worm dosing someone else's kids

[anonamuma]

OK, so as I am not going out tonight I offered to babysit for a mum at the school. This woman's two children always have nits and are spreading them round the class. Their hair is never brushed or washed and they are literally crawling with nits.

AIBU to think it isOK for me to treat them without saying anything to their mum... She insists that she has treated them but we KNOW this to be rubbish, Her children have also been complaining of itchy bums and eating like they were starved, AIBU / WIBU to give them a worm dose...?

It's the people with the "just condition and comb" attitude that makes it worse for everyone else. Use the chemicals PLEASE.

Well - when my dses were in primary school, we were told it was over use of the chemicals that were causing the problem, because the lice were becoming resistant to them all, making eradication much harder.

And I resent the suggestion that I was the one of the parents causing all the nit problems at school, when I was treating my dses every time I saw a nit, and carrying on combing/conditioning every night or every other night until they were nit free.

Posted too soon - conditioning and combing works fine as long as you do it properly - and involves no harsh chemicals on a child's scalp.

SDTG is correct. Overuse of chemicals caused super resistant nits - done once and those resistant nits mulitplied. Wet comb and conditioner works fantastically and eradicates them. You do have to be committed to it though
I think A1980 has a very valid point...

I've not had to deal with either of these yet, fortunately.

However, I have read online somewhere that worms sort themselves out after several weeks. The treatment just minimises the amount of time it takes. Of course, without fantastic hygiene practices they will spread amongst children. This would be difficult to stop completely anyway - just through scratching (which can often be whilst they're asleep so not conscious of doing it) means they'll be under their fingernails and passed on to others that way. In bad cases they can also be present in their underwear and transfer onto other surfaces when toiletting etc. And as another poster said, the treatment is given twice so one dose will do no good whatsoever.

In terms of headlice - chemicals alone often do no good. Giving a treatment then needs to be followed up by daily combing to completely clear them. This can take weeks, if not months in a lot of cases. So there's a good chance that you treating these children will not be effective anyway if their parents aren't going to be following it up with the daily combing.

Unfortunately, both your ideas I think will be completely ineffective. And therefore, not worth the moral nor potential medical risks involved.

Well I certainly would NOT have children whose hair was crawling with nits in my house.

I have switched to vosene shampoo, I send my kids into school in platts, a couple of times a week I do the nit come and conditioner and at least once a month I have to use the nit shampoo like Hedrin and lyclear spray, it's the same child that keeps getting it, the one in the same class as this womanise child.

And A1980 why on earth would I stop my children from playing with this Womans children, is it not bad enough that her kids are passed from pillar to post and constantly scratching away without having to loose their friends too because their mother has no time for them?????

So... you've checked every single other child that your child has come in contact with and this particular child is the only one with nits, I presume, as you insist that is where your child is getting the nits?

I don't buy this for a minute either. If OP was acquaintance with mother of these children, surely she would just discuss it with her?

MY kids had them for 2 years in primary nits not worms and the chemicals didnt work I used them properly the just come back and i wasnt using the lotion all the time , i bought some combs a bit like the nitty gritty comb and tbh that was the best solution to just keep combing them out and crushing the little buggers ,

OP I hate to say this but if you're doing the hedrin ONCE then you're not killing your own kids' headlice.

The lifecycle is about a week. A week old 'nit' starts laying eggs. You kill the live nits with hedrin/lyclear etc but you have to repeat it a week later to kill the eggs that have hatched before they reach a week old and start laying their own eggs.

So if you were planning to treat these children once it would be pointless and possibly shows up the problem in your own treatment technique?

Sorry if I'm right. Or wrong! it's crucial to treat them twice and I think that's where a lot of people get it wrong...only takes one family not to understand it and you're back to square one. Schools should send out really detailed letters about it.

Our friends only comb and remove nits by hand most of the time. Thus their children are regularly infested. It does make me really cross so I know how you feel.

Why would you be babysitting for someone who is effectively responsible for infecting your family with worms and nits?

I'd be sorely tempted too, OP, but the children's mum probably has worms too & will just give them back to her DC, the whole family has to treated & practice good hygiene measures to eradicate worms. So you'd just be wasting money to try to treat them as a one off.

Make sure they wash their hands a lot whilst at your house.

There's nothing qrong with having a casual but direct chat about nits and worms and so on, treating them, how people can get it wrong, what needs to be done etc without saying anything about their mother or themselves.

If youre clever you can end up with them going home and telling their mother how to do it right. You don't need to get involved in a discussion or treating them.

The children are in your care for a while so use the time wisely and indoctrinate them gently! But that's all, sorry. You cannot medicate someone else's child unless it's an emergency.

You do not need to use chemicals to take care of nits. It just involves dedicated and time consuming combing out. My DD is unable to use the chemicals - we tried it once when she was in primary school and she got extremely ill. We were advised to use conditioner or mayonnaise and comb out. The few times she got nits, it worked fine. And she had hair down to her waist at the time, so combing took a long time!

threadworms don't make a child hungry!!

Both of these conditions can be treated without medication at all so you would be very unreasonable toi interfere. You could ask the mother though & see if she's agreeable?

as well as doing the worm thing, shave their heads as well

that'll learn the muvver wont it

Most nit stuff DOESN'T use pesticides - they can't get resitant to it - that is no long true sorry - Hedrin, for example, suffocates them :)

also thread worms don't make kids hungry!

and yes YABU to medicate other peoples kids

If you give her children medication without her permission you could be deemed to have assaulted them. Call social services if you really think the children are being neglected, otherwise keep your nose out and certainly don't give them medication!

has the OP came back i couldnt see a reply from her i have a feeling we are all talking to ourselves on this one

I am wondering why you offered to look after these nit and worm infested children.

YABU. You can't treat someone else's children without asking them. How do you know she doesn't actually treat them? DD3 used to get nits all the time and I did treat her. She just kept picking them up
again. Also nits prefer clean hair so children with unwashed hair are less like ly to get them.

The OP might not be genuine. However i used to have two girls practically live at my house who were in a similar situation. I used to wash their coats for them, clothe/feed them etc, as they would be filthy otherwise. There were drugs and SS involved.

My youngest DD had very thick hair and a naturally high head temperature, she was impossible to keep nit free. I used to comb her hair every morning and night as well as use all of the treatments/wash bedding. Tbh she wasn't clear until her last year of primary, until she learn't not to hug other children.

Some people are more prone to carry worms. I was an only child and was kept spotless but regulary had worms.

OP should report this to the school, who will then follow up with the mother. The teacher should notice if they are constantly itching anyway. I've known children to be excluded for not carrying out nit treatments when requested.

So, you offered to babysit in order to have a chance at playing doctor, OP?
YABU