Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Worms - AIBU to ask you if ...

55 replies

CafeNoitSilVousPlait · 07/06/2012 21:09

Your DC has ever had these?

A fellow school mum confided in me today that her girls get these at the start of almost EVERY term!

I didn't want to ask how she knew they had them - I mean, how does one check these things?

Every term tho! - always clear during the holidays apparently.

I was just wondering how common this is. And what should I look out for?

OP posts:
DamnBamboo · 07/06/2012 22:10

Arf at checking your husband arse

Grin

Good luck and have fun with that!

Original poster
CafeNoitSilVousPlait · 07/06/2012 22:13

My DC often scratches that region but has eczema and doesn't scratch right by the anus but more the butt cheeks if you see what I mean? I'm thinking if worms then woukd be more like bum hole itching ?

OP posts:
marriedinwhite · 07/06/2012 22:14

We all just had a worming tablet every time ours complained of very itchy bottoms.d Probably about four or five times and I never could bring myself to look. They survived though and are 14 and 17 now!

They did nits as well so I don't believe in the myth that they get one or the other. I think there might even have been a touch of ring worm once too. And veruccas. And moluscum contagiosa.

Yuk - didn't have any of it when I was little - or DH.

Buckingfiatch · 07/06/2012 22:41

I have never known anyone mention they have had worms. My mum used to always joke that I must have them due to my appetite as a young one, but I always assumed it was rare. As far as I am aware, we have never had them, or showed any signs stated here of having them.

Eldest DS as only ever brought nits home once so far, too

JamieandTheOlympicTorch · 07/06/2012 22:58

Oh Yes, Pripsen. The Raspberry one makes me feel sick just thinking about it. I can't eat or drink anything Raspberry-flavoured

SuzysZoo · 07/06/2012 22:59

Oh that foul yucky "raspberry" milkshake thing that I had to drink 35 years ago!! - why did they make it so boaking? I truly used to gag. Ovex on the other hand is yummy - just goes to show that it wasn't all good in the old days!!

TheHouseOnTheCorner · 07/06/2012 23:01

We have never had worms or nits...my DC are 7 and 4...WHY haven't we? I keep looking in their hair and at their poo...you can see them in poo apparently.

But DD2 bites her nails...she hasn't got worms though as one poster reckoned her Doc said...can anyone tell me why my DC havent had these yet? Confused

SuzysZoo · 07/06/2012 23:01

Do they still make Pripsen I wonder? Not that I want to drink some, but one whiff would take me straight back to 1976!!

bronze · 07/06/2012 23:01

Another worms family here (not nits I wonder if that theories right)
I just treat us all very regularly

SuzysZoo · 07/06/2012 23:04

Once you have nits they are not going to go away on their own are they? But I think that if you have worms, and are particularly clean for a week or two (and don't scratch your bot and reinvest via your mouth) that they might go away on their own. I'm not a doctor though, so I am not sure. If I am right, though, it might explain why not everyone has had worms. You probably have, but you didn't know............

TheHouseOnTheCorner · 07/06/2012 23:05

If I tried to check either of my DC arses whilst they slept, they'd likely wake up and smack me one! WHO can get away with that!?

DinahMoHum · 07/06/2012 23:07

mine have had them quite a few times, especially my thumb sucking daughter. At one point she was getting them so regularly i suspect they never went fully. Ovex is crap we always needed to double dose with it

SuzysZoo · 07/06/2012 23:09

I would suggest, if you are going to check your DC's bottoms in the night, that you explain that to them in advance. Otherwise it would obviously seem very odd to them to find a parent peering at their bottom with a torch.

Goolash · 07/06/2012 23:15

This often happens to us, a week into the start of term and I get complaints. It's usually the same child! Maybe he suffers more from the itching and he notices a minor infestation that others would over look? It really hurts and distresses him.

I've taken to packing worming tablets on holidays for him. We usually spend a few weeks travelling around Europe during the summer so he uses lots of communal toilets!

kittyandthefontanelles · 07/06/2012 23:19

Googled pripsen, apparently its still for sale. Bletch. It was so grainy and powdery. Vimto tastes the same to me and is an anagram of vomit, interestingly enough! Ahhh, the 70s...

FormerlyTitledUntidy · 07/06/2012 23:20

Oh God, another wormy house here. Infact I know we have an infestation right now. Weve never had tablet though, just the boil washes and handwashing. Didn't actually know you could get worming tablets for humans. Dp had never ever heard of them before kids.
We're also a nits house though too, dd is always the first to get them in the class despite me doing her hair nearly once a week!
Put dds into baby grows so they can't scratch, and sorry if tmi, but kind of wipe the anus (and a little bit inside) with a wipe before bed.
I'm still a thumb sucker and nail biter...

Skillbo · 07/06/2012 23:31

Shit - i think dd might have worms Shock

She has always been an awesome sleeper but not any more, does look like she is scratching and does bite her nails... I feel dreadful that she could be living with these... She started nursery at the beginning of the year and have had our first dose of nits too Sad

Off to the chemist tomorrow me thinks!

PestoPenguin · 08/06/2012 09:45

The eggs are harboured under nails, so common sources of re-infection are sandpits and playdough, as well as unhygienic toilets. Bleeeeuuuggghhh!

If another child in your child's nursery, playgroup or whatever has them and is either symptomless or their parent doesn't notice, then there's little you can do to prevent re-infection.

Nail-biting and thumb-sucking just increase the chances of swallowing the eggs. Not washing hands frequently enough (which let's face it is v common in children) can also be an issue.

A pp is right that the infection can clear by itself. If you don't swallow any more eggs then they take around 6 weeks to fuck off completely. If you're pregnant, for example, then following the hygiene measures and waiting is pretty much the only option, as you can't take the medicine in pregnancy.

We've not had any nits yet, despite cases in the DCs classes and several bouts of worms. I've put the lack of nits down to short hair and luck more than anything. I'm sure our time for that will come! 2 out of 3 children have had molloscum and one had impetigo. My DM went on and on and on about that one, even though it's a common childhood infection and doesn't indicate we are 'unclean'

cory · 08/06/2012 10:03

Had both worms and nits repeatedly.

THe worm problem wears off once they get to upper junior school- old enough to wash hands and not stick fingers in their mouths; nits also seem to disappear about that age.

babybythesea · 08/06/2012 10:09

DD had them about six months ago and then had an allergic reaction to the over-the-counter stuff to treat it.
Now, if she gets them again, I have to go to the GP to get stuff.

I knew because she was scratching her bottom A LOT! And wriggling in an attempt to scratch every time she sat down.

FormerlyTitledUntidy · 08/06/2012 10:19

Pesto, when I had impetigo as a teen, my mother declared it to be herpes from (allegedly) giving loads of boys blow jobs. She called me a slut and a whore and waited for weeks for it to clear (obviously it didn't) before she marched me to the chemist to get something for an sti, and only let up when the chemist told her what it really was. It started around my mouth and spread the whole way from my chin to my nose and I 'm badly scarred from it, which wouldn't have happened if I had got treatment sooner.
People have some truly weird ideas about impetigo :(

TheRealMrsHannigan · 08/06/2012 11:21

DC has had nits when she was just over 2 years old (she goes to a childminder who cares for three school aged children), then worms around 4 months ago. A dose of banana flavoured Ovex sorted her out, and DH and I were treated too, all sheets washed etc. I obviously do not buy into the 'you get one or the other' rule either, because it is clearly bollocks :)

I knew DD had them because she kept complaining of a 'tickly bum' at bed time, took me a couple of nights before it hit me, I felt very guilty!

Lueji · 08/06/2012 11:28

Just a word of warning. If your DC seemed free last night, it doesn't mean he is free.
You should really check a few nights in a row and not necessarily straight after going to bed.

But, yes, he/she should be scratching around the anus, not the cheeks.

MammaTJ · 08/06/2012 11:40

FormerlyTitledUntidy, sounds like a lovely mother! How is your relationship now?
Re the medicine, my step daughter had worms as a child and had to have the medicine, we gave it to her in one of the hexagonal glasses we had in a set. She could not drink out of one of those glasses ever again.
As for nits, don't get me started. They LOVE my kids. I debug with a normal nit comb daily and do the wet comb and conditioner with a nitty gritty comb a couple of times a week.

MammaTJ · 08/06/2012 11:40

You would think that we could Frontline our kids and give them worm tablets to protect from all these parasites!