Headlice (merged)

leiela

yes it sucks !!

I was also told that teachers arn't allowed to quietly take parents aside and speak to them if they notice a child has nits/lice, nor are they in anyway allowed to insist that children get treated.

the best my school seem willing to do is to send out a "general letter" about nits to ALL the parents

It makes me so mad i spent years paying a fortune for treatments for my children having to go though the bother and hassle of de-licing them (it was almost a weekly event at one point) just because some kids have lice in my childrens class that arn't getting treated and the teachers are powerless to do anything about it.

It actually got that bad at one point i threatened to remove my kids from the school i was just so sick of it... i live in a poorer area thats true but you can get lotion etc off the NHS free for kids so why do some parents just not care there is no excuse for leaving a child that way for a prolonged period of time.

everyone is so worried about hurting each others feelings it's stupid... im not asking for the child to be paraded around with a "i have lice" banner or for the parents to be pulled up in front of the whole school, but they should be made to deal with the problem if they seems unwilling/unable to deal with it on thier own.

mrscole_2

My daughter had them over a year ago-I treated them-then I every time i wash her hair i use https://www.lush.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=373&category_id=487&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=80 to shampoo and every week i use a cheap tea tree conditioner to comb through her hair with a nit comb. And every day before school I spray her hair with https://www.lush.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=118&category_id=550&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=80

She hasnt had headlice again since doing this and there have been outbreaks all the time at school. The lush stuff is fairly pricey but they have lasted me about a year so I think they were worth it!

provista_2

The 1st time my DD had them she had only been in school a few weeks and had very blonde, very long curly hair and I noticed them while getting ready to go to friends christening:eek: .
Over the years we have tried everything, Robi combs, chemicals, wet combing every day and the best thing by far was the nitty gritt comb. It gets the eggs and everything. Best £10 I ever spent.
DD 1 is now at college and DD 2 is in y9 so don't have the same problems now but they are both young leaders at local Brownie packs so I still check every once in a while, but at 17 & 14 it does not always go down well.:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

tattoed_bum

oh please dont shave of your little boy's hair he is so gorgeous .
again i agree with the nitty gritty comb my son who's hair is short short has had nit's so shaving your sons of what really help .
i use the comb and i also use the hedrin lotion ,
it does just seem to be a complete epidemic of nits going around ,
my sis is never ending in doing her kids hairs

galvanizersbaby

leiela wrote: »

yes it sucks !!

I was also told that teachers arn't allowed to quietly take parents aside and speak to them if they notice a child has nits/lice, nor are they in anyway allowed to insist that children get treated.

the best my school seem willing to do is to send out a "general letter" about nits to ALL the parents

It makes me so mad i spent years paying a fortune for treatments for my children having to go though the bother and hassle of de-licing them (it was almost a weekly event at one point) just because some kids have lice in my childrens class that arn't getting treated and the teachers are powerless to do anything about it.

It actually got that bad at one point i threatened to remove my kids from the school i was just so sick of it... i live in a poorer area thats true but you can get lotion etc off the NHS free for kids so why do some parents just not care there is no excuse for leaving a child that way for a prolonged period of time.

everyone is so worried about hurting each others feelings it's stupid... im not asking for the child to be paraded around with a "i have lice" banner or for the parents to be pulled up in front of the whole school, but they should be made to deal with the problem if they seems unwilling/unable to deal with it on thier own.

I agree with you Leiela, it's the same situ at my children's school and it's unfortunate that some parents just don't care enough to check/treat their childrens hair for lice

OP - I would echo what the other posters have said about the conditioner and the nitty gritty comb - I periodically go through my 2 childrens hair every 2 weeks just to be sure.

If you've had the girls hair cut is it still long enough to plait?
My daughter has long hair but never goes to school without her hair plaited as the looser the hair is worn (whether bobbed or long) the more likely the child to make contact with anothers head/hair!

loobylou2

leiela wrote: »

yes it sucks !!

I was also told that teachers arn't allowed to quietly take parents aside and speak to them if they notice a child has nits/lice, nor are they in anyway allowed to insist that children get treated.

the best my school seem willing to do is to send out a "general letter" about nits to ALL the parents



I really sympathise with the OP because Nits are a real problem in our family. My son has never had them but my 2 daughters have and I must have used just about every product on the market and spent a small fortune in trying to get rid of them!!!

I check their hair every other day now using a Nitty Gritty comb which really seems to help but having said that My elder daughters teacher did actually ring me a couple of years ago to tell me that she'd spotted lice in my daughters hair and I've also had calls from my younger daughters nursery to tell me that they've spotted the little creepers as well!!!. I was pleased that they'd had the decency to let me know so that I could do something about it but also couldn't help but wonder at the time if they were singling me out as I'm sure I'm not the only parent in school/nursery whose childs has lice/nits. Also I couldn't help wondering how other parents would react if school phoned them, because normally they just send letters out. As I've said I now check both daughters and myself regularly but I'm sure some parents do not because when I didn't check DD1's hair for a week, I found she was crawling with the little creepers and she must have picked them up from somewhere!!! Problem is it only takes one person to be not bothered and not check and you can end up with a class infested with them!!!

nzmegs

Sometimes I feel like one of "those" parents as my kids seem to have them all the time. I think the majority of parent will do whateer they can to rid their children of nits. There still seems to be some sort of stigma attached to what is a normal if annoying part of being in a school environment.

If a child is embarrassed and the the school feels like they can't expose the problem then the parents just may not realise. My kids simply didn't tell me they had them the first time and i never thought to check until they had already taken hold and laid eggs. this can only take two weeks, then you have a real job keeping on top of it.

My kids are old enough to wash their own hair and so the opportunity to check just didn't come up as often as it might with younger children.

Don't make the parents out to be poor parents because of this as it really isn't always the case.
Loobylou - if your child was crawling with them after just one week then why is ok for your child but not for others. Ohter parents probably left their checking for only a week too.

Smiley_Mum

I agree that a Nitty Gritty comb is a good bet. Boots sell them but you can get a letter from the Nitty Gritty website here...

http://www.nittygritty.co.uk/site/howtogetaprescription.asp

You will be able to print off the info and get a script from your doctor for the children, it will be free for under 16s also.

I get tea tree oil shampoo from Tesco and top up with a good few drops of neat tee tree oil from Holland and barrett etc. Use cheap conditioner and slather it on and comb through hair, all directions until all the nits are out, then rinse and repeat. Then wash through with tea tree oil shampoo. I also buy the coconut and almond leave in conditioner spray from Boots, currentlyh on offer at 84p for 150mls and spray my kids with it before they go to school and it seems to do the trick. I comb through their hair every other day. They get used to it and they are relatively nit free. Any stubborn headlice which you can't quite get, well I make a weak solution of Dettol (Lavender and Orange version) and pour it through the kids hair, haven't had to do it often but the lice certainly don't like it. Good Luck!

Saw something on the box the other night too, grown your own drugs or something, the guy was making up a solution for getting rid of nits too. See here for info...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/growyourowndrugs/episode3.shtml

loobylou2

Don't make the parents out to be poor parents because of this as it really isn't always the case.
Loobylou - if your child was crawling with them after just one week then why is ok for your child but not for others. Ohter parents probably left their checking for only a week too.[/quote]


I'm not going to apologise because I think you've misinterpreted what I was actually saying. What I mean't was that when you repeatedly receive letters from a school and continually check your childs hair for head lice in the hope of eradicating the problem and it continually reoccurs it does make you wonder about why it is happening!!! I don't think its a case of poor parenting, just ignorance mainly however the fact remains that some parents really couldn't care less about their kids and that this in itself could be part of the problem. If people are made aware that there is a problem and then don't do anything about it then the problem is not going to be solved and children like my daughter who does have her head checked regularly will continue to come home with lice and nits etc. I was horrified when I checked her hair after a week and found that she'd got them again and as far as I'm concerned it certainly is NOT OK!!! For what its worth whenever I have found lice in my childrens hair I've also spoken to the mums of the children I know they've been playing with to let them know I've found lice but then its up to them if they do something about it. You can't force people to treat their childrens hair although personally I think its pretty selfish and inconsiderate not to do so once you know that there is a problem.

Kaz2904

I take it in turns with another Mum to taker our DD's swimming. 4 weeks ago I brushed DD's hair and found a nit. So I couldn't brush the other childs hair.
2 weeks ago I did her friends hair and found some eggs.
I told her Mum who was horrified so we both had a look through her hair because she said she'd checked them 2 days before. She asked me to show her them because she couldn't see any running around. We both found just a couple of eggs. She went and bought the nitty gritty on my advice and said at school the next day that she's not found many. I said the trouble is I'm always looking! So she got away with only a tiny amount rather than an infestation. I don't think any of us at the school use chemicals anymore we all just nitty gritty them at least once a week- more if any are found.
And I hate nits! I've had them more since DD has been at school than I ever did when I was at school.