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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if you reckon your kid hasn't had nits/threadworms recently...

139 replies

LazyLousyLizzieJane · 30/08/2018 23:01

... then they're probably the source.

Surely the main difference between kids (at least at primary school) is not whether they get them, but whether it's recognised and treated? Are nits really that picky about whose head they infest? If 40% of kids at any one time have threadworms, then is it really possible that so many kids are thought by their parents to never get them?

My kids seem to crawl with parasites regularly. I treat it thoroughly and then, a few months later, they're back. I'm not alone in this, am I?

OP posts:
Benandhollysmum · 31/08/2018 00:31

ACTually most people do have worms, probably those commenting saying their little darlings never had threadworms most likely do, just the vast majority never have symptoms and the numbers are so low, probably by good luck they have an inhospitable bowel. It’s pot luck.

As for nits they like all heads, but esp love the clean ones. My kid had long hair and she liked to wear it down much to my fury, I’d send her to school with a tight plait and she’d come out with it swishing about, she got headlice over and over again.

Keep hair tied back preferably plaited and hair sprayed and tell them to keep their heads away from other kids, don’t just stop at nitcombin, hooded jackets pillows the lot need washed too. Once kids hairs washed blow dry hair and maybe running a straightener over it, it kills any eggs or stray lice running about

Holyguacamoley · 31/08/2018 00:37

Sounds like you've just been unlucky. You can't really ignore nits or worms you know. They don't go away and they both cause unpleasant symptoms. My kids have had worms a couple of times but have never had nits. They both have very fine hair and I can see the root of every hair as I brush their hair and there's definitely never been anything living there - I don't think it even could, there's nowhere to hide! On the other hand my kids both bite their nails so that's why we have had worms I think. Luck of the draw.

agnurse · 31/08/2018 01:58

We never had them as kids. Either one.

Now, we were homeschooled, but we attended Guiding and Scouting. Plus we didn't start homeschooling until I was in Grade 4 and my sister was in Grade 2. Even when we attended public school we never had lice or worms.

Mintylicious · 31/08/2018 02:14

I don’t know - certainly my sibling and I never had either, not even once. On my experience YABU.

However, DC are not yet old enough to be at school, so time will tell if things have moved on and you are now not BU!

PorkFlute · 31/08/2018 02:19

DD has had headline once and I refuse to believe you couldn’t know. She was constantly head scratching which made me check.

Chouetted · 31/08/2018 02:36

I avoided nits all the way through my childhood, until I finally caught them at age 18.

It did confirm I'd genuinely never had them before. There's no mistaking that crawling feeling. I still occasionally feel phantom nits crawling through my hair all these years later...

PlayingForKittens · 31/08/2018 02:52

My lot have never had nits. I check them regularly. Threadworms on the other hand we have regularly. Goodness knows how. I do teach them good hand hygiene but they spend their time rolling around in muck and out of the 3 of them I have a thumb sucker and 2 nail biters so.......

SpottyBadger · 31/08/2018 02:57

Hmmmm, I think you may be a tad U. My kids have had worms twice in the last two years and nits twice in their life. I, however, only need to go into a school to help out for an hour or two and I get worms. I had them almost constantly as a kid. I’m very conscientious about washing my hands but I unconsciously touch other people and then my face an awful lot. I think you can be prone to stuff like that if I’m honest.

DianaPrincessOfThemyscira · 31/08/2018 04:15

I never had nits as a child and none of my boys have either. One has had worms, I never knew anyone that had worms growing up, even though MN seems to tell me regularly how common it is.

Stupomax · 31/08/2018 04:39

Mine have never had nits and my youngest is now 13. They're regularly checked by the school nurse, and would have been excluded from school if they did have them.

I've never had nits either. My sister had them once.

I've no idea if any of us have had worms - never noticed any symptoms though.

Ticks on the other hand... Feckers.

Seniorschoolmum · 31/08/2018 05:27

No. Ds has had nits twice in seven years. And it’s unmistakeable, he scratches like crazy.

And threadworms once. He was so disgusted when I explained what was happening, that he’s washed his hands regularly ever since. Grin

I think it’s luck as much as anything else.

Coolaschmoola · 31/08/2018 05:45

I've had nits once, as a child and I'm a 40 year old teacher.

DD has never had nits. She has her hair tied back for school every day to reduce the likelihood.

She's also never had worms. I'm fastidious about hand washing (as a teacher it's the best way to reduce the risk of catching the many lurgies floating around in a classroom) and dd has picked it up as a result.

YeTalkShiteHen · 31/08/2018 05:56

Never had worms.

Nits a few times over the years but not recently.

I check their hair daily with a quick once over, and a proper comb through on a Sunday to see if they need to be treated.

You’re right in that all it takes is one parent not doing it, but you’re targeting your ire in the wrong place.

PhilomenaButterfly · 31/08/2018 05:59

None of my DC have ever had threadworms, DS1 always got nits but none of the others did/do.

steppemum · 31/08/2018 06:03

well I disagree OP.

dd1 had nits regularly. A PP suggested that meant she had never got rid of them the first time, not true. There was a child in her class who was the source, we all knew who. In fact it got so bad, I went to see the head and asked if there was anything she could do, as the parents we desperate. Don;t know what she did but the girl came in on Monday, nit free and with new hair cut.

dd2 had them on and off, until they rejigged the classes, and the girl who was the source was in the other class. Then I heard lots of complaints from parents in the other class about nits!

Been nit free for nearly 2 years now, until first week of the summer holidays, and then discovered she was infested.

With nits you will notice as they get worse and worse. But it is interesting that when dd1 was getting them all the time and I checked the rest of the family, no-one else had them, and same with dd2.

But no-one in our family has ever had tread worms. I see these threads on here and look at all the symptoms, and no, we have never had them.
We lived overseas when kids were small, and they were taught very early on not to put hands in mouth and wash hands as soon as we got home, so maybe that helps. But, if there are no symptoms, I am not going to treat the family!

steppemum · 31/08/2018 06:06

Oh and ds had never had them until secondary school, and then he had them every year. When I asked him puzzled how this might happen, he looked at me sighed and said - rugby scrum. So now, when they are playing rugby, I have to nit check him!

Jane1727 · 31/08/2018 06:07

I have 3 boys and nine of them have ever had threadworms or nits. They are definitely not the source if it. I think we have just been lucky.

NoSleepzzzz · 31/08/2018 06:16

I think you're right to some extent, OP. I've known of a number of families who are insistent that their kids don't and never have had head lice despite it being perfectly obvious that the poor kids are riddled with them. One of the mothers was adamant that her dd only scratched her head because she suffered from a skin condition and refused to acknowledge the head lice that were visibly crawling on her head.

However, my dd has been in the education system for the past 2 years and we haven't encountered either worms or nits yet (touch wood). I regularly check her hair, use a kids tea tree oil shampoo and a nit comb on her so maybe this is keeping them at bay. It's probably just luck though at this point as I know there are some children in her year group who are covered in them so I guess it's just a matter of time. I'm dreading our first infestation.

Ansumpasty · 31/08/2018 06:42

Rubbish.

Mine are 4 and 6 and have never had either.

Granted, our household has only had 4 years in a preschool/school setting and oldest is a boy with short hair, but neither have had either. Hair is always tied back for preschool/ ballet and neither bite their nails.

I never had either as a child, although my younger sibling had nits once and worms once when I moved out.

Probably jinxed us now

BitchQueen90 · 31/08/2018 06:43

DS has never had nits or threadworms. He's only 5 though so he's got time but I would know if he had either, I had both as a kid.

He's been at school a year and there's been nothing going round there.

Sar51 · 31/08/2018 06:49

I never had either growing up as a child and so far neither have my two children

Twotailed · 31/08/2018 06:51

My mum was a primary school teacher in a primary school that served a very deprived area when I was a child. Her, my sister and I had nits monthly. There was always a child in her class, usually more than one, carrying them. So I definitely think some parents are totally unaware (or, in sad cases, just don’t care)

ClaryFray · 31/08/2018 06:53

My 8 year old boy has never had nits, we use a preventive spray on his head and hes always been about personal space. So he keeps his head away from other children. I check often with a comb and check every morning when I brush his hair.

It's not smug it's, in some cases, truth op.

KERALA1 · 31/08/2018 06:55

Just how the Jeff have you avoided nits?! Constant battle in our house plus we all have thick hair so combing takes ages. Dh and I regularly get them! Ddd2 is creative with hair but it's often tied back. She's the type that plays with lots of kids so broad exposure. Nits love us Hmm

steppemum · 31/08/2018 07:02

KERALA - even when I was battling with nits for dd1, and later dd2, the rst of the family never got them.
I do think some people are more prone. But it only takes one family, who are not on top of it, and you get a constant cycle through the class and back again.

One summer we couldn't understand why we couldn't get rid of them, as it was summer holidays, and then realised that dd2s best friend at church has long, thick, curly hair, and always wore it loose. Dd2 had given her nits and her mum had not noticed, so every Sunday, she gave them back to dd!