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

I think it is to do with spreading them about - long loose hair flying about makes it easier for a lice to crawl from head to head (especially now kids sit on nice communication friendly table's with their heads together and not does of separate desks!)

Apparently there was an upsurge in teen girls getting them because long loose hair is so popular and combined with all those head together selfies, it's a lice paradise!

Oh and headlice can only survive on heads so manic hot wash of bedding and Teddie etc is unnecessary

I have 4 kids, eldest 17 youngest 7 and had my first experience with head lice recently with my youngest. I was disgusted and treated &combed instantly (all 4) and conditioner and combed until my youngest was clear - he was the only one to get them obs did myself too but didn’t get them which is a miracle. I only found 2 live lice on him but that was enough. Hoping he doesn’t manage to get them again but there is no point getting stressed just lewrnvto treat effectively and alert close friends/family - i’d Been at my sisters the day before so that was a fun conversation

Pretty lucky to have avoided them in 17 years of parenting

Dare I ask how you identify that they have worms?

Just dose them quarterly anyway. It's one 5ml spoon of medicine two weeks apart and dead cheap.

If it won't completely eradicate the population it will keep them down to the extent that they are not causing pain or discomfort.

My DS has a mass of curly hair and on the 2 occasions he's had head lice he's barely scratched at all so we weren't sure how long they'd been there 😳 As soon as we found them we conditioned and combed them all out (while he sat naming all his new lice friends crawling around the bath tub 😕)
DD has never had them but she's always been a bit of a people hater so tends to keep her distance

Don't think it's anything to get so worked up over tbh

•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*

That sounds plausible to me-a lot less free flowing hair in plaits so it makes perfect sense.

You need to retreat to stop the eggs from rehatching. Most treatment don't kill the eggs.

I can't be the only one itching like crazy now.......

And yes, maybe it's so the hair isn't wafting about which makes them less likely to catch them. I plait DD's hair because if it gets knotted it's like trying to pin down a pissed off wild animal that screams like a banshee when I'm trying to brush it. Plus she looks cute.

plaited dd hair but it depends how close (!) they are to little friends & ds who had buzz cut caught them (not at the same time - that would be to convenient!) & yes scalp does itch - be grateful there are worse bugs overseas & intestinal parasites too (giardiasis etc) (mn starts googling this!)

Get used to it. And get a nutty gritty comb. I have four DC and we seem to have had them at least once a year since the eldest started school.

OP just treat it and don’t stress it.
By the time your kids have been through primary school, you’ll be a seasoned pro at de-nitting.

I got told of a natural remedy tea tree, eucalyptus & lavender oil in water. Spray daily and lice haven't got a chance.

How do you know other parents weren't taking it seriously?
My daughter had nits off and on throughout nursery and a fair chunk of orinary school as did her friend. I and other mum treated our kids repeatedly. Repeatedly. But it just kept going round and round. It was awful.
My daughter started crying as soon as I went near her with the bloody comb.
Before you get too sanctimonous, remember someone might have looked at your daughter scratching and thought exactly the same thing.
Buckle up princess. She is only in nursery. Its going to get worse before it gets better

Yes about the plaits thing. My mum said she didn't get them as a child because her hair was always in tight plaits. My hair was too short for them really but she used to use something called Suleo on my hair and I didn't get them. Think it's been banned now.

re suleo museumandarchives.redcross.org.uk/objects/9788 apparently it contains ddt!!!!

I didn’t say anything about the child who was scratching, other then she was scratching! It was just an observation that there have been lice in the nursery since xmas. Not my conclusion either that the parents are trying to resolve the issue, I’m being told by nursery there are some parent struggling to deal effectively with it. I don’t care if people look at my children scratching, that’s up to them! I’m just cross it seems to be an acceptable norm. Also a lot of parents didn’t realise current advice is to comb until day 17 following an infestation, they seemed to think it was a week.

Aren’t

Doesn’t take a minute to read nhs website and see it takes 17 days of combing