Are nits "a normal and expected part of childhood"?

[ghosty]

This is my second AIBU thread this week
Until 8 weeks ago we have never had nits (I never had them as a child and I never had them in 10 years of teaching). DD brought them home 8 weeks ago. Mortified (possibly unnecesssarily), I treated the whole family immediately and I rang my friend who we had spent the day with that day to tell her. She said that nits were a normal part of childhood and that her children have them 'all the time'. She was very blase about it. She said she never uses chemicals on her children's hair and when she notices nits she combs olive oil through for a couple of weeks and eventually they go.
I was a bit shocked and said that I didn't see nits as a normal part of childhood. Anyway, DS came home with nits yesterday . Again I treated us all last night but I was wondering:
a) now we have had them will we ever get rid of them or is that it?
b) Is my friend right and am I over reacting to be so disgusted and mortified
c) AIBU to be a bit reticent about seeing too much of my friend's kids now?

[ghosty]

But how can checking them prevent getting them? I mean, you are checking them and then if you find some you get rid of them but you can't prevent the DCs from getting them can you?
Does anyone get itchy just thinkign about them?



I see that I am being Unreasonable by most comments but my mother and sister are very much of the "No child of mine ever had nits" camp (said very loudly and in a horrified manner) so when DD first got them I thought it must be terrible ... and then when DS got them my heart sank to my boots ...

[SlartyBartFast]

another one with a blase approach. after years of treating with conditioner, dd is now 11, ds had been less affected but dd2 has had them since very young .
however i do treat them with conditioner. if they have laid eggs a short while later you will have babies. i always cheer if i catch a baby, via conditioner, as it means they hopefully havent laid eggs. twice weekly is the recommendation.

however just when you think you are rid of them little blighters return.

part of modern childhood i am afraid.

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

Get a nitty gritty and comb once a week to check.

I've only used chemcials on myself- they didn't work- so I ended up nitty gritty-ing like the kids - nitty gritty with conditioner until they're all gone - if they're ridden with them you'll get most of them out in 2 days- then have to keep combing as the babies hatch- they won't get passed on though as they're too little apparentlly- the comb will get out some eggs but not all.

Your ds's second lot of nits could have been a new batch hatching that he had before. I don't think the chemicals work very well.

[notsoteenagemum]

Don't worry my MIL is exactly like that 'I 've had 4 kids and none had nits' but she had 3 boys and i think it is harder for boys to catch them im the first place.
The checking won't stop DC's catching them but on occaision I've found just one adult one and have got rid before its laid any eggs. I must add that with the checking method we've been nit free for 2 years whilst they have been rife in school.

[ghosty]

Could that be a second batch from 8 weeks ago (mid june) jimjams? That time only DD had them (at least I couldn't find any in DS's hair, although I did treat him at the time)

[oi]

yes, totally normal.

As are worms imo.

[oi]

dd has very thick curly hair and I find it nearly impossible to get them all out. Even if I spend more than an hour doing it with a nitty gritty and Hedrin, they still seem to lurk there. They can be very hard to get rid of. And of course, just as you get rid of them, they go back to school and pick them up again!

With your dd, if she has long hair, tie it up within an inch of its life. Like a tight french plait. I think it's bending over towards other children in groups that causes them to pass between children.

[jimjamshaslefttheyurt]

oh if it was that long ago not a second batch, I suspect it's the same batch going round the school.

I LOVE finding one big fat adult one- squish the horrible thing before it lays anything ha!

Our biggest problem is checking ds1, but he has very short hair at the moment and seems to escape. Short hair does help.

[ghosty]

Yes, DS's hair is resembling an overgrown hedgerow at the moment - we usually keep it very short but it's winter and I can't be arsed to get it cut. Will do next week though. I didn't realise how thick it was until I was combing through last night. DD's is not so thick so easier to comb.

[Grumpalina]

My two boys have had them once each (at different times picked up a t nursery). In both cases I washed with a chemical nit buster and then used a comb (one of those that give electric shocks-is that a nitty gritty comb???) for the next month. Neither have ever got them again. Occasionally I have a panic and I use the comb but the eldest has been clear for 5 years.

Must admit I would be slightly concerned about my children being round someone elses kids who had such a laissez faire attitude to nit busting.

As a lot of posters have said I think the main problem now is that schools don't take an active part in nit busting. A friend of mine whose daughter had them constantly said it was quite obvious who the source was at her daughter's school. The children in a particular family scratched so much there were bald patches however no one at the school would address it with the parents directly. They said they 'weren't allowed to' for some reason. The only thing they did was send out general letters to parents saying there were nits in school and to check.

[oi]

cutting it short makes a difference ghosty. Even if dd picks them up now, ds doesn't often get them, even from her and I'm sure it's because his hair is short.

[SlartyBartFast]

absolutely, that is why i reckon boys do get it less than girls, due to short hair

[LackaDAISYcal]

I think part of the problem now is the demise of the nit nurse and the fact that teachers aren't allowed to tell parents that their child has headlice; all they can do is send out a generic letter saying "one of the children in the class has headlice" and hope that parents take the appropriate action.

DS, 6 has never had them, but he only gets his hair washed twice a week. Not sure if that's what's keeping them at bay or not.

Lots of people swear by tea tree shampoo and conditioner.

[crazymummy84]

Using the Olive oil/conditioner combing method does not mean other children are more likely to catch them than if you use chemicals. No chemical you can buy kills live eggs, which is why most of them you have to apply again 1 week later. If you do the combing moethod properly, you will remove all louse. You do it daily to remove any newly hatched louse. With the chemicals, lots of lice will hatch within that week, (although be too young to lay eggs) so they are more likely to be caught with using chemicals only.

I use Olive oil rather than conditioner because when combing with conditioner the comb collects loads of residue making it harder to see what you are doing.

[AbbeyA]

I have 3 DSs-all with short hair-they have all had them at one time or another-and passed them on to me-ugh!

[TsarChasm]

I agree that nits and worms are to a large part to be expected.

I'm always checking for them and combing etc and inspecting bottoms and fingernails for worm signs.

Even though they are probably normal (we've had worms but not nits..yet) I cannot help it, the whole thing repels and disgusts me. There I said it! I can't be blase or laid back on the subject and will swing into action just as ghosty did.

People that aren't too worried about clearing the problem up; yes I probably would end up avoiding them.

[oi]

yes I always thought nits were bad till we all got worms. Worms are horrendous. When you get them yourselves and feel that 'emerging' feeling....ewwwww.

[newpup]

I do understand what you mean about treating with chemicals but I just can not leave my child with lice crawling around her hair for everyone else to catch!!

Hedrin is not a toxic chemical but a solution that sticks to the lice so they can not breathe. I am not exactly coating her head in cynanide!!

I have tried using tea tree oil but as everyone else in the school is using that too it does not work.

Hedrin does work for us one dose leaves lice dead, another dose 7 days later and any new hatched ones are dead. If I only used the combing method then I would spread them to everyone else and the problem would never go away. If you want to use the combing methos then you need to keep your child at home until they are all gone.

The rule at our school is that you can not send a child home with headlice all you can do is send out a generic letter to all parents and hope they check!

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

my nan told me to rinse dd1's hair in vinager and warm water after shampooing it makes her hair shiny and the nits dont like it. it has worked so far.

and she does dancing which imo is the worst place to get nits as the children get a lot closer to each other in their routines than they do playing.

we all had them when we were young. my youngest sister had them constantly, imo due to her dancing classes. i dont know if my mum did the vinegar thing on us. i know my nan did with me and i only had them once or twice compared to my sisters having them all the time.

[TsarChasm]

OMG Oi please please don't remind me. I was swallowing ovex like smarties. Sod the dosage instructions, I couldn't eat enough of them.

[oi]

lolol Tsar.

I went to the chemist and said 'right I know Ovex is for the kids but isn't there a super duper major poison that adults can take?' and she looked at me as if I was a total loon.

Worms are also a pita re the washing of sheets etc. It's like a total household curse! Itchy arse and loads of housework!

[SlartyBartFast]

what signs of worms??
apart from itchyness?
can you see eggs in fingernails?

[SlartyBartFast]

nervously biting nails

[oi]

don't bite nails



weeellll, to be perfectly graphic, I always know because of itchy arsiness.

when the kids were babies (LOOK AWAY IF EATING), I noticed because the poo in their nappies were full of wrigglers but once they are kids, it's the itchy bum and sometimes with girls, they get itchy vaginas (without even noticing itchy bum).

Some children also suddenly bed wet and get tummy pains.

[oi]

you can sometimes see them if they complain of itchy bum/vagina at night/evening, you can shine a torch on their bum and see little white threads around the hole. Obviously some older kids probably won't be happy with you doing that!