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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Nits. I have seriously lost the plot with them

67 replies

Saltire · 14/02/2009 19:51

Just before Christmas the Dses (aged 10 and 8) go tnits for the first time ever. We did all teh hedrin stuff etc etc. Since then, following advice on here, I comb through their hair (bear in mind they are boys with hair cut by clippers so very short) with leave in conditioner and a nitty gritty comb every single night.
On Sunday night I got their hair cut to Number 1 (so very short) and ddi all the combing out. On monday night after school I could see them again in Ds2's hair, and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. And I think it is Ds2 who is getting them in his class. I am sick to the back teeth with this, how on earth those of you with DDs who have long hair cope I don't know. DH is combing through my hair on anightly basis - and how I'm going to manage to do that myself for 4 months I don't know.

so
AIBU to tell the head teacher that someone in Ds2's class is passing them on and that a parent of a child in that class obviously isn't checking their child?

OP posts:
southeastastra · 14/02/2009 19:52

seems strange if you're using the nitty gritty comb every night!

PiggyPenguin · 14/02/2009 19:55

I don't think it is unreasonable to mention it to the school. We do this at our school and then the head will send a note asking parents to all check for headlice. Obviously she can't make them do this though.

loobeylou · 14/02/2009 19:55

have you tried spraying them (DC) with tea tree oil/lavender oil in water (in a plant sprayer pump thing, cheaper than buying the ready made nit sprays), does seem to keep them away

also i swear by eating lots of garlic

Original poster
Saltire · 14/02/2009 20:00

sea - its for all the world as though he is going out in the morning nit/lice free and coming home again with them, having got it at school, some of the ones I took out his head on Thursday were big, and as Is aid his hair is very short, so they don't ahve a lot of room to hide.

Loobey - I ahve also got a vosene kids thing which has tea tree and eucaliptus in it, which I spray on as well!

OP posts:
ABetaDad · 14/02/2009 20:03

I suggest that rather than using loads of anti nit shampoos all the time that you use T Gel shampoo twice a week - say Sunday and Wednesday night. I have heard that the nits do not like the coal tar smell in T Gel.

It will not kill nits but it repels them apparentlty.

loobeylou · 14/02/2009 20:04

does sound like someone in his circle of close friends or on his table has a recurrent problem then, trouble is schools are not allowed to TELL a particular parent if they see nits on a particular kid(I don't get this myself, me and everyone I know would WANT to be told!)

some parents just do not bother

southeastastra · 14/02/2009 20:05

yes definitely tell someone at the school, the other kid must be in agony to have so many to pass on!

they're really hard to miss when they get to that stage poor kid

Original poster
Saltire · 14/02/2009 20:06

Abetadad - I'm not actually using specific nit lotions though, I am using a leave in conditioner every ngiht, and spraying the tea tree stuff on in the morning!
I'm fed up, and I want to get my haircut but am too embarassed to go in case I have them!

OP posts:
Lulumama · 14/02/2009 20:08

you must tell the school discreetly., if DS coming home iwth full grown lice in his hair

tea tree oil in the final rinse is good

it must be someone within the class who is untreated

southeastastra · 14/02/2009 20:08

i read on here dilutes vinegar works to sprayed on. surely the school could intervene if the case was so severe?

Original poster
Saltire · 14/02/2009 20:12

I work for a high street retailer which sells Hedrin etc and am tempted to buy a bottle for every child in his calss. Surely there has to be a neglect issue here though, it cannot be good for the poor child who ahs them?

OP posts:
MrsWeasley · 14/02/2009 20:14

If your DS is coming home with big lice on his head and you have no eggs then he is picking them up from someone so it is advisable/necessary to speak to the school and they can act on it.

Original poster
Saltire · 14/02/2009 20:16

I have informed the school, but they jsut send a letter out, and obviously someone isn't checking. I want to go and see the head and tell her how bloody annoyed I am

OP posts:
chefswife · 14/02/2009 20:18

my god. they're not allowed to tell the parent their child is nitty has lice or they won't tell because having lice has a social stigma.

southeastastra · 14/02/2009 20:22

you have to tell the head and ask what they will do about it. it is neglect

LauriefairycakeeatsCupid · 14/02/2009 20:24

What worked with my ten year old dd after 4 bouts of nits in 4 months was a long chat about not putting her head close to others in her class and playing responsibly (plus a huge headband - covers half her head and a very tight, short ponytail)

I appreciate that the headband would not be a good look on boys but I think it was really the chat about playing that made the difference - no nits in yr 6 at all yet

loobeylou · 14/02/2009 20:30

No chefswife, they are not allowed to tell individual parents, even when they KNOW who the problem family is/are, which is why the general "reported case of headlice - please check your kids hair" letter comes out, with a reply slip at our school for parents to say either the kid is nit free or has been treated before return to school.

then a stronger letter the next week when half the class have not bothered to check/bring slip back.

they cannot send kids home etc like with other illnesses. and they don't have nit nurse spot checks any more

it is mad mad mad.

OP, you will have to try and find out who it is and ask your kid to keep away!

eidsvold · 14/02/2009 20:31

saltire - I use this one with dd1 everyday and we have not had a problem.

here

We always get notes home about nits so I check - do a comb through just to be sure and then use the spray.

loobeylou · 14/02/2009 20:32

flippin heck thats expensive....much cheaper to make your own!

FlyMeToDunoon · 14/02/2009 20:33

Just combed a load out of DD1's hair which always seems to be the norm at the beginning of a break.I suppose parents relax their vigilance then. It's disgusting isn't it. We have the hedrin on and will be washing, conditioning and combing in the morning. Yuck!
BTW DD1 says she doesn't believe in god anymore because if there was a god he must have invented head lice!

Stayingsunnygirl · 14/02/2009 20:33

When my younger two dses were at playgroup, we had a child there who had such a bad lice problem that he had sores on his head from all the scratching. I cannot understand why a parent would let their children get that bad. I know that nit combing is tedious, but that's not a good enough reason not to do it!

modernart · 14/02/2009 20:42

I would surreptitiously inspect the other children in the school playground. My DC was being reinfected and when I 'gave them the talk' I mentioned the nitty child's name as one to possibly keep their head away from. They so hated the nit comb that this was deterrent enough.

I think you have to be careful with this approach though so children at school don't start saying 'yuck, you've got nits'. But if they're slightly older they are often prepared to keep heads clear rather than suffer the nightly rigmarole.

nappyaddict · 14/02/2009 21:09

Saltire try lavender oil and grapefruit seed extract.

mumblecrumble · 14/02/2009 21:26

My mum reckons nits prefer clean short hair...[she's a nurse so maybe its true]

SO maybe you should let them grow it and get mingin.....

Nightmare.

Goodl;uck

HSMM · 14/02/2009 21:32

My DD has long curly thick hair. We nit comb every time she washes her hair. She is 9 and often combs her own hair voluntarily. I know it's her friends at school, because every holidays we are nit free. She is a girl though and they are always cuddling up and putting their heads together. The school has regular bug busting days, but several of the children come back to school and tell my DD their parents couldn't be bothered, or 'the school can't tell me what to do'. It is soul destroying, but has to be done! The school have no power over this. We just use a nit comb and lots of conditioner on a regular basis. (on her and me)