To think this child should have been kept off school (nits)?!!!

[WiseFinch]

I am a teaching assistant and have been working with early years this week. Child informs me that they had “fleas in their hair” and had to have special shampoo last night.,
My first reaction was to keep a wide berth but this is absolutely impossible with a 4 year old.

Through the course of the day, it is very clear that this child still has a raging case of nits and is itching their head - and also hanging off me every five minutes for a cuddle… This was two days ago and now my head is itching. I did not have close contact for very long and it wasn’t head to head, plus my hair was up, but I’m now absolutely paranoid I’ve got nits - and I’m sure they’ll be going around the whole class as we speak.

I am new-ish to this job and don’t have kids myself, but surely you should keep your child off until all of the nits are gone? It’s not a case of neglect here, family are well to do and are quite nice people! So I am fully prepared to be told IABU. What does everyone think???

Years ago when my girls were small you got a lotion and left it on for 24 hours it stunk .You then had to comb through with a metal nit comb to remove the dead ones and sit there trying to remove the empty egg sacks which stick to the bloody hair .plus you had to keep them off school.

I don't think this is neglect, this Mother tried her best using many products at great cost to herself.
You state two children died, I did not know this, but you said they were untreated, this Mothrr treated her children.

Being ‘well to do’ and ‘nice people’ means nothing in terms of neglect.
I’ve had families over the years with loads of money, well spoken etc. who don’t give a toss about their children. As well as families who have hardly anything who would do anything for their children.

Head lice is not something that you need to stay off with. If it was you would be off a while as treatment needs to be repeated after a week to ensure everything has been killed off. Schools can’t send out letters these days warning of lice in a class, no ‘nit nurses’ now either.
Leave in conditioner, hair up, tea tree oil can help reduce the risk of Lice transfer.

Suleo.

I boarded for two years as a teen and some girls got nits, they were given Suleo to treat it, plus nit combs. I remember the headmistress went berserk, as if the head lice indicated that the school was below par in some way. It was not a big deal and soon sorted.

It’s dialect. I know it’s scratching, but I wouldn’t correct someone who said they were itching their head. There are worse things to worry about.

I’ve known children have it but have never, in 20+ years, seen a louse running about on a child’s head. For this I am lucky and thankful, I know. Of course I’ve known of children being treated for it, but it shows it’s possible for outbreaks to be minimal in schools where parents would be embarrassed to send their children in with live lice in their heads.

I’m not sure that’s true. I haven’t had threadworms since 1998.

I work in a school in Australia and we send kids home if they present with nits. We do have a very sensible approach to absences though.

What worked in the end?

You’re not the only one. My head is itching now and I definitely don’t have nits!

Not neglect. The poster has been treating the nits and no professional treatment will help if they keep being re-infected at school. I had one of my daughters treated professionally and unfortunately it wasn't long before they were back. They can be very difficult to get rid of.

You've clearly not done your safeguarding training, or paid no attention if you have.
Being nice people and "well to do" does not prevent you also neglecting your children! Neglect isn't exclusive to council house tenants you know, quite the opposite in fact.
As for staying off school with nits, get real.

Nits are absolute fuckers but if your child missed school every time you suspected nits, their attendance would be shot to pieces. They seemed to love my DD when she was little. Every bathtime and hairwash I would carefully comb her (short) hair with a nit comb and a tonne of conditioner, regularly did treatments - chemical, herbal, you name it - but when others aren't taking the same care, they pick them up again.

It really stunk ,but it left a residue so you were ok for a little while .You could actually get a prescription for it from the doctors.(my heads now itching)

I was a teacher and it would not have been acceptable to phone in sick with headlice, so my DC went to school with live lice - or came home with live lice. Would you be OK with school closing for a fortnight due to headlice?

If anyone is still in the nit stage of life with their DC the thing that eradicated them for us was a weekly hair rinse with a strong infusion of quassia tree bark. I bought a small sack of the stuff from amazon. You need the sort that makes the water incredibly bitter. Shampoo, condition, nit comb as usual, rinse clean with water, then final rinse with quassia bark water. Nits hate it.

I absolutely did not neglect my child - headlice are very difficult to eradicate.

This is exactly what happens. So frustrating.

Of course it’s not neglect. I’m in the same boat with my daughters. Constant lice for years now, despite combing with a nitty gritty and conditioner every other night after giving up with the not treatments that did sod all. It’s maddening.

But presumably you were a kid at some point, no?

Surely they can't be a new concept to you? Your parents literally never owned a nit comb or nit shampoo or treated your hair with homemade remedies, even as just a preventative?

This was me as a kid, I would have failed school if I had to stay off that much.

Plus every parent would lie and say their kid had nits every time they wanted to take them out of school for a term-time holiday if you forced kids to stay off. It's too easy a loophole.

If you're worried about nits, worms, any kind of virus, illness, germs, or anything similar, a school is not the place for you.

I haven't read the full thread, so I apologise if I'm repeating, but this is a good resource common illnesses in school children https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Our school send an email to say if there are any live lice they should be treated and not be in school until
no live ones are found

Oh good grief. Get a grip.

I do think some people are more prone than others - does hair type/blood type make a difference? I never caught nits as a child and my 3 dc (now teens) have also never had nits. Whereas others seems to get them regularly - definitely not judging, just feel very lucky (we have had worms though, that was a fun week).

I do remember getting very itchy and very paranoid whenever they were doing the rounds though - I suspect that part is psychological.