what am I supposed to do with nits?

amother

Mon, Sep 20 2010, 3:54 pm

my dd had lice over RH, I cleaned out her hair very well with shampoo and combed it out. washed all the linen, etc.
after doing all that I found more eggs left behind from the really good comb. so a few days later I combed her out again under a really strong light and took out the nits with my fingernails.
after that the school still found more nits, so after waiting the required 7 days from the first shampoo I shampooed her again to kill any newborn lice. the school tells me every single day, she still has nits, you gotta take them out before she can come back. every day I check her hair, and send her back.
I am ready to give up.
what can I possibly do more that I havent already done?
is there any real point in continuing to pick for nits, when guaranteed there will be more left behind?
shouldnt I just wait for them to hatch and then kill them?

how do know that the nits left behind arent ever going to hatch b/c they've been killed by the shampoo?
so whats the point in making myself crazy? its been more than 7 days, the nits would have hatched by now, and havnt.
I'll continue checking but really what am I suppoesd to do now?
I'll never get out every single nit. its simply impossible. if I havent been able to get them out with the comb or with using a strong light and picking strand by strand and I still managed to miss some, how can I possibly do better than that?

I am so frustrated.
please advise.

Tamiri

Mon, Sep 20 2010, 3:57 pm

Shmear mayonnaise on her head and cover in saran wrap to smother anything live. Afterwards, you will still have to remove all the nits. Or, make Aliya where no one cares if there's a menagerie that's taken up residence in your child's head. It may be worth it for your sanity.

PinkFridge

Mon, Sep 20 2010, 3:59 pm

How thoroughly do you check her hair?
AFAIK, daily combing and really thorough checking is imperative. You may want to use something like Pantene which will help things comb out.
You may also want to find other lice killers than the drugstore stuff. They can be as effective and used more often, in between, etc.
Is there any lice expert in your community, someone your school can refer you to who can make sure you're doing everything the best it can be done?

Last word: Hatzlacha! This is minor compared to some of the heavy stuff people go through but it is tremendously, tremendously stressful. I can't tell you how many people have told me that they felt depression and despair similar to really bad times in their lives. I don't mean to be melodramatic, just to tell you that you shouldn't beat yourself up for letting it get to you when "it's the easiest kaparah" and so many other bromides. Just do your best to pick yourself up and move on.

SplitPea

Mon, Sep 20 2010, 4:07 pm

as a "professional nit picker" I can say it IS 100% possible to comb them all out. I comb out kids hair using NO chemicals and NO poisons and guarentee my work. you need a good comb good technique and LOTS and LOTS of time (a first comb out of someone with shoulder length thick hair can take up to 3 hours!!!!! you also need to comb EVERY SINGLE DAY it takes 3 days for nits to become big enough to be taken out by the comb so THAT might be why they are "coming back" you must comb out every single day for a week.

If you are in the NY area and need specific help feel free to PM me.

Aidelmom

Mon, Sep 20 2010, 4:40 pm

I find that what works the best is picking out each individual nit by hand. do it every other day until you stop finding them. waiting a week is no good. you can also put lots of pantene conditioner on the hair so the bugs don't move so you can get them out easily. of course you don't stop combing every other day as well. do not rely on the shampoo to kill anything. with experience you will probably spot the nits more easily. ahh the thrill of the hunt. Also - is there an infested kid in the school who she can catch it from again and again?

you cannot expect a little kid to sit still for three hours. I used to pick out dd's head when she was sleeping. truth is she was only 2 but still I think that slow and steady wins the race. just keep at it. hatzlacha!

lech lecha08

Tue, Sep 21 2010, 2:59 am

DD had a bad breakout while I was in the hospital postpartum.
Every afternoon, I wet her hair and put in conditioner, sat her in front of a video and combed. Each day I found less nits and yes, I was washing her linens and the towels I used around for her shoulders every day.
After about 5 days, I stopped finding any nits/baby lice.