I'm very concerned about viruses and lice at nursery

[greeny369]

As a first time mom, a lot of things freak me out and make me question if that's normal. So my LO has started nursery, still settling in, which is taking longer than expected, but that's another story. Every morning I drop him off I see kids wildly coughing, noses leaking, rashes here and there. I mean.. I've heard from other parents around me how children get sick bi-weekly since start of nursery, but it just keeps bothering me that parents don't seem to care if their child is sick and still bring them to nursery. I empathise with parents who work full time and have no other option, but what about the other children? For me the cherry on the top of the cake was when I saw a piece of paper taped by the entrance gate the other day at our nursery saying they've found lice on one of the kids. Apparently very 'normal' for people working there and seemingly not an issue that needs addressing in any special way. Now I have debilitating fear of insects, obviously that's one of the reasons I'm shocked this is considered the norm. But then again, am I unreasonable thinking that nursery has to address this issue somehow? Be it by implementing extra cleaning routines, or removing the source of this occurance, until they are treated and confirmed to have tackeled the issue? When I asked these questions at the nursery, they just quickly dismiss me saying ' oh, its completely normal, if they don't get lice here they get it in primary or secondary, but essentially they eventually do ' followed by a big awkward smile. Maybe it's just me, but I'm considering changing nurseries. I'd love to hear another perspective on this.

I imagine general kid coughs and colds are universal, but some countries (eg USA) have a much harder line on head lice than the UK so if the OP is from a country like that it is fair enough to be shocked at the lice thing! My daughter was listening to an American podcast for kids and it was about head-lice, and it sounded like kids had to stay off school for at least a week if lice were found to go through several treatments before returning. Hence, much fewer outbreaks and lice are considered with absolute revulsion!
I would imagine anyone who grew up in the UK is well familiar with headlice and reacts with more of a roll of the eyes and a sigh so I wonder if the OP grew up else where…

I’m sorry but you need to accept that your child is going to get head lice, probably more than once, between now and high school. You’ll need to treat them and everyone else in the house.

So your child is more likely than the thousands of others babies around?

Your child is more precious than anyone else's?

Maybe it's just me, but I'm considering changing nurseries.

Good luck finding a nursery that never has colds or nits!

Honestly? Parents should not send their children in if they have a high temperature or have diarrhoea or are vomiting. But if the children didn’t go in when they have colds then they would almost never attend. I tend to think that children who catch a lot of colds in nursery will end up missing less school.

This was exactly what I was going to say. It's better to build up immunity now.

We we're lucky enough to dodge lice and threadworm, but my DD used to get get horrendous coughs and colds - but Reception, she was much hardier!

It's a fact of life I'm afraid. Do you have an anxiety disorder?
It's good for young children to build up their immunity with coughs and colds.
As for lice, they're easy to deal with. Just wash with a nit shampoo and comb them out.
I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy or you will pass your anxiety on to your kids. It's completely irrational.

I worked in school Nursery and Reception classes from 1985 to 2015. It has always been this way.

Viruses, infections, lice, worms…
All completely normal and pretty much unavoidable.
Rather then worrying about the inevitable, take the opportunity to be prepared. Buy a nit comb, some worming medicine, make sure you always have a good stock of children's medications such as liquid paracetamol. Forewarned is forearmed.

Small children congregating means whatever viruses one has picked up will be spread to everyone else.

Actually, it's not just small children - Fresher's Flu is what they call it at university. A new cohort get together, each has virtuses they themselves have immunity to but the others don't , eeryone has colds and such for the first half term.

You can't keep a child home every time s/he has a virus - you'd never leave the house. Their immune systems will adapt and they'll be fine.

Nits isn't something a nursery can do anything about - it's not like a flea ifestation that can be fumigated!

Headlice are on a child's head, crawl from hair to hair as children get close and are playing, and then they lay eggs. Every time there's a nit notice, take a nit comb to your child's hair to check s/he hasn't got any. If all parents did this, it would be dealt with in no time.

Please get some help for your anxiety. Lice are a pain, but Hedrin and weekly combing will sort them. Coughs and sniffles will give your child a strong immune system and by the time they start school, they won't catch nearly so many things. If you remove your child from nursery, they will just catch everything when they start primary school and you will have to deal with it - and get hassled about attendance.

You can also try a tea tree oil conditioner for your child's hair. It is a mild deterrent for head lice.

But you will not be able to find a nursery without any kind of virus/lice/infections.

Toddlers with runny nose is par for the course especially in autumn/winter!

Most are not really "sick". They are fine in themselves. You do have to be a bit less precious about this, their immune system does need to get used to ordinary coughs & colds & mild viruses.

A bit of hair spray is also a good preventative.
Edit: for head lice obviously not viruses.

Headlice are completely normal and almost entirely inevitable. We didn't get them at nursery and not till 2 years into school which astounded me.

I caught them in my 20s from my much younger cousin. That was a bit more surprising to me.

There are some incredibly snarky replies to the OP. I grew up in North America and lice were considered unclean and if a child got them they were probably being neglected. So, it’s a different cultural reaction. I’d never heard of threadworms until I moved to the UK.

I was the same. I got HEPA air filters for every room at home, check daily for headlice. Full change of clothes and wash hands when get in from nursery. Extra vaccinations (c pox and men acwy) plus probiotics and a good vitamin and mineral supplement plus very healthy diet

Thinking something doesn’t make it true though. A child will catch lice if their hair is close to the hair of another child with nits. Lice do not seek out dirty hair, nor is the act of catching something anything like neglect. The only neglectful thing would be not treating it.

It's important that young children are exposed to germs to get their immune systems strong.

Headlice are itchy and persistent little buggers but they don't cause a health problem (unless you are caked in them). I have 4 kids and unless I had sent mine to school in hazmat suits they were all going to get lice. Must have had them 10 times or more.

The reality is that school isn’t any different, regardless of state or indy.

You could isolate your child, get a nanny and home school but really you are just allowing your mental health issues to detrimentally impact your child.

My niece got lice from her fancy NY prep school. Nowhere is immune!!
Not sure about threadworms though, I’ve only heard of people getting those on MN and never in real life. Thank god.

It’s you. I’m sure they’re talking about head lice, which spread from head to head regardless of cleanliness, not body lice which might indicate poor hygiene. There’s nothing the nursery can do about it other than ask parents to comb their children's hair thoroughly every day and to treat any outbreaks they find.

I'm afraid it is common in most places where children put their heads close together, and you can’t stop young children doing that. If your child does get them, you'll have to accept it as just one of those things, and treat the whole family with an appropriate medication. It will probably happen more than once during your child's nursery/school career, and no-one will be judgmental. It’s a nuisance but not that important.

The same is true for minor coughs, colds etc. It’s life.

A paediatrician told me that if your child hasn’t had worms by the age of five, it just means the parents haven’t noticed them.

Oh, how very “To Kill a Mockingbird” with kids being shamed for “cooties”.

It’s important to understand that lice and headlice are different things.

Body lice are a sign of serious neglect/poverty.

Headlice are just a hazard of being a child. Obviously it’s neglect not to treat them though.

My son goes to an expensive private school. We still get notices about head lice outbreaks.

Um, 1st child by any chance? 🤣

The 1st comment said it far nicer than I probably will so I'll just say that I agree with them...
Will only add that it might help to think of it like this - all the illnesses and bugs your child will get during childhood is totally normal and is kinda like their immune system is in training.

https://childrenswi.org/newshub/stories/pinworms-in-kids-dont-be-frightened-they-are-common#:~:text=Up%20to%20half%20of%20kids,parasitic%20infection%20in%20the%20U.S.

Up to half of kids, typically between ages 5 to 10, will get a pinworm infection at some point, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is the most common parasitic infection in the U.S.