DD has caught head lice at nursery

[MillyMollyMandy2018]

AIBU to feel really cross that some people don’t treat head lice properly, if at all. Went to the Christmas concert and there was one child in particular who scratched her way through it. A letter from the head comes round shortly after stating nursery has an outbreak and how to treat/prevent etc. Noticed DD scratching yesterday at bedtime and upon inspection she has lice. Live lice. Horrid!
Nursery inform me today they have never really got on top of the situation due to some parents not addressing the issue properly/at all.
We’ve spent an hour yesterday conditioner combing and another hour today with the head lice treatment and combing. I know I should accept it’s just a part of school, so why do I feel so angry about it?!

I find it best to just nit comb weekly, I used to do it every night but just don’t have the time anymore. Weekly so far seems to be sufficient as none of my kids have ever had nits yet, we’ve had the dreaded threadworm though! Utterly vile, I now treat for that every 4/6 months too just to be on the safe side.

There’s a real constrast of opinions. I think the reason why I felt cross was because having spoken to the staff they (strongly) suggested it is a constant issue because of a few children not being treated properly and that it doesn’t have to be that way. Given it’s school nursery those children will move up with mine for the next 6 years.

Contrast

My dd11 and sdd10 have had to be treated 3 times since Christmas! Nightmare as they both have such long hair

Wot till your doing shit inspections every week because of thread worms being brought home!

Wait

My DSs have now both caught molluscum and one has it on his face. I am on my knees washing towels and any cloth that's touched them after a single use. I freaked when they got nits, now I long for the days! And DH tells me that when they're teenagers they'll probably get athlete's foot from the changing rooms. Boak boak boak.

Ooh headlice, my sympathy. The first time DD had them I only noticed when one was crawling across her forehead, so she must have had them for weeks at that point.

I've got shit hot at inspection since then and occasionally caught a big fat one that's just dropped in to say hi. Weekly conditioner comb throughs are definitely the way to go.

Plaits, buns, hairspray... I do it all now.

DD never had typical threadworm symptoms (itchy bottom and worms in poo). She woke up in the night crying that her vulva was sore and it was- red and inflamed. She was treated for thrush by the GP and something else but a few weeks later, she was still suffering and in desperation, I asked on here and somebody said worms. Nothing visible in her poo but I checked at night, with a torch and found them in situ. Same happened a further two times with the same symptoms and then I started a regular maintenance dose of Ovex. I stopped when she was in KS2 and nothing since (no more fricking sand pit post KS1).

We had a huge problem with nits at nursery, one new kid whose parents openly didn't care so never treated their kid. Lucky me, my DD made friends with her! Constantly plagued until the friend left.

Now in primary we have the same problem, one kid my DD is v close to has parents who openly don't care that their kid is infested. Took ages to get on top of the initial infestation but now we're down to a weekly comb, only find two or three each week but the size of them!!! 😱

I think half the problem is the shame around it so people tend not to talk about it to other parents.

My daughters went with one treatment - took months to shift my sons and that was with felt like constant wet combing. Get used to them, and tie your kids hair back!

Erm hedrin once should sort it without half the ballache of combing, they tend to just shampoo out when dead unless your daughter has hair as thick as a horses mane.

Tie their hair up or cut it off

It went around my youngest's class for about a year because a few didn't sort it properly. It was maddening. I think at times like that it's worth every parent checking carefully with NittyGritty combs/conditioner all on the same day once a case has been discovered. Then using the tea tree spray every day that the lice hate.

Or home educate

Yep, hedrin once. You just put it on dry hair and leave overnight. Drowns the fuckers. then repeat a week later.

To make you laugh for a minute, I never got lice or nits growing up. But the day before DC2's Christening I saw them on DC1. Raced to treat her, comb through etc... I was a newbie at this so didn't yet know the conditioner trick. Her hair looked greasy for the ceremony. A few days later, sitting in the waiting room at the GP I scratched my head and a live louse was in my fingernail! Couldn't get home fast enough. I had lice, finally, in my middle aged years. None of us have had lice since. Did a massive thick conditioner comb through every other day and regular checks for some weeks. It worked though. The anti lice stuff at Boots is a waste of money. Thick conditioner like Pantene works like a dream.

I had threadworms over the summer. My children didn't. I wonder if it was the hit desk policy in work that spread them but who knows? I didn't have an itchy rear in the slightest but my fanjo felt horrible.
My advice. Get some tablets in, put them away and thank me in a year or two. They come out at night when you can't easily get to a chemist.

My eldest has extremely thick hair.

She caught them while she lived with her dad and he wasn't combing, you couldn't get a comb through her hair.

A friend and I cut her lovely long hair off and combed it through together.

She hates long hair anyway.

My youngest first caught them from a family who started at her old school. They never wore their hair up and out of the way, they were very clingy with friends, lots of hugging and heads together, and the mum didn't use anything on them, just a comb through.

You have to keep on top of laundry and so on, as well, to help break the cycle. They had five kids, four were girls with very long hair.

Then they moved schools and my eldest made friends with the equivalent family...... Why me.......

When my DS was little, this was the most used device at home

Can I ask why worms spread I’m sand pits?

I felt cross was because having spoken to the staff they (strongly) suggested it is a constant issue because of a few children not being treated properly and that it doesn’t have to be that way

I think the staff are wrong to say this. There have been some horrible gossiping parents at the school gate and Facebook about some children and their families at the schools I have links to. This sort of attitude does no good.

Fivered
Erm hedrin once should sort it without half the ballache of combing, they tend to just shampoo out when dead unless your daughter has hair as thick as a horses mane.

Hedrin doesn't kill all the eggs so new lice will be hatching daily after the treatment. Best way is to use a conditioner and comb out every night or at least every few days to get rid of eggs and hatching lice. The conditioner help to immobilise the lice and makes them easier to catch. Use a bitty gritty comb. It is simply the best on the market and is easier to use with less damage to hair and best comb or results. Then use a diluted tea tree oil spray daily before tying up long hair. I also use a hairdryer on a low heat to help dry out young lice and eggs.

After frequent reinfestions in my dd's long curly hair I ditched the commercial treatments and did a LOT of research before arriving at this successful combination. I was so desperate I tried to book into a VERY expensive clinic to have it treated but sensibly realised I couldn't afford this every few months.

Can I ask why worms spread I’m sand pits?

• worm eggs can lay dormant for a while
• worm infested dc sctratch their bottoms and transfer eggs to under fingernails
• and don't wash hands often enough and thouroughly enough
• eggs transfer from fingernails to sand
• eggs in sand
• next dc picks up eggs and poke their dirty mitts everywhere