Do you need to worm children??

[xrayyankeezulu]

Been out with a friend today who has two DD's slightly older than my DD (4).

Not even sure how it came about but she mentioned giving them their worming tablets before going back to school.

I was !! I've honestly never heard of this before, apparently she does it every 6 months.

I couldn't wait to get home & google it but tbh I still didn't really get an answer from there, is this something you're meant to do??

Ive never heard of anyone worming their children regularly! I'm not sure it's recommended...

Of course you don't have to worm your children. Unless they catch worms then you have to de-worm them. Same as nits, does she de-nit just in case too? How bizarre. This is more to do with her paranoia than anything else.

Is that you Phyllis??

I have a mate who does this.

Utterly bonkers.

No you only worm them if they've got worms. Why would you give your child a medication unless they actually need it

My mum used to worm and denit us until we went to high school. Worming tablets every school holiday if we didn't get them in between, and denitted every Sunday whether we had caught them or not. We were nail biters with long hair though so we did get nits and worms a lot

Dd is 11. Haven't given her worming tablets since she was 3.

Your friend is a loon.

Do you not risk building up immunity doing this? Creating a colony of super worms?

For what it's worth I am utterly terrified of dd catching worms but I haven't resorted to taking her to the vet yet.

Years ago we had the pleasure of threadworms . Google told me that something like 50% of children have them at any one time! The pharmacist seemed a bit nonplussed when I asked him how often I should work my kids (I'm a vet, so this made sense to me!) I think it would be sensible if we wormed them regularly, especially during the nursery years, but apparently this is frowned upon.

Years ago we had an Australian locum vet who wormed himself regularly and was amazed we didnt! It may happen yet....

I have never wormed my children
Only my pets.

It is not a good idea to medicate children (or adults for that matter) when it is unnecessary. Worm tablets don't prevent worms.

It's an odd thing to do. It won't do the children any harm as the medication isn't absorbed into the blood stream but it won't offer them any protection from worms. If they come into contact with a worm egg and transfer it to their mouth, a couple of weeks into the term, they will get worms just the same as the child who hadn't been given the medication.
Is she getting mixed up with worming puppies? 🐶

The tablets do say to only use if you have seen a worm.
I do know someone who does a regular de worm though. Based on having masses of animals and kids that dig the ground.