To think schools should take nits more seriously?

Another point is that they whole family needs to be treated (with comb and conditioner method) - parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles if they are in close contact. Back in the days when we did have the termly visit from the nurse one told me it was often grandparents who were giving the headlice back to children who had been treated. It's a community problem.

Stop using expensive chemical treatments that don't work. Instead, use conditioner and nit comb every bath time which will remove the eggs so they don't hatch out and you break the cycle. Tie DDs hair back in a tightish plait/ponytail for school and use a few drops of teatree oil on the brush when you brush her hair. I had the same when my 5 were at primary school but thankfully stopped once they got to secondary!

https://www.coltonmill-thegrange.nhs.uk/pharmacy-first---minor-ailment-scheme

It's an independent school and we aren't in the UK. There isn't that weird obsession with attendance, either.

Liice treatment is completely free for children under care at the chemist. Nobody needs to pay. Listerine the one with alcohol is much Fillmore effective though. Leave for 90 mins under a shower cap and ash of and use a nitty gritty comb with conditioner to get the eggs out. Repeat in 7 days.

I just view it as a background constant. They all have the nit comb + conditioner once a week because basically they're always going to get reinfected, I might as well just make it routine.

Crap like this is why teachers are leaving the profession. They are there to provide an education but are doing more and more parenting. I know I would rather my child’s teachers focus on planning interesting lessons than deal with nit problems.
Be angry by all means, but your frustrations should be with the lazy ass parents who don’t treat their children’s lice.

You don’t need expensive stuff.

I’ve used conditioner and a comb in the past and just gone through my daughter’s hair until all is gone, it’s taken hours. 😏

It’s not schools problem, it’s the parents that allow their kids to walk around with head lice. My daughter has caught nits 4 times, each time I’ve got rid within a day. She’s now 11 at high school.

We don’t have enough teachers or teaching assistants. I think a nit nurse is pretty low down in the priorities.

But if they have a parent who for whatever reason can’t or won’t treat how does excluding them from school help them?

I agree with you. We should be allowed to send children home if they have persistent nits for the benefit of everyone, especially the poor child that needs to be treated properly.

It’s the parents who should take it more seriously.

I work with children as a nurse and we have some regular patients who always have nits at every admission, which we have to treat. Every time.

Just found an interesting guidance letter from Norfolk council to schools:

Do not exclude a child from school because of head lice infection. The Education Act 1996 provides for the examination and exclusion of children by a medical officer duly appointed by the LEA. This provision is a direct cut and paste from the Education Act 1944 Act. However, no such officer exists today. In any event exclusion is an illogical approach as:

· It cannot eliminate the infection

· It is an overreaction to a problem which is not a public health threat

· It is not used for other conditions with low transmissibility such as verrucae and herpes simplex.

Do not agree with angry parents that routine head inspections should be reintroduced. They were never effective.

That would just make vulnerable children who need the safety of school even more vulnerable if they are not allowed in school because of their parents neglect.

At DS's school, kids with nits get send home immediately for treatment (at least 24 hours at home).

I'm surprised they get away with that. Even the NHS website says you don't need to keep a child off school with nits.

The same website also just recommends the wet comb method.

Sorry what? It’s your own kids hair 😂

I think the school nurses have far bigger issues to be dealing with tbh! The school is just the conduit the same as brownies, nursery, soft play, gymnastic clubs!! anywhere where kids congregate - apart from telling parents what to do I don’t think the school remit goes further than that.

My daughter has been sent home with headlice twice since Christmas, once there wasn't active lice just some eggs (apparently- couldn't find them). I'd already treated her that week so I was pretty enraged that time. I'm in Scotland where the shampoo is subsidised so maybe you should move here.

Or if you're a two parent working household, maybe you shouldn't as I can assure you treating your child every week for head lice is easier than juggling a busy job when you're kid is sent home all the time because the lady at the front desk saw one white spot. Between the coughs and the lice and the odd occasion where she's actually feeling unwell, the last 3 months have been a nightmare

Another vote for Vosene kids tea tree shampoo to keep them away

At DS's school, kids with nits get send home immediately for treatment (at least 24 hours at home). Parents have to come and pick them up and they are not to return until they have been treated. The rest of the class get an email home to inform parents and tell them to check/treat their kids as well. All of the class have to bring in a signed form the next day confirming that parents have done that. No note, parents are called to pick them up.
We do have issues with nits every so often but not a lot.

Oh, to add to my earlier post- a PP suggested tea tree oil hair products- YES- we found these really effective at preventing infestations. They didn’t completely eradicate the problem but they did make the infestations less frequent.

I recommend Vosene anti lice shampoo and spray - always use on my little ones.

Also are you sure you are getting rid of all the lice and eggs - it is almost impossible at times with long hair and do wonder if it isn’t that they’re being reinfected.

If you are only treating with the chemical treatment then it’s likely that you are not being reinfected by an outside source and more likely you are missing an egg or a louse everytime and the cycle starts again within your own family. The treatment isn’t 100% effective. You need to cover hair very thickly in conditioner and leave for at least 20 minute. This suffocates all the lice, they can hold their breath for an unbelievable long time. Then sit and use a comb to get them all out. This takes time. Repeat this again every second day for at least 10 days. Only then can you be sure you have eradicated the little shits.

I work in a primary school. I don’t want to be checking other children’s hair thanks! If we can see something we will inform parents, or let them know if they have been scratching but the only child I will be checking is my own!

I don’t think it’s schools’ responsibility. Our school used to send out a letter every time there was an outbreak and they asked for long hair to be tied back , but I don’t see what else they can do. As you say, it’s impossible to coordinate all the parents doing the treatments on the same day. And some parents won’t bother at all.

Believe me, I understand your frustration as it was CONSTANT when my DD was at primary. We also often saw nits on her best friend who lived two doors down and who DD spent almost all of her free time with. I always told the mum when I had found them on my DD and when I saw them on her DD, but this little girl had (beautiful!) bum-length thick hair and I just don’t think the mum had the time to do the combing. I know how long it takes on a normal head of hair so can only imagine how long it would have taken on this girl’s very long, very thick hair. If I was that mum, I’d have cut the DD’s hair much shorter but obviously I couldn’t suggest that!

I stopped buying the treatments in the end as I resented the expense and the nasty chemicals. So instead I scrutinised DD’s head every evening. When she had nits, I did nitty gritty comb and cheap conditioner every evening. Once they were gone, I’d do the combing every other evening, and then every three days, but still checking very carefully every day. I became an expert at finding the buggers- even the minuscule ones.

Basically I accepted that the problem was not going to go away any time soon, and that it was a case of catching each infestation in its early stages. I had to set aside significant time in the evenings for it and it was a massive ballache but we got out of the cycle in the end once the girls were a bit older.

Now DD is 18 and we never have to worry about nits anymore but there are plenty of other things to be worried about now 😂

I honestly do remember the frustration though- my sympathies.