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Original poster

Bring back the nit nurse!

81 replies

nix72 · 14/05/2009 11:26

Every week this school year my kids have brought home letters regarding headlice in their classes. Some parents are clearly not treating their kids so no matter how fastidious we are about getting our kids nit free, the chances are they will get them again pretty quickly. When I was at school the nit nurse would come regularly and check, and write to parents of those affected. Wish this happened now.

OP posts:
sunnydelight · 15/05/2009 08:33

Not illegal in Australia either and I support it. I spent years in the UK dealing with repeated infestations because a couple of parents couldn't be arsed to deal with it. One (very snooty) woman at the kids' last school said blatently that it was a chore so she didn't bother as they would only get them again; she had twins whose heads were regularly crawling (shudder emotion).

Sidge · 15/05/2009 09:38

Ah ok it's different overseas.

Here in the UK a child cannot be denied an education for medical reasons, and headlice whilst not a health problem come under the health 'umbrella'. So a school cannot exclude a child based on a medical condition.

Original poster
nix72 · 15/05/2009 09:55

Doesn't necessarily have to be a qualified nurse, just someone representing the health authority. Seems that other countries deal with it differently and that seems to be more effective than what is happening here.

OP posts:
GentlyDoesIt · 15/05/2009 10:05

I don't want the nit burse back but I do think schools have become too laissez-faire about it.

Despite wearing plaited ponytails, DD comes home with adult lice weekly and we nitcomb 3 times a week as standard. I deliberately encouraged her to grow her fringe out & keep long hair, as her previous short cut attracted even more of them.

Some weeks it reaches a point where we are spending more time on headlice than schoolwork.

I like the idea of a headlice prevention initiative at school, but at our school only half the parents engage in anything anyway.

GentlyDoesIt · 15/05/2009 10:06

ha ha ha @ my nit "burse"

pocketmonster · 15/05/2009 10:30

Personally I have found combing to be the only effective treatment for headlice - yes its tedious, time consuming and makes your arms ache but it works if you do it properly.

If you go to www.chc.org they sell Bugbuster combs and the pack includes instructions for use and information on the nit lifecycle (posted further down this thread). You can also get Bugbuster combs packs on the NHS as the Health Authorities consider combing to be the only effective treatment for headlice (see reports included on website).

I'm slightly surprised that people consider that the recommended, effective and most importantly safe way of treating headlice is 'namby pamby' and 'middle class' and would prefer to douse their children in totally ineffective but potentially damaging chemicals instead.

GentlyDoesIt · 15/05/2009 10:40

Bugbusters are pretty good, I like the fact that you can see the lice well against the different colours, but they don't stand up to heavy use like Nitty Gritty does. They lose tines too easily IME.

I like their campaigning, though.

wolfnipplechips · 15/05/2009 10:58

I was once a nit nurse, ok not really but kind of. I worked in outback Australia and spent most of my day treating children with headlice. We used to use conditioner combed daily. It doesn't kill the eggs but suffocates the lice by blocking the spiracles. I once heard of a child in and abuse case that came to hospital with severe anaemia from being bitten by lice .

My dd is only 4 and my so far has managed to avoid them but i'm sure when she starts school in september i'm sure she'll get them. What do you do about yourself? I have nobody to check my hair and its my worst nightmare going to the hairdresser only to be told i have them.

GentlyDoesIt · 15/05/2009 11:02

wolfnipplechips Tasty name

I check mine with the conditioner & comb, the same as for kids. Just have to keep going until none come out any more. Helps if you section your wet, conditioned hair into lots of small ponytails and work through them one by one.

I do have a DH but (insert tired old story about blokes not being arsed here).

wolfnipplechips · 15/05/2009 11:04

Thats good to know i've been dreading that for a while. Dh wouldn't see them if they were walking accross my face.

Original poster
nix72 · 15/05/2009 18:54

I always feel as though I have them (psychologically induced itchiness) when the kids do but have only found them once. The nit comb wrecks my hair though, masses of split ends!

OP posts:
pocketmonster · 15/05/2009 20:24

Nix72 Bugbusters are plastic and the plastic ones don't (or not IME anyway!).

Weegiemum · 15/05/2009 20:34

oww now I am scratching ......

brimfull · 15/05/2009 20:58

I treat ds's hair by all the conditioner method and hedrin but after initail treatment i do not change his bedding every day..that is overkill imo

Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2009 21:00

nits are a right bugger

if parents had to keep their children at home if they had them,then they would take more care and effort in getting rid of them instead of sending back to school infested

Concepta · 15/05/2009 21:17

Havent read all the messages but my DDs class has been infested with headlice for the past three years. Since I started using Tea Tree Shanpoo and Conditioner a year ago and go through and check her hair every weekend, she hasn't had a problem. I agree that if there is a lot of headlice you need to use some type of product. When my DD got them them at the start I wasnt checking her weekly and there was so many lice and eggs that the only method was to treat them three weeks in a row. Even then I wasn't sure if I had got them all and washed her hair and went through it a couple of times in the week. I was distraught and I vowed I would do everything I could to avoid them in the future. So far it has been a success and I do believe that the Tea Tree Shanpoo and Conidtioner do make a difference.

Nighbynight · 15/05/2009 22:14

They are in my children's school.
The rules are, that you have to stay at home til you get a doctors certificate if you are found to have the dreaded lice.
None of the families have Nitty Gritty combs, so they all have to stay off 3 weeks.

Frizbe · 15/05/2009 22:17

Agree with this bring back the nit nurse! apparently my gran once stomped into my mums school and demanded that the teacher move my mum to another seat as the kids next door to her, kept infecting her with the dredded nits! if only you could do that now eh!

evaangel2 · 15/05/2009 22:26

I studied nits as part of my teaching presentation.
Regular wet combing is the most effective way of keeping on top of them.
All this tea tree remedy is just crap, nits can survive the lotions that are on the market and the gadgets...eww i have started scratching my head

Blondeshavemorefun · 15/05/2009 22:33

its just bloody annoying when you do comb etc, then get them, treat and then go back to school on a monday nit free and your dc come home with them again

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

and you KNOW the ones in the class who are the givers

pocketmonster · 15/05/2009 22:45

Blondes absolutely - drives me crazy!

cheltenhamgal · 15/05/2009 22:57

my dd has suffered from nit infestations since starting school, they just seem to love her hair.
I have tried washing it frequently, not washing it, chemical treatments, natural treatments, white wine vinegar, tea tree oil BUT the only thing that works is the wet comb method but it has to be every day.
Oh, the screams that can be heard when I am doing it from our house, anyone would think that i was trying to murder her lol.
It is very frustrating that there must be one or two parents who dont check their child.
I also disagree with the idea that a childs parent being told that their child has lice is against their human rights. I would rather be told that my dd had them so I can start treating them properly !

Sidge · 16/05/2009 15:22

But you do all realise that your children probably aren't getting reinfested don't you? Lice don't all hatch at the same time, so you can treat your child then see new nits and lice a few days later. The life cycle of the louse means that they don't all hatch, live and die at the same time.

GentlyDoesIt · 16/05/2009 18:59

Oh Sidge yes, yes I do realise that.

Sorry for the melodramatic flounce, but I have researched the critters until my eyes goggled.

DD's first few infestations at playgroup were few and far between, and the every 4 days for a f0rtnight system that Bug Buster recommends worked brilliantly, with all shapes and sizes appearing for the first couple of combs, and then diddy nymphs for the later ones.

It is a good system, but I'm now in a position at primary where she comes home with a few big fat adults a week and I just have to chase them off every couple of days before they can find each other and breed.

I'll never forget the day I picked her up and she had a row of big fat ones sitting on the hairline of her clipped-back fringe, having a good meal with their arses waggling in the air. I could see them from the classroom door. She is blonde so they stick out really well (great at combing time, mind you).

Sidge · 16/05/2009 20:47

LOL at 'having a good meal with their arses in the air'

I agree nits and lice are awful; the hours I have spent combing and wiping, combing and wiping Thank god DD1 has fine blonde hair...

I also agree that it is not unreasonable to want to thump the gormless parents who can't be arsed to comb/treat their children, as it means you have to spend so much more time doing your kids.

But I find the comments about wanting to exclude the poor children who are permanently infested really unpleasant - it's not their fault, why should they miss out on school? And it has nothing to do with being clean or dirty so they shouldn't be ostracized for a common childhood ailment.

I thank the heavens above that DD1 is now older and hasn't had lice for years! I dread DD2 getting them though, she has really thick waist length hair