5 Yr Old Little Girl Keeps Getting Lice Back

Oh how miserable! Are you using a lice prevention shampoo as well? One with tea tree oil that you can use every day like "Lice Shield"?

Here's an excellent article from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It's long, but it is worth reading. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/110/3/638.f...

Of note:
1) Depending upon what type of lice shampoo you use (Nix being the most recommended type), you should re-treat 7-10 days after you first treat it. Nix is derived from Chrysanthemums, so it is actually botanically derived - yet extremely effective.
2) Lice can survive 24-48 hours when they are not on a human head, however you can simply vacuum them up, and in the case of bedding, wash it in hot water. Or, bag it up and let it sit for 2 weeks (this will ensure any nits also die).
3) Manual removal of nits is actually completely unnecessary, as long as you follow up with a second shampoo treatment at the correct date.

Did you know that most kids have lice for a full MONTH before they are diagnosed? Another paper published by the AAP showed that even if you sleep on the same pillow as a person with an active head lice infestation, you have only a 4% chance of getting head lice. So it is actually not that easy to get. Some kids are more prone to it than others, though. Your child is one of the lucky ones. ;)

Happy shampooing...

The thing is you need to get her in the shower every evening. Wash her hair very well then condition it. Comb out all the tangles while the conditioner is in her hair. Rinse it out. Put the towel on her head but only blot it lightly.

Get a good strong light. I use head gear magnifiers from Hobby Lobby and then I section off her very wet hair. I go through each section and check right around the root area for living bugs and along the hair shafts for nits. White ones are empty eggs and the ones with the black centers are the ones with baby'd inside.

I keep a cup or bowl of water by my side. I use my fingernails to slid the nit down the hair shaft and drop it in the bowl of water. I also can see the living bugs easily because I am used to looking for them. It seems to me to almost look like a shadow in the hair. I find them really easily now.

It takes practice and checking her head each night will help you to learn to do it quickly and how to keep her hair very wet while you are going through the other parts. The water stuns the bug and makes them move much slower. It is very easy to catch them and put them in the water.

If the bugs are continuously large full grown ones then she is picking them up from an item in the home that is infested. If she is showing only baby's most nights then it is the eggs hatching.

Checking her wet hair every night for a couple of weeks should take care of the issue.

They can live on the blood on the end of a hair follicle for a couple of weeks by the way.

I always referred my parents to headlice.org for good information.

I also told my parents to get a normal spray bottle and put water in it. Then add a few drops of Tea Tree oil to the water and use that each morning when styling their hair for school. It will repel any bugs and will keep them from getting them again.

Lice like clean people. They cannot live in dirty hair or on dirty bodies. They need to have clean hair or they can't lay their eggs on the hair shaft. If the person is pretty dirty they won't have lice, ever. If a child is clean they are much more likely to get infested since they can only lay their eggs on a clean body.

Once you get a handle on it - use some mousse or hairspray in her hair each day. Lice LOVE clean hair! The mousse or hairspray will help keep them away.
We also had a problem with it in the Spring - we tried the whole natural route and really found that only the nix worked the best. Also we used one of the metal lice combs to get eggs and nits out every day. It was a REAL pain so I do understand what you are going through. We found the key was to treat, comb everyday, and treat again in 7 - 10 days.
Best of Luck!

My thought is your daughter is coming in contact w/ something or someone that has lice...bedding, stuffed animal, car seat, clothing/jacket, hat, a person or pet. Talk to the school nurse or the doctor and they can advice you.

Ask whose hat or clothing she's sharing.

Oh my gosh I feel your pain! I'm so sorry you're all going thru this! We washed EVERYTHING - stuffed animals, clothes, blankets, pillows, etc. THEN we put the plastic covers on the bed and pillows so if they tried to burrow in (like bedbugs) they couldn't. And yes, the six-hour thing is definitely a myth!!!

Do you have any pets? Check them if you do!

My guess is someone at school still has them and hasn't reported it so no one is taking precautions. You might want to talk to the teacher.

Good luck!!!

When you washed with the shampoo did you go through her hair with the nit comb daily for the next week? It's best to do in direct sunlight so you can see them. Did you do a second wash a week later? Has she been playing with any friends? Little girls often have their heads close together when they play, so if she is playing with someone with lice, they will share.

Treat her.
Treat the family members. EVERYONE in the family has to be treated. AND checked, EVERYDAY.
Get rid of or wash everything, including the car seats etc.
Treat her again and check EVERY day, for nits/eggs.
2 weeks is a cycle. And it starts up again, from what my friend told me.
And it can keep recurring, unless you check her EVERY day and spray repellants, and treat her again in 2 weeks. Or so.
There are natural lice products, from Whole Foods etc. That is what my friend used for her kids, w ho were infected with it.
Treating her only once, is not enough.

Throw away, ALL hair combs/brushes too.

My daughter had lice for almost 2 months!

We had to sit on the bed with direct sunlight as the nits were easier to see that way ( or outside) and go piece by piece of her hair daily for a week. Finally got rid of the lice.

We used every lice shampoo out there.. including a perscription, threw everything in the dryer ( toys included) daily to make sure they were getting off. We used all of the lice furniture removal spray daily ( then left the house because of the smell). It was ALOT of work, but finally paid off.

I feel for you, it was so hard to get my 2yr old (at the time) to sit for an hour while I went through her long hair every day...

Try a different shampoo? Apparently some of the lice are becoming resistant to the medication.

I feel your pain! A few years ago, my daughters had it too. I washed everything (bedding) every morning for weeks! I found a great product called quit nits. http://www.quitnits.com/ I found it only at CVS. (Although recently found it at Walgreens too.) It is a natural product. It got rid of everything! The best part about it was the spray! You spray a conditioning spray on their hair every day, and it keep the lice away! I use it mostly around the ears and the back of the head, as that seems to be a favorite spot for lice. They have never had it since! Even when an out break at school happened, my girls stayed clean! I can't say enough how much I like this product!
There is a similar one called Fairy Tales. They make a shampoo and conditioner as well as a spry, but 1. it's more expensive, and 2. I didn't like it nearly as much. It dried out my girls hair, and didn't smell great! Also it was only available on line. I also didn't use it long enough to say how well it works.
Don't forget your hair bushes, pony holders, barrettes, etc... I put all that in a ziplock bag and into the freezer for 48 hours. Wash combs and brushes in HOT water w/a little bleach. Everything else that can be washed, in hot water and dried on high. Or stored in bags outside or in basement, etc for 2 weeks. Good luck! I hope it works for you! :)
Oh yeah,the quit nits also gets the nits! I didn't have too many to pick out. But I checked EVERYDAY to be sure. They can not move when wet, so check while hair is wet. I also heard keeping hair in a pony tale or up is better, and to use hair spray every day. They say lice like clean hair, but my girls got it from a little girl who was not well cared for, as in not bathed often! So I don't know about that one!

I feel your pain!
We used nix 7 days apart, and cetaphil 7 days apart for 3 sessions. It helps smother them apparently, plus doesn't have too many chemicals.
Other than that, do what everyone else has said - wash things, put things in the freezer, vacuum, and check, check, check the hair frequently.
Also, preschool teachers swear by using hairspray, gel, leave-in-conditioner, etc every day before going to school or camp

You need to repeat the hair trteatment 10 days later and keep all stuffed animals bagged up for 2 weeks. I washed pillows and blankets every other day for the 2 weeks and vaccumed everyday. Also during the 10 days I would use the lice comb and check hair. Good luck. When we had it one of my daughters had it and I thought it was gone and then the next month my other daughter had it. Also 2 of the kids out of 4 had it. I went crazy and bleached everything, had no couch cushions for the 2 weeks, kids had no toys but plastic ones. Everything was bagged and in attic or washed almost daily. I also ended up buying lice logic that was expensive but I didnt want to keep putting the chemicals on my kids heads and I did an olive oil treatment also. So I did chemicals, then next day olive oil(keep on for a couple hrs and it smothers lice) then chemical at the 10 day mark and then lice logic at another 10 day mark. (the second time we had the lice cause I obviously didnt get it all the first time) Lice is a real pain and it is everywhere.