HELP ME!!! I think I found nits on DD.

[ntburns22]

So I am getting my DD6 ready to go out side. I part her hair down the middle to pic it out and I see a nit and then another. SO I flip her hair and and find 2 more around her neck. I went through her hair for about 20 minutes I never found any lice. I have no clue where to start with her, my house, anyone have any advice. I am so upset about this I am shaking. Will she be able to go to Easter dinner tomorrow night with her cousins? Back to school on monday?

 

[clarabelle]

Try this:
article about lice

 

[daisyduck123]

I can't give you any advice about nits/lice, sorry, except to tell you that the school nurse can check her on Monday & let you know if she can go to class.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Did she have lice before? Unless she did, I don't think you can have nits and no lice. Are you sure it isn't dandruff or dried hair product?

 

[amid chaos]

If you can flick them off, they aren't nits. I hope not.

 

[ntburns22]

Did she have lice before? Unless she did, I don't think you can have nits and no lice. Are you sure it isn't dandruff or dried hair product?

We have never had lice before. WE do use a lot of products in her hair since it is long and curly. I have never seen anything like this before on her. What I found in brownish in color and about 1/2 -1 inch away from her scalp. I couldn't pulled it off like I can with hairspray. I just ended up plucking her hairs out. This is all new to me. I hope I am wrong. But from the pictures I found online I don't think I am.

 

[LittleRydia]

I would suggest looking around her ears also, since they tend to go to areas of "heat"

coming from someone who has had it, family and friends i live in a place were if one person has it.. we all did.

If you found just a few, and nothing eles. it could only be just one and you caught it early. I suggest getting some lice stuff and using ASAP. wash her bedding, clean any furntiure she has sat on etc. she should be okay to go tomorrow, just clean and everything tonight and cheak her before the easte party. Also have someone in the family to cheak your hair, to make sure one of you didnt pick it up somewere.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

We have never had lice before. WE do use a lot of products in her hair since it is long and curly. I have never seen anything like this before on her. What I found in brownish in color and about 1/2 -1 inch away from her scalp. I couldn't pulled it off like I can with hairspray. I just ended up plucking her hairs out. This is all new to me. I hope I am wrong. But from the pictures I found online I don't think I am.

Nits are very tiny, and firm. They have to be slid off the hair strand with your fingers or very fine tooth comb. If you believe these are nits, then keep looking for the lice because they have to be there. Common spots are around the ears and the nape of the neck. If her hair is long and curly then you might have to look harder. You can buy lice remover like RID at the drugstore, get at least two bottles. My dd had lice in kindergarten, and she also had long hair. Killed the bugs the first shampoo, but getting all the nits out took forever. A blacklight helps light up all the nits, making them much easier to find. Good luck!

 

[ntburns22]

Thanks everyone I am off to the drugstore. I will update later.

 

[mojophone]

My daughter had them. She had extremely tight curly hair and to top it off she is a blonde. We combed and combed and combed for what seemed like days with one of the fine tooth combs. We finally got so that we were so frustrated that I broke down cried but shaved her goldenlocks, That got rid of them for good.

 

[asta]

It sounds like nits to me. One of my daughters had head lice before and we saw the nits before we saw the lice itself. The lice move very fast and you probably just haven't spotted one yet. I know this is very upsetting but think of it is just one of those things. It is not a sign of being unclean. My child washes her hair every night and still developed a tough case of head lice. (We think she might have caught them from the back seat cushions of the local movie theater.)

My advice is to use a lice shampoo like RID but more importantly use a fine tooth comb to pick the nits out one by one. Make sure that you seal them in plastic bag as you remove them. My daughter has very thick, long hair and I think the RID only slowed the lice down so that I could pick them out. We shampooed twice with the RID but still saw one or two more lice in her hair. Every night for two-three weeks after her shampoo (don't use the RID for the daily shampoos) I would go through her hair in very small sections and pick out any nits that I could find. After the first couple of nights I only found a few but I think it took this long to totally get rid of the things. This process almost drove me crazy but I think its necessary.

Also, don't forget to seal her stuffed animals and other things that you can't wash in plastic for a week or so.

 

[PixieDust32]

It sounds like nits to me. One of my daughters had head lice before and we saw the nits before we saw the lice itself. The lice move very fast and you probably just haven't spotted one yet. I know this is very upsetting but think of it is just one of those things. It is not a sign of being unclean. My child washes her hair every night and still developed a tough case of head lice. (We think she might have caught them from the back seat cushions of the local movie theater.)

My advice is to use a lice shampoo like RID but more importantly use a fine tooth comb to pick the nits out one by one. Make sure that you seal them in plastic bag as you remove them. My daughter has very thick, long hair and I think the RID only slowed the lice down so that I could pick them out. We shampooed twice with the RID but still saw one or two more lice in her hair. Every night for two-three weeks after her shampoo (don't use the RID for the daily shampoos) I would go through her hair in very small sections and pick out any nits that I could find. After the first couple of nights I only found a few but I think it took this long to totally get rid of the things. This process almost drove me crazy but I think its necessary.

Also, don't forget to seal her stuffed animals and other things that you can't wash in plastic for a week or so.

Same thing here, my poor DD had lice and it was a nightmare, it takes time and it drove me crazy too. Good luck.

 

[SueM in MN]

The lice move very fast and you probably just haven't spotted one yet.

I agree with you.
I've checked hundreds of heads for head lice during the time I was a Public Health Nurse and a school nurse. There were quite a few kids I saw who had definite nits in their hair where we never did spot any lice (we even would take a hair out and put it under a microscope to prove to the parents that it was lice - we had too many who called their doctor and were told it wasn't head lice if they only saw nits).

Anyway, this website, headlice.org is a very good resource. It has good factual information and very good pictures. They do have a stance about trying to limit pesticides (which are what head lice shampoos are), but if you know that ahead of time, their information is very good.

 

[Evil Queen]

I agree with if one person has them, the chance is good other family members might too. My son even gave me them to me, I think because we have a large sectional couch and we like to lay there and watch movies, we share a pillow.

I actually found one on me before I knew he had them. I did the RID treatment, and it didn't do us much good, plus, I didn't like the idea of putting it on my kid. I took olive oil, and while this doesn't kill them, it does slow them down enough to get them, and makes removal much easier. But quite messy. And would blow dry my hair, the seem to help kill them.

I did miss one on him, because the nurse called me from school, they found one on him.

 

[Ready to go in Ok]

Sorry to say that I am very experienced with head lice. I used to work in foster care, and unfortunately it seemed every kid we had in care had chronic head lice. I can spot head lice from a distance......I see people with it all of the time in line a Wal Mart. My only advice not already offered is to put all stuffed animals in a garbage bag, and store them for 2 weeks. Also you have to, have to, have to get all nits, or they will hatch and the process will start all over. Both of my girls got lice from some of my foster kids, and we battled them for a couple of months before it was over. You can also get a product called Clear that helps loosed the glue that the nit uses to attach to the hair strand.

 

[beavismom]

I was really freaked out when I read the warnings on the lice shampoo and what I saw on the internet when DD had them (got them on a cruise). I decided not to use the shampoo and instead coated her hair with a thick conditioner to slow them down and make combing easier. Then we combed out every night for 2 weeks and washed bedding every day. I tried to avoid chemicals wherever I could, so I let the car sit out in the sun to kill any there and had DD wear a disposable shower cap when she sat on furniture and also vacuumed her room every day. It took a couple of weeks to declare her totally clear, but we didn't really see anything new after about 4 or 5 days. We were lucky that it was summer so we didn't have to deal with school.

I hope this helps. Lice are awful, but at least they aren't deadly or anything.

 

[kimmikayb]

Count me in on one who has battled lice with my kids. You got great advice...only thing I'd like to add is once you've treated add some tea treee oil to your regular shampoo and use it everyday. It helps to repel the lice. Have everyone use it.

 

[ntburns22]

Thanks again for all the tips. I did use RID on her hair. It took just over an hour to comb it all out. I have torn apart her bedroom and ours. SInce it is spring break she has been crawling in bed with us every morning to cuddle. DH and DS are clear and DH is going to check me when we have a couple hours tonight. I have extremely thick hair. I just wanted to read any other tips before I started a new project. Thanks again.

 

[we3disneygo]

we bought a little thing at walmart it was 25.00 and called a robocomb, If i recalled the name right. it makes a beep sound when it comes in contact with the lice and you clean out the comb and start again, we did this every day when she came home from school.........good luck....

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

I dont know if this it true but a daycare director told me that she dyes her hair and that gets rid of them. This is better than having to shave off the hair. I've thankfully havent needed to test this out. Good luck!!