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?!

same for playdough btw

Parents who’s kids have had to treat/child has caught 4+ times since January. You are the spreaders. It takes two weeks to break the cycle so you’ve never actually been clear you’ve just been missing some eggs.

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

Because young children are not the best at remembering hand hygiene, they go scratchy-bum followed by chewy-fingers and swallow the eggs they've just scooped up which then creates more scratchy-bum moments. They also touch things with those worm-egg riddled fingers and the eggs can live on surfaces for ages, other children then touch the surfaces, pick up the eggs, and transfer them to their mouths which is why the infection spreads so easily in nurseries and schools.

Fabrics can be washed, tables/doors/floors etc can be anti-bacced, but sand can't be washed and realistically school can't replace the whole lot every time there is an outbreak of something or they'd be tipping it out multiple times a day so it sits there is the corner of the classroom like a festering pit of germy doom.

Nit check every week with a nitty gritty comb and conditioner. It disgusts me that so many parents don't check until there is an obvious infestation. Some don't even do much then! I have 4 children my eldest 2 are boys and they have never had them my youngest 2 are girls and have had them once each at different times, luckily as I check weekly they were easy to get rid of and they only had a few.

Wait until you have to do the walk of shame from the hairdressers when they refuse to do your DC (or your) hair due to nits

DH made a comment about having worms as a child, I have never had worms nor has DB, I checked with DM in case I'd forgotten but she was similarly aghast and ran a nursery for twenty years, she said she only ever knew of a few children to have worms and it was s nightmare as they'd have to Dettol everything in sight in the nursery in one hit rather than the usual cleaning regime. Surely worms is more avoidable than nits just teach good hand hygiene (home and school) and not to put random things in your mouth. I second the advice about tree tree and plaits. I got nits once at school in reception after that the was no hair down for school, tea tree shampoo and combing every Sunday night, never got them again

It drives me mad too but is a fact of life. What is even more annoying is the cost and time to treat it. We all have v thick hair and last time it was £60 on Hedrin just to get coverage.

As for worms disgusting but easier and cheaper to treat!

To those of you saying my dc has had it 3 times in 9 weeks... it’s not been cleared properly the first time and the eggs have hatched, and you think it’s another infestation- but actually it’s the eggs hatching as they weren’t killed with the first treatment

Will definitely be commencing a Sunday night nitty gritty comb through from now on! Will also invest in some of that tea tree spray. Might also see what the trigger is to get another letter out to nursery parents. Can’t hurt.

Hedrin Once kills lice and eggs - hence the name!

Pick up some tea tree oil too and put 10 drops in your shampoo and conditioners too. It's very cheap and really helps.

Random story

My son didn't get lice but somehow I did!
I have think long curly hair and in the summer it was really itchy. Kept checking my son, but assumed if he didn't have then then I wouldn't. I invested in scalp treatments then during one scratch at work I bloody caught one! I nearly vomited.
There were so many and so huge... It was awful!! The shame...

Having treated DD last night I’ve this morning found live ones in DS’s hair. He is 15 months and too young for the chemical treatment so I’ll have to get his out with conditioner combing. No doubt he’s passed live ones back onto DD too. Fuming!!!

If you don't like nits, home educated your children and don't let them go out. Ever.

Yes there is the very odd parent who doesn't treat at all, or who doesn't check often enough so has a full blown outbreak by the time they realise (I have been guilty of this, I only found out my ds had them when I had been scratching my head uncontrollably for a couple of days - I get an itchy head anyway but when a letter came home from school about nits, the penny dropped. DS wasn't itchy!) but in most cases they do treat and it's just bad luck.

They are incredibly robust critters and it takes a lot to get rid of them. They will survive a nuclear war (and climate change).

Wait until you have to do the walk of shame from the hairdressers when they refuse to do your DC (or your) hair due to nits

Really? I had my hair highlighted while I had them! How the hairdresser missed them I don't know. I only realised later.

It’s the nursery who told me there are “persistent offenders” I’m not making that assumption.

That’s shockingly unprofessional of the nursery staff.

It’s not possible to say where children get a bout of headlice from. Some get them from their own parents.

Treat her and retreat in a week again. Check & treat any other family members who may have gotton them.
Warn anyone who has been playing with your DD that they need to check & treat as needed.
Keep her hair tied up.
Wash bed linen at 50.
Bag all teddy bears and pop them in the freezer for an hour.

I don’t blame the staff, they’ve probably been infected too!

havingtochangeusernameagain - yes, everyone who doesn’t like headlice should home educate 🤦‍♀️
It’s always the decent people trying to do the right thing that end up marginalised.

The condition and comb through method does work op but it's not an instant remedy,so how do you know the child at the concert wasn't midway through her treatment when you watched her scratching away. There are probably people looking down on your parenting because they noticed your kid scratching, did you ever think of that?

It's always the decent people trying to do the right thing that end up marginalised.

It really isn't you know.

Sorry to hijack but am I right in thinking that keeping hair in plaits can help to reduce the chances of catching them? Maybe I somehow made that up......

I am not sure boys get them any less than girls, so I doubt plaits would make a difference?

My son has brought them home a few times. The good thing with a boy is that I treat him and get his hair cut really short while the outbreak is happening. We don't see them again.

I'm dreading DD starting school.

Hedrin once and hedrin leave in comb out mousse is suitable from 6months old

They don't contain pesticides, but work by coating the lice and effectively drowning them.

The pesticide formulations are not supposed to be great as lice become resistant to them.

Treat with a coating/drowning method. Comb through and wash. Comb through with conditioner ad nitty gritty comb 3 days later. Treat again a week after original treatment. Continue to comb with conditioner once or twice a week for upkeep and prevention. Tie up hair.

Personally I have seen a head completely infested with happy looking lice having the time of their lives, despite the hair obviously being doused liberally in tea tree spray in stuff...so I'm not sure how effective it is as a preventative!!!