To not do nit checks twice weekly?

[Kilot]

School have sent out an email to say we should be checking the children’s hair thoroughly with a nit-comb twice a week. AIBU to think they’ve lost their minds?

You probably haven't because other parents are being vigilant.

I’ve literally never once checked either of my children’s hair for nits. My eldest is nearly 18.
Neither of them has had nits.
I don’t know anyone who does this.

Sounds like they are seeing / hearing about more cases and they’re asking everyone to check regularly. Maybe there are a few kids that keep getting them so they’re asking everyone to step up more.

Ours only had them about twice ever. They’re teens now. We definitely didn’t check with full on nit comb twice a week - we’d check if we spotted any itching, and if a letter came home from school about it. Probably a few times a year. The first time they had them we all got it, and the second time we had it contained quickly as we’d spotted the itching.

If there were regularly cases at school we’d have been checking much more often. But there weren’t.

My dd I checked more regularly, she only had nits once when she was about 5. I always used tea tree shampoo after that, it does seem to keep them at bay. My son doesn't get checked as much as he has short hair, although I know that doesn't mean he can't get them. He's not had nits yet. I think some kids do seem to be more prone to it and I suppose it is down to parents not checking so it's not a bad thing but twice a week deos seems a lot. I remember we used to get checked on a Sunday night by my mum.

Mine have afro hair. It takes 45 minutes to go through my eldest hair and about 30 for the youngest. The breakage is real. I checked when they had an outbreak at school. I'll look through when I'm braiding but I'm not nit combing twice a week unless the actually have nits.

You are the problem

If your do are itchy due to nits (obviously there are other reasons), then you've got an issue . You dont get itchy off 1 or 2, you get itchy off an infestation.
I would do our sons at least once a week, my Dsis did her daughter's nightly as there was an 'epidemic' in her class with a parent who obviously wasn't checking/treating their child.

When i was teaching my DH would check my hair at least weekly and thoroughly, thoroughly when I had a hairdressers appointment. That was a real fear for me.

I do it every week while they are in the bath having hair washed

So far they have never had nits, but then i think everyone round our way is super dedicated to the nitty gritty.

It’s entirely possible to go years without any nit outbreaks in the class. Sometimes people don’t check much because they don’t happen at all often - not because everyone is checking all the time.

These threads always make me itch 😂

I work with kids and when I’m working with kids who have lice I will comb every 4-5 days and the infestation can’t take hold. Tea tree shampoo and French braids essential.

I don’t comb my kids hair unless I’m suspicious. Check behind ears and nape of neck at least twice a week, generally when I’m doing their hair anyway.

I expect with an email like that they have sent it to everyone but it’s aimed specifically at one or two families they cannot single out. Combe them properly this week so you can be sure they don’t have them before you assume they don’t. It’s incredibly frustrating hearing parent of kids I know have nits go on about how their kids never get them. (Also if you have them make mum AND DAD comb too to amount of preschooler mums who can’t understand why they can’t get rid of bits when they don’t treat dad is insane!). If your kids dont get them regularly they probably are not friends with the child/ren in question and you certainly won’t be the family this email was aimed at

I was going to say there must be very thin haired children on here, or people aren’t doing it properly. My DDs hair would take 45 mins to get through.

We are currently amidst an outbreak in yr 6. The first since yr R. The teacher says half the class have nits. So I'm nitty gritty combing with conditioner every other day and doing treatments if we find anything, but I suspect many parents aren't doing anything. And so the cycle continues!

I don’t check with a comb but I do check their heads every day

I do a cursory check after bath time but that’s as far as it goes. We’ve only had a couple of messages ever from nursery regarding nits. If classmates were always crawling with headlice then I’d be checking every day but thankfully everyone seems on top of it

We have only ever had one infestation of nits in our house and my eldest, who has autism, still talks years later about having his hair raked through with the comb. He has very thick wavy hair and it was pure torture for him (and me!) I can’t even begin to imagine how he would cope with having it done regularly.

"Wildlife" love it!!! 😁

I don’t know a single person who checks their kids heads for nits unless they see them scratching.

Mumsnet is fucking mental. Talking about it ruining Christmas? Wtf? Sometimes kids get nits 🤷🏻‍♀️

My kid’s never had them at all and if he did it’s not the end of the world. No one I know is regularly nit checking their kids. Mumsnet is batshit as usual.

Some areas have absolute ongoing plagues of nits. Some just really don’t! I have lived in both kinds and adjusted behaviour accordingly!

Your kids’ school sounds clatty

Some are definitely more prone , my son had short hair but was a magnet for them especially in the lower years of school . The girls less so even with long hair because it was plaited everyday and also used tea tree shampoo. Tea tree definitely helps , I'm scratching now thinking about them

I check once a week with conditioner and a nitty gritty but we have someone who has had nits for years so they keep cropping up.

The thing i have discovered this week is that you can’t always see them. No amount if combing has revealed the little bastards

the only way we know my daughter has them is the incessant itching

And the only time we saw an actual louse was after we applying headrin gel, leaving on all night and then we found a few dead ones when combing

I have three DC and I've never checked their hair for nits. The youngest is 16 now. None of them ever got nits.

Yes, this. We got away with no nits for about the first 8 years of my first child's life, they seem to circulate my second child's class permanently so we're on very regular checks.

im always on the lookout for them when brushing hair in the mornings but there's no way in hell I've got time to do a full conditioner and nit comb check weekly never mind daily. I probably do it every 1-2 months or obviously if they mention being itchy.