Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be angry at parents who do nothing about their kids' headlice?

144 replies

atthecarwash · 14/02/2011 20:03

I've just spent the last 45 min getting rid of the headlice and nits on my two youngest.

I've used a 15 min treatment plus conditioner and comb and it's the 3rd time in a month I've had to do this.

There are parents who simply can't be bothered to get rid of them and they are infecting everyone else. Aren't they disgusted by these pests?Am I overreactng?

OP posts:
MarioandLuigi · 15/02/2011 12:47

I dread DS2 getting them, one of the up sides of him having SN is that he doesnt get close enough to other children to get them (fingers crossed), but as he has a phobia of water and wont have a shower or bath I dont know how I would get rid of them :(

DS1 had them once and has terrible excema and we couldnt find anything that didnt make his skin sore. In the end we had to shave off all his lovely curls and I cried for ages. I was so angry as I know he got them from his cousin, who's scutty mum thought it would be okay to 'turn over the pillow. rather than washing all the bedding when she got them.

Lovecat · 15/02/2011 12:49

Are all those parents who are doing their children's heads also doing the rest of the family, including themselves? DD has blonde hair so it's easy to see eggs/lice in her hair, but mine is almost jet black, and DH is crap not the best at combing out, so to my utter shame I managed to reinfect DD with them after I'd got rid of them myself.

That new 'kills eggs and lice' Hedrin made DD's face puff up like a balloon - needed piriton for 3 days running in the end, wouldn't touch the stuff. Grr.

MilaMae · 15/02/2011 12:57

Hedrin is the only thing that works for us and I think it's fab.1 of my children and I have have extremely sensitive skin and have had zero problems.

I think the Nitty Gritty comb is way over hyped and I have my suspicions is the cause of this constant reinfection people and I used to get. It only takes 2 eggs to lay undiscovered and you'll simply get nits again.If your dc have v thick,long or curly hair and if you have several kids I think it's nigh on impossible to get every single egg out before other eggs hatch.

I have 3 dc all with long hair they all kept getting re-infested despite dp and I combing every single morning and night.It took us hours,made my dd hysterical and dp and I traumatised. I finally bought some Hedrin and bobs your uncle,have never looked back.My dc get nits about twice a year but the continual re-infestation is gone.

Now I just get annoyed at parents who don't treat nits when I've spent a small fortune on Hedrin.

Top tip-I buy the biggest bottle of Hedrin which you're only supposed to apply once but I still do it again a week later.I think if you use the Once just onceeggs could still have been laid which will hatch later.I don't think the egg kill works but the smothering does.If you do it twice you cover all your bases. One of those big bottles does all 3 of my dc twice with some left but it's expensive.

I taught similar age kids to my dc a while ago before the Nitty Gritty comb came out and the re-infestation just didn't happen.

The kids were also sent home which I feel strongly should still happen. Wouldn't bother me in the slightest.1 pm off school,treat all 3 of them,back in the next day. Nobody needs to know and the rest of the class don't get nits. It's pc gone mad not sending kids home. The whole class suffers and it effects concentration.

Gleekfreak · 15/02/2011 13:05

Super vixen, actually,if you read all information about aforementioned nits, you will see that actually, they don't care whether your hair is clean or skanky! It is just head to head contact when the children are working/playing together, as the little darling nits just walk from head to head. Not knowing what to look for, my DD was crawling by the time I found one Blush but we then spent the next 3months of treating every 5days,combing, screaming etc before we managed to get rid of them! To my joy, I also got them Shock and I wash my hair daily! So did daddy, granny and baby! Too much cuddling in my house :o Now hair is tightly plaited before school, lots of conditioning, combing each week and a quick spray of tea tree oil daily-fingers crossed, none since [ wink]

redpanda13 · 15/02/2011 13:53

The nits prefer clean hair thing is pants. Nits do not mind if hair is clean or dirty as long as it is on the head of a live person. Only the dead don't get nits.
I check DD's head every week. Luckily so far she has not had any. She is a hugger so we really have been lucky.
She has caught molluscum cotagiosa though. Now that is hellish Sad

fishcakefoxtrot · 15/02/2011 14:33

My mum used to treat ours but refused to acknowledge that she might have them. Funnily enough we got them all over again...
YANBU.

Debs75 · 15/02/2011 14:46

Gordon1 you can get the Bug Buster Kit on the minor ailments scheme from the chemist. all you need is the nhs number. LLoyds chemists don't do it anymore but the supermarket chemists do

amberleaf · 15/02/2011 14:56

If we had a national 'get rid of nits day' it would help.

its a constant cycle so not necessarily down to 'lazy parents'

althought i know there are some parents that never deal with them i think they are in the monority.

amberleaf · 15/02/2011 14:57

by national get rid of nits day i mean one day where everyone was treated on the same day.

gordon1 · 15/02/2011 15:14

Hi Debs. It that in all areas? I wasn't aware of that scheme.

MardyBra · 15/02/2011 17:45

amberleaf - that's a really good suggestion - maybe a national get rid of nits week and blast the little feckers nationwide.

unsurevalentine · 15/02/2011 17:52

Social services have better things to do than deal with nits Hmm

Amieesmum · 15/02/2011 17:55

Social services do as a general rule, but in extreme cases, in which no-one has attempted to treat the lice, it can be a sign of neglect, and therefore social services will investigate.

unsurevalentine · 15/02/2011 17:57

Not on nits alone they won't!!

Chatelaine · 15/02/2011 18:00

boolifooli - where is the evidence that the "nit nurse" was not effective? It was a means of itdentifying a (hazard) to health. It is true that she/he would be ineffective today. It was social policy that did away with the "nit nurse" on the grounds that it infringed "human rights" Untreated, cronic lice infestation is a serious public health concern that 60 years ago, people took very seriously. Look it up.

belgo · 15/02/2011 18:17

A nit nurse does hopefully know what they are looking for. I had regularly checked my children but did not actually really know what I was looking for until we were practically all infested.

Amieesmum · 15/02/2011 18:22

Maybe not unsurevalentine fortunatly i've never been in a position myself to come underfire from social services. At least not in a bad way anyhow.

The girl i was referring to already had social services heavily involved due to neglect in other areas. To go into full detail, I was leaving for school with dd, we'd had a audio appt and had nipped home to go to the loo before heading to school about 11am, the girls dad's was in the carpark of the flats taking her to school (late) car wouldn't start, so i offered them a lift, as she was at same school as dd. Her parents didnt show to collect her from school, so i took her home too. Now there had always been a funny smell in the downstairs of the flat block, smelt a bit like binbags that have been left outside for the rubbish men. On dropping her off, the minute her mum opened the door, i was gagging, their flat was something so vile, i can't describe! Even though they had two bedrooms, all 4 of them were sleeping on the floor in one room, as their beds were too dirty to sleep on. mold growning on the carpets, where spilled food hadn't been cleaned. Just disgusting.

After that they kept asking me to drop her at school, i found out on the school runs she hadn't been given breakfast - so started to pick her up early and provide it. I felt so bad for the girl I had to bring her back to mine - i informed both the school, and the support worker on site (was supported housing) every day of what was happening. Bought her new school uniform, clothes, fed her, did her homework with her.

Eventually i moved out, and couldn't keep doing things for them, it was driving me insane the worry of when i had to take her home to her parents.

Eventually they did a runner from the supported housing and social services caught up with them. and took the children into care. I offered to have the girl, but unfortunately don't have a spare bedroom so wasn't allowed, but she still comes over for tea a few times a week which is great to see she's being taken care of by a lovely foster family. Wish i could have provided a home for her. She's such a sweet girl.

Sorry (just wanted to make it clear the original problem wasn't the girls nits, they were a subsequent issue)

asdx2 · 15/02/2011 18:28

The Headteacher checks all the children's hair every fortnight or so at dd's school unless you opt out (just one person has apparently) Dd is definitely less troubled by nits now than she was at her old school. Parents get a text alerting them that nits have been found and offered comb and lotion to pick up from school.

reallytired · 15/02/2011 18:29

I suspect that problem is that many of the PARENTS have nits. We need to de nit grandparents, aunts and uncles as well as parents and children.

The nitty gritty comb is good. The key is to wet comb your child's hair every four days whether you think they have nits or not.

A national nit day would be good. However we need to comb EVERYONE's hair and if necessary treat.

jugglingjo · 15/02/2011 18:32

I agree they are a nightmare. Especially as my DH Hmm really freaks out at them !

I'm not sure though there are many parents who wouldn't do anything.

My DS caught them a year or so ago, and we got rid of them really early that time.

This year my DD came home with them from secondary school - first time she'd had them ( so I guess we've been quite lucky )

  • Ended up with DS and I getting them too. Didn't catch them as early as we could, and was shocked at how many and how large they were in DD's hair. Our first real experience of them though so hope readers will understand !

We've worked hard to do all the stuff, and comb them out thoroughly - and cross fingers they've all gone now. (Dare I say it ! )

At least we know the routine now Grin

But I'm thinking it's a learning curve for all, and some will cope better and more effectively than others.

Perhaps schools should send home, or at least ask parents to keep at home, children
with active infestations. It's a serious pain for all concerned !

jugglingjo · 15/02/2011 18:42

By the way full marks from our family for "Full marks" which I believe works by dehydrating the lice and nits too. We had to use more than once to get rid of all, but pretty effective here !

Chatelaine · 15/02/2011 18:48

asdx2 - this is a minefield. tbh I am out of touch and would love to hear a definite answer, can schools' examine children's head's for lice or not? Or is it all about "guidelines?"

thereisalightanditnevergoesout · 15/02/2011 18:48

You are not unreasonable and I suspect they are the same parents who send their kids to school before the '48 hours since the last period of D & V' is up, too. Or at least, they are in our school.

asdx2 · 15/02/2011 18:57

Head teacher sent out a letter asking that parents let him know if they didn't want him to check their child's head. If you didn't opt out (only one did according to the letter home) then he checks each child in their classroom every couple of weeks.No comment is made to the child in the classroom parents are texted later. My dd has never been aware that anybody has nits in her class so no one is singled out. I can't imagine why a teacher wouldn't be allowed to look tbh.It's done in the class with teachers and TA's present and the kids just see it as routine and a chance to chat to the HT whilst he's there.

asdx2 · 15/02/2011 18:59

It's a state mainstream primary school as well.

Swipe left for the next trending thread