To be very irritated by this..

[CocacolaMum]

I found a head louse on my dd this morning. I phoned the school and they said to pop down to the gp and register dd for pharmacy first as you can then pick up the lice treatment from the pharmacy for nothing. Great as I am having an awkward week cash wise.

I did this and while I was waiting for it to be dispensed I was reading the treatment bottles. There were quite a few there which took 10 minutes! Brilliant I thought, she can be back at school by lunch! I even said how impressed I was to the pharmacist.

No no, the one we have been given takes EIGHT HOURS.
Now, I know it was free but now she has to have a full day off school for bloody head lice and I have to take a full day off work too!! AIBU to be annoyed??

I wouldn't have kept her off school for a day for head lice, certainly not for finding one solitary louse in her head. I'd have sent her in as normal and then done the treatment overnight tonight. Job done,drama free, and you wouldn't have needed to take time off work

I'd have combed out the single louse, sent my child to school and gone to work. You can check again later, using the treatment or simple conditioner and comb. Hopefully job done !

The 10 minute ones are nothing like as effective.

They don't need to stay off school for nits, used to years ago but not now ( or some would never be at school ! )

10 minute ones don't work ime. Here we are told to send them in as normal with headlice then treat overnight.

Nope, never.

But I have the names of those who were, and are...

What MrsMangel said.

Also, I very much doubt that the 10-minute treatment would have worked, but in any case there's no need for pharmacy things: I just used the nit-comb and conditioner system (repeated every couple of days for at least two weeks to break the egg/nit/louse cycle). Taking a day off school is a bit OTT.

You're off work because of one nit?

Do it over night

Wot MrsMAngel said.

I had to keep my DD off school one day because of head lice.

We got a letter home from school saying 'head lice are doing the rounds, please be vigilant and also to advise school if your find your Dc has them so that the school are aware of the extent of the problem'. So I dutifully checked DD's hair that evening, just before bed and found a louse. I didn't have any treatments in the house but took her into school the next day and reported to the office that DD did in fact have lice and I would purchase a suitable treatment that day and treat her as soon as she got home from school. I was basically told that was not good enough and they would prefer if I kept her away from school until the treatment had been completed. How embarrassing for poor DD and me. The most annoying thing being that I know who the main culprit is (poor thing) as mum never treats her hair and they just keep getting spread around. I feel your pain.

You should have conditioned, combed through and sent her in.

I think my work would have a fit if I called in and said DS had one lice and I am not coming in.

Our school send them home if a louse is spotted.

We have a nitty gritty comb - expensive but i believe in some areas available on prescription - works for us every time but you have to be really anal incredibly thorough - my girls both have very long hair and it doesn't take any longer than lotion.

Mine wouldn't stay off school for having headlice! If I found one in the morning I would dampen and give their hair a quick comb (I have a nitty gritty- best anti-lice purchase ever) and for the girls would tie their hair up neatly and use hairspray. Then comb properly when they got home with the nitty gritty and conditioner. Repeat every other night for two weeks. Nits properly gone and no chemicals used.

I got my nitty gritty for about £7 from an online chemist, it's virtually unbreakable and does all 4 dc. Luckily we've not had lice for ages now.

We are.told to keep them off school til a treatment is done and the head is clear. It's the only way to get rid of the bastards.
Otherwise the nasty cycle just keeps on going.
I do believe a condition and comb throughout with nitty gritty is the best. Everyday. some parents don't even bother as they don't want to lose work hours.

Wouldn't have been my choice to keep her off either. I wet combed her at half 7 this morning but when I phoned to let them know the school insisted I keep her until treated.

But surely a proper combing with conditioner is a treatment!

Get a nit comb, put child in bath, cover hair with conditioner, comb through thoroughly. Rinse hair. Kid OK to go to school. Next day repeat, do this for a week. Nit life cycle should be broken. No nasty and expensive chemical used either. Check hair weekly thereafter. I became a bloody expert on these little bastards!!

I'd also say nit-combing is a treatment - and it looks like the NHS website agrees. School can't force you to buy/use chemical treatments,

Combing is a treatment. I'd never use the chemical treatments again, after using it just once on DS1 - the smell was awful and I regretted it afterwards.

I personally wouldn't send them in unless I was sure there were no nits on their head - but I'd do it with a comb.