Nits. I have seriously lost the plot with them

[Saltire]

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?

Oh god well I have just found out that as well as nits we all have threadworm!! So I feel disgusting at the moment. Who'd have kids. yeugh

A friend of mine invited my eldest DD round to play with her DD. Only when we left did she say, 'oh, by the way P has nits. She's had them for ages.'

she won't use treatments as thinks chemicals are bad for childrens skin (maybe but you hopefully don't have to use them often).

FFS.

How iresponsible. Don't they know that this is where the term 'feeling lousy' comes from. The histemine that is produced builds up and makes you feel lousy!

so your itchy both ends then Mamas12?

your= you're

I was talking to a mum who had this situation for a long time - a long term infested child in the class passing it on. In the end she threatened the school with reporting them for not reporting it to social services as they child was being neglected.

It is neglect to leave a child infested (I mean not treating it all not someone battling with getting rid of the blighters) they drink your blood and make you feel lousy.

It worked

you'd better believe it sparkyheart and it's AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH
Am stinking of teatree from every orifice.Teatree headlice treatment teatree bath teatree and aloe vera gel after bath Can I eat it too??
Mind you it was worth it (only just) to see the total look of lip curling disgist as I gave xh his worming tablet ealier when picking dcs up (tee hee) He can't escape that part of parenting.

sparkly get her onto the wildchild products -all natural.

Well they are being imported from Australia. I guess it depends on what you want to do with your children's hair.

My dd1 has never ever had nits despite notes coming home from her class every week about it!

As I am in Aus they are actually one of the cheapest products including when compared with nasty chemical stuff.

I have just finally got rid of headlice by using Prioderm twice one week apart. I have tried everything else and its the only thing that has worked. It is really unpleasant but worth using just to get rid!

My twins have had head lice at least six times since September. Some of the parents just can't be bothered to treat their children. When I told my DD best friends mum that my DD had headlice her reply was 'X has them all the time and she won't let me mess with her hair!' So its no wonder my DD has had them constantly.

I have got so fed up with it that in the end I spoke to the headmistress and demanded that a letter was sent. I also had stern words with X's mum and told her to get X treated now!

It must have worked cos my twins haven't had them for over 2 weeks now. I still check with a comb every night and all is clear so far!

I really sympathise with you OP. I wouldn't hesitate to speak to the teacher about it. I spoke to my DD and DS teacher and she told me she could actually see egss in some of the children hair and was shocked that some of the parents seemed to be doing nothing.

we use this spray it on both the dc's every morning before school. has kept dd nit free for 9 months now.

i still wet comb with nitty gritty once a week as a precaution too, but the lanes stuff is the preventative one we've found works the best for us.

frontline, the treatment you use to get rid of fleas on cats, thats what i use, works.
gets rid of em and they never come back.

(and no i am not a nutter,or a troll, its been tried and tested by a few of us mums,no side effects, no combing,washing, etc, no smells, no screaming children)

I wish some pharmacuetical company would develop this properly into a headlice treatment, bneacuse everyone screams "its abuse, you cant put cat flea treatment on kids heads" And I say don't then, your choice, but i did, many people i know did, and they aint been back.

Your son must be getting reinfected from school each day. If you wet comb every 4th day the lice will get progressively smaller each time you comb - and if you find a big one it is a new one from another head.

Schools don't want to get involved with headlice which I think is disgraceful.

And many people can't be bothered to treat their children which I think is neglectful. I believe we need to put social pressure on parents to keep their children lice-free.

Your situation sounds infuriating. Perhaps try talking to the likely parents concerned yourself?

oh god. the horror stories of nits. i really don't understand why some parents are oblivious to them, especially when you can see them. at the school where my friend is a grade one teacher, the school nurse makes the rounds in the classes and checks for lice and any child found with them is given a note specially for the parents of that child. its very hush hush because kids can be cruel but at least the school is taking the first step. the parents certainly can't posture ignorance which is really just neglect.

i heard about the flea treatment too and the rave was that it was the best at getting rid of them. it may seem extreme but at least you know that it is safe.

I got so fed up I used the dogs' Frontline on three occasions (tiny dots--about the size of an O on this page).

It worked like magic and I found several other friends secretly doing the same thing.

I know there's a theoretical risk but if you have girls with long hair, the conditioner/combing business is impractical IMHO.

I am not recommending this, btw....

Someone will tell me off now. ;)

On a less contentious note--nits DO become less of a problem as children grow up. Mine are 10 and 12 now and we haven't had them for years.

Oh dear, my admission has killed the thread as speedily as the Frontline killed the nits.

I am seriously going to try it, i have a nit magnet.

Do not use Frontline on humans.

My own internet search reveals that it contains Fipronil and there are some cases of ill health in people who have high levels of exposure to it (e.g spraying field crops).

It is defined as a Class C carcinogen by the US EPA.

The long term effects of Fipronil on humans are not well understood as it has not been available long. No maximum safe dosage levels for humans have been established as far as I can determine.

It is not licenced for human use as far as I know.

Here is a useful factsheet:

npic.orst.edu/factsheets/fiptech.pdf

i cannot believe people could use that animal stuff on their kids! even the regular nit poisons are dangerous if over used!

Does anyone else feel that the government are in denial over the fact that there IS an epidemic of nits in our schools, and that we should bring the nit nurse back and insist parents take responsility. I didn't have them as a child myself but am constantly getting them from my kids who are getting from school who is not doing anything about it. A viscious circle which could be ended with the simple re instigation of the nit nurse.

LOL isn't this just more of the 'all children are equal' stuff spouted by educationalists?

Certainly equal enough to share each others nits

In bavaria, when you have nits, you need a doctors certificate before you are allowed back in the school, to prevent your child infecting others.

as most of them dont have nitty grittys, this takes 3 weeks

amazingly, nits are not that common round here (having said that, mine will probably come back infested tomorrow!!)

At the "meet the teacher" night last week for kindy (reception) here in Sydney, DDs teacher stood up and said that he HATED nits and if our kids had them could we please keep them at home until we had dealt with it! Funnily enough there isn't a bit nit problem at the school.

Saltire, I bought a nitty gritty comb recently as I had managed to catch the little blighters from my DSs and I had no trouble getting all of the eggs out of my hair with it (DH is squeamish and wouldn't come near me). I combed my hair through while dry and got loads of eggs and 4 big bugs. Then I used Full Marks solution on my hair but there was only one other bug in there. I also seriously straightened my hair, section by section and from the root, for a couple of days to burn any remaining eggs (a friend of mine does this on her DDs waist-length hair and it works). Might be worth doing that so you can go get your haircut .

Unfortunately no real advice on how to keep them out of your DSs hair, I agree that some parents are totaly neglectful about de-nitting their DCs. I have heard parents say they don't bother getting them out as the children just come home with them again the following day

So, how many of the parents who have used frontline on their children have tried it on themselves?

I can't see that it can be that bad for humans as, if it was, it would not be used on household pets because of the risk of contamination.

These people are talking about using amounts that are less than the dosage for a cat so (weight to dose ratio) would be a tiny amount to a human.

I am genuinly interested to know about this. Does it work, what are the contra-indications, have there been any reactions, are the children involved all of good health or has there been some with asthma/excema etc?

I think it would be very interesting to know a bit more about the whole thing - NOT that I am suggesting anyone use it of course but it would be Sooooooooo nice to have a treatment for the little bleeders rather than the stopgap we manage at the moment. Combing only works for the moment between when you stop combing them and the next egg hatches (and nitty gritty combs do NOT get rid of eggs!)