To think not getting rid of your child's head lice is a form of abuse.

[PMDD]

Head lice are doing the rounds again. My DD has come home YET AGAIN with head lice. I comb, I use chemicals, I get rid of the lice, then she comes home again with them.

When she gets them I phone all the mums of the friends she plays closely with to tell them to ensure they check their children.

But there is a handful of children across the school that just do nothing about it.

Is there anyway the law could be changed so that those children with nits can not come back to school until they are clear of nits.

[perfectstorm]

Oh for God's sake, ChrissieM. You've been deleted for shilling for Hedrin twice already, but looking at your posting history you are still doggedly at it.

Congratulations. I'm sure your employer will be delighted to know you've just proven how unethical they are in marketing to parents. I for one won't touch anything Hedrin produce with a bargepole from now on.

[perfectstorm]

It's been lost in the thread, but thetallesttower linked to a charity's website, which offers a solution based on extremely fine-toothed combs - far more fine than a nittygritty - and the kit they produce is available free on prescription from your GP, as it's apparently been shown to be 4 times more effective than special shampoo solutions. Free, and insecticide free, and produced by a charity without an axe to grind/shareholders to pay... sounds a good deal to me. So I'm re-linking it. Hope that's okay, thetallesttower.

So far we've escaped nits - my eldest is only 5 - but I've saved the page to favourites as I doubt my kids will get through school unscathed. I didn't. And as DS has awful eczema, pilaris keratosis and is prone to various other dermatitis issues I'd rather avoid any new, let alone strong, lotions and potions if I possibly can.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

No need to shout LittleBaby .

I'm no scientist (clearly) but where there's a natural option that is effective I chose not to use chemicals that are unnecessary on my DC's heads.


There.That's cleared that up.

[Slatecross]

Thatbloodywoman

Natural:

Naturalistic Fallacy - The naturalistic fallacy is closely related to the fallacious appeal to nature, the claim that what is natural is inherently good or right, and that what is unnatural is inherently bad or wrong.

Glad that's cleared that up too.

[madamginger]

All the chemical treatments except lyclear have been discontinued. The company that made derbac, suleo etc was sold off and they got rid of loads of OTC medicines.
I quite like combing through DDs hair, maybe I should over it as a service to other mums!

[perfectstorm]

The deadliest chemical in the world, botulinum, is naturally occurring. Of the top 6 deadliest, only one is man-made.

Royal Society of Chemistry handout on the topic.

I don't give a monkeys if something is synthetic or natural. I just don't want my kid to develop a rash.

[Slatecross]

Derbac and Suleo are still owned by SSL and they're part of Reckitts now I think. It's still manufactured and was a great brand for them.

[bigbuttons]

I use listerine, works better than anything else, and I have tried it all believe me.
I just assume there is always someone in all of their classes who has lice at any given point.

[itsnotthateasy]

Gossipmonster, same here .. My daughter, bless her, seemed to have them constantly , I even got them and had never had nits before.

We tried everything over the course of time from coniditioner (Tea Tree) and a nit comb, nitty gritty and various medicated ones . . In the end she had to have her hair cut really short :(

Thankfully though, Nits are now a distant distant memory.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Slate it might have been cleared up had I understood a word of what you're on about.......

[madamginger]

Derbac etc have been unavailable since Nov 2011 as have lots of SSL products such as medised/medinol

[Xfirefly]

a hairdresser friend of mine said that when she was in college in the salon, a mother brought her daughter in for a haircut and the poor girls hair was infested . she said it was horrific. the mother was in complete denial about it...just moaned that hairdressers kept refusing to cut her daughters hair. the girls head was bright red and looked sore. the hairdresser said the only way to fix it would have been to cut nearly all her hair off . it had obviously gone untreated for a very long time and it wasn't like it wasn't obvious. the salon had to be thoroughly deepcleaned. This IMO is abuse as it was an obviously a massive infestation and the mother was trying to ignore it.
Its very hard to banish nits in school though. I think schools have a policy where they're not allowed to single one child out? correct me if I'm wrong..?it may just be my area! So its going to be a battle. I only had them once luckily scratches head

[charitymum]

YABU. A form of abuse seriously?
Significant untreated massive infestations may (may) be part of wider pattern of neglect.

But really - it's an irritation not a disaster. Last infestation we had everyone was in hysterics at the one solitary brave louse that had found its way to nearly bald DP and was desperately trying to find a hair ....

[deakymom]

when my daughter was in primary school there was a lady who didnt treat her childs nits i saw her hair one day and the lice had run out of room they had laid eggs top to bottom :-( the school had to take measures and instruct the mom not to return the child to school till she had been treated and they called her to remove her from school one day due to the problem in the end i signed the class up for free nit treatment some of the parents were horrified but some were more than happy for a free jumbo pot of treatment cream! when the whole class was treated they went away for about six months my daughters hair is awful to treat curly thick and the same colour as the eggs before they hatch im so glad my son (who is in primary) likes his hair shaved!

by the way apparently if your having trouble affording nit treatment you can go to the doctor who will give you a one off prescription x

[LuciusMalfoyisSmokingHot]

My DD's school has a policy in which if your child has nits, they cant come back until the nits have been treated.

My Dsis secondary school, one girl had nits and everyone could see them, she didnt know, how do you not know you have nits, ugh.

Im getting all itchy again thinking about it.

[PigletJohn]

I only ever use traditional natural remedies, like Belladonna, salt-water baths, opium and whisky, with vinegar to descale my kettle.

I can't be doing with nasty chemicals like Atropine, sodium chloride, morphine and ethyl alcohol, and won't use acetic acid. I do take Vitamin C, but never touch ascorbic acid.

[GlassCastle]

My daughter had her hair in tight French braids every day or a bun. She never had loose hair at school because I think it is a bloody nuisance flapping about.

I don't know whether there is a correlation but she has never had headlice.

My son had them once after a four day scout campy. We combed him and never had an issue again.

They both have delicate hair though. No curls or thickness in texture.

[GlassCastle]

Piglet



What a bloody waste of good Morphia!

[GlassCastle]

I assume you are no longer on the nursing register Chrissie because if you read your code of conduct you will see that it is a breach of them to use nursing status to promote a commercial product. Even if it is health related, to do so in the manner you appear to be doing, is unethical.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Surely you don't use belladonna for your kettle. It's for the covers of night lights

[PigletJohn]

no, as I said, I use vinegar for the kettle. I use all the other traditional natural remedies for my many ailments.

Sometimes I grind up rye infected with a mould, to make a natural, organic black bread which has special properties, but I never take drugs.

[HoratiaDrelincourt]

In a previous job I was responsible for nit checking twenty little boys' heads on a rolling fortnightly rota. Standard little boy haircut is easy to check.

In one entire school year I had one nitty head - back to school after half term with a gift from his little sister

There were plenty of nits in school - I think we were just lucky. Similarly now we constantly have nit letters home from school but my DC are always clear.

Could it be a blood type thing maybe?

[Garcia10]

I just want to let everyone know that the trauma ends. My DD was constantly infected throughout primary school. Goodness knows how much we spent on lotions and combs. My husband and I were also infected. High school is awesome. She has been there for 4 months and no nits! I feel your pain but it is finite.