To think children with headlice that mothers refuse to treat should be sent home with a bottle of Hedrin

[MrsHeffley]

and not allowed back until treated.

I type this as my dd 6 is shrieking and sobbing in the bathroom yet again whilst dp combs her hair.She was clear yesterday after several days combing,she came back today infested with several fully sized adults(quite clearly not recently hatched from missed eggs).

I have to treat my dd as it effects her concentration.She has waist length hair(always tied up) which she likes and wants to keep.We treat/check her hair regularly but it hurts and is expensive when we resort to Hedrin. It's affecting our home life.

There is one child in the class who continually has nits and never gets it treated.My dd likes her and wants to play with her but this evening just said she doesn't anymore after 2 years as she's fed up with us hurting her.DD watches the nits crawling on this girl in lessons.Many parents/kids know and I feel sorry for her.

I feel this PC do nothing attitude is contributing to the nits epidemic and does many children no favours. A quiet phonecall home like we had when I was little and the whole class would be nit free. Kids wouldn't need continuous painful comb outs and more importantly infested kids wouldn't have children avoiding them for fear of catching nits.

Hard hat firmly on.

Treatment is available - for free - under the 'minor ailments scheme'.

Go in to a chemist and ask for headline treatment under the scheme (UK. You must be registered with a GP)

I'm a teacher and one year, i had a girl who had headlice ALL YEAR LONG and she was literally crawling :( I lost count of the amount of times I rang her mother who said she was 'clear' and 'treated'. In the end we did call in Childrens Services as leaving your child like that is a form of neglect which goes against the UN Convention on the rights of the child. If the class teacher won't do anything, speak to the head.

When my own DD got headlice at nursery, I got Hedrin and a Nitty Gritty comb FREE by phoning up the local doctors and explaining the problem - so it should NEVER be a case of having to pay £20 a time for yourself of this poor girl.

I hope you find a resolution soon

My DS1 (7) had a friend (X) for a sleepover. X arrived and his mum said as she dropped him off "oh, by the way, I found six nits on X's head this morning but he screams his head off if I try to treat them" . So, I treated them both that night (not a peep from either of them) and casually mentioned that I had treated DS because he had nits and treated X because he happened to be there.

So invite girl over for a sleepover and covertly treat her

I really agree.

It pisses me off no end.

I think parents shpuld be phoned if the teachers spot lice / nits and asked to treat their child.

Its not fair on the rest of us that pay for products. They can be got on prescription if you live in a deprived area and are on benefits, so as usual the middle classes get squeezed on the cost of this too.

Ithink the treatment should be free for all children. I mean, adults can get free contraception and that can't be cheap to the NHS.

We have the exact same problem, same family leave their children untreated CONSTANTLY .

You know im sure someone once posted here saying that schools can actually have a word with the parents and that its a load of bollox when they say other wise.

I would happily (well almost) de nit every fucking child in the school if i thought it would put an end the the little critters.

I agree. Dds have masses of hair. Dd1 isn't too bad but we did cut her hair shorter when younger but now she's older, we don't such a problem for her.
Dd2 however has thick, bum length curly hair!! She's autistic (as is dd1) but dd2 is more effected. Dd2 hates hates having hair brushed and even worse to comb though!! We have started combing though in the bath 3 times a week and everytime we put her hair in two buns, spray with loads of hairspray and putting on neat teatree which she hates the smell of

I know one parent at school did get a call to collect her child, she went via chemist got lotion, took her round the corner, put it on and sent her straight back!

Other children 'can't concentrate'? Why?

My DD has had headlice twice- she didn't even know she had them, it was the school nurse who told me.

But they will likely have passed them on to other family members, so unless the whole world treats it at the sane time, then it's not going to work. Ever

Same could be said of threadworms too

Why on earth are you covering your ears? Why on earth is she screaming? Why on earth are you referring to it as torture? Why why why? You are doing (or your dp is) something TERRIBLY wrong. I agree with everything you are saying, I have exactly the same problem with my DD, but I never ever hurt her when I de nit her.

Brush the hair when dry, pop in bath, shampoo and condition as normal, tease through conditioner with nit comb. Its not hard and it should not be a painful experience. Boring and labourious yes, not painful.

purple You (the child) do not need to be on benefits: children under 16 (UK) receive free NHS treatments.

MrsHeffley you have my total symapthy as the treatment is a pain in the head. However I do have a suggestion to ease the pain of treatment:

I comb through the head with a tea tree conditioner (big comb). This loosens the hair plus it will get some of the culprits. If at this stage I dont find any lice then I do a fine comb through. The deal I have with DCs is that then if I dont find anything then there is no further treatment required.

If I do find any lice then the treatment follows. On the plus side the conditioner has helped to make this easier.

I wont pretend this is quick but it did cause fewer tears.

I'm pretty sure you can get Hedrin for free on the minor ailments. I was told by the pharmacist that apparently using conditioner in your childs hair repels nits too, not sure if it's true or not though...

I found it easier to use cheap conditioner direct on to dry hair (whilst watching DVD) nitty gritty then shower/bath.

I type too slowly, lovelydogs got there quicker.

My DCs are older but we still have the occasional visitors. The conditioner approach is close to a spa treatment (head massage, gentle combing etc).

Use tons of conditioner - a really cheap one is fine, the combs don't hurt then, and the conditioner immobilises the lice so they can't escape and you can get them all out.

We use alberto balsalm tea tree conditioner- it's about 99p in home bargains, and I use about 1/20th of a bottle each time (DD has long, thick hair).

I've never used hedrin etc because lice have built a resistance to it, and it just doesn't work. What works is thorough combing, absolutely meticulously taking out every louse and nymph and egg. Takes at least 30 minutes unfortunately.

Hedrin worked for us but do like the conditioner tips!

Hedrin etc are just a rip off, pointless.

Nitty gritty comb, conditioner and eyes like a hawk. Sometimes use a tweezers to get the eggs as well.

Hairspray - DD yr 1 has long hair. I plait her hair then spray with Elnett hairspray. Read somewhere nits can't cling to the hair/dislike the smell. Not sure if rubbish or not but nit free so far.

Excellent post CaptainNancy, just one point to add - repeat, repeat, repeat

They won't prescribe Headlice treatment at the GP any more, same as they won't prescribe oilatum even for babies in my PCT - even though DS3 has to use oilatum cream at least 3 times a day, and gets through a 500ml bottle costing £6 a WEEK when I am on benefits. It IS bloody expensive to treat multiple dc for headlice - but that doesn't mean you leave your dc LOUSY to give them to everyone else!

I have waist-length hair, and it takes a full bottle of Hedrin gel that is meant to treat 4 people - as does DD's hair. Thankfully the DS's get away with one bottle between them, but at £10 a bottle, that is £30 every time I need to treat them. I still fucking DO it though! Plus wet-combing all dc three times a week.

The best thing I have found to help, though, is Vosene Kids shampoo with tea tree, and the leave-in spray that they do. Since I have been using that every bath time - touch wood, they haven't had them since. Which considering I have had ongoing problems for YEARS with untreated dc at their school, is saying something!

Its not fair on the rest of us that pay for products. They can be got on prescription if you live in a deprived area and are on benefits, so as usual the middle classes get squeezed on the cost of this too

Thats bollox.

Captain how often do you do that? Am just wondering as my DD is only a baby at the mo but want to be prepared for when the time comes!

I'm itching now just thinking about it :(

My mum used to French plait my hair and cake it in hairspray, seemed to do the trick. Maybe the hairspray made my hair impenetrable??

OP if your child went to school with her hair tied up/back fully

How on earth could she have come home with several adult head lice?

I could understand one or two crawling from another child's hair onto your child's hair but several adults?

Do the children lay down together for nap time or something?

YANBU. There are two children in DS2's class - one girl & one boy - who both have constant nits. DS2 (& every other child in the class) says you can clearly see the nits on both and that the little boy actually picks them out of his hair and chases people with them saying "I'm going to nit you"

Most of the parents I know are pissed off with constantly having to buy Hedrin & a couple have given up with a "what's the point?" attitude. The school say that they can't do anything .