat them properly

loopylass

I was going to get one of those bug zappers but i was told they didnt work so i might get one now
can you tell me do you have to get the eggs out yourself or does that remove them to
My daughter hasnt got any at the moment but i still can see some eggs in her hair and ive tried pulling them out combing but they wont go so any advice to get rid of them would be great

looby75

loopylass wrote:

I was going to get one of those bug zappers but i was told they didnt work so i might get one now
can you tell me do you have to get the eggs out yourself or does that remove them to

The zapper combs do work, as long as you use them in a dry environment and at a time when your child doesn't have a sweaty head from running round etc. I found the best time to use mine was just after breakfast time, as I was doing my daughters hair for school.

I definitely think they are best used as a preventive measure more than a treatment for lice. I found that after using the zapper comb the eggs didn't hatch into head lice, but if you used it on a "infestation" it caught the lice and then had to be cleaned every other minute and was such a pain you gave up half way through and resorted to wet combing anyway!

loopylass

Thanks for that info i think i might get one because it sounds easier to use that each day as a prevention because its such a pain when i notice my daughter has 1 but i still cover with conditioner etc because otherwise your back to square one
Thanks again

ScrumpyJackRussell

according to the instructions on the zapper comb, if there is an infestation you have to comb the hair for ten days. It does not kill eggs, just live lice, but if you are doing it every day you are killing the newly hatched lice before they can lay eggs, they take about a week to hatch from eggs. Since getting my kids to run this through their hair once a day they haven't had an infestation.

I was getting really fed up with nits, even my son who's hair is a grade 3 cut was coming home full of them. Also I have long hair, and I find the zapper comb easier to use on my hair than the wet comb method, I brush it through first then use the zapper comb. Nits never seem to go in my hair though, must be all the products!

4Chickens

Thank you for all you support and advice.

I was thinking last night that it might be a good idea for ALL SCHOOLS to send a letter home one week before the kids break up for the holiday warning parents that there childrens hair will be inspected on their return to school and if they are found with lice then they will be sent home immediately. I know this sounds harsh given that my cousin's son has just been excluded. Surely it would be less dramatic than exlusion without warning and hopefully stop the next infestation before it starts. It would also expose those parents that just don't bother at all. If all parents of school age children spent the Easter holiday getting them nit free it would be fantastic.

bylromarha

cindiedunkley wrote:

I was thinking last night that it might be a good idea for ALL SCHOOLS to send a letter home one week before the kids break up for the holiday warning parents that there childrens hair will be inspected on their return to school and if they are found with lice then they will be sent home immediately..

but who's going to inspect the heads? the last nit nurse I saw was when I was a kid. The nurse allocated to our school only really comes in to do weight/height/eye/ear checks on reception and give talk healthy talks to the rest of the school once a year

You will never get rid of nits unfortunately and doing something like this will only serve to further alienate the children who don't receive the care at home they should be getting.