to wish people would treat their children when they have head lice?

[beansmum]

ds has had head lice three times in the last month. Each time I get rid of them all with disgusting shampoo stuff and lots of combing and each time I send him back to school and he catches them again. SO annoying.

I asked the teacher if she would mind sending a note out to the parents telling them that someone in the class had them (i.e ds) and asking them to check their kids but she says there is no point as nobody will actually do it.

there is no point to this rant but I am really really tired of the stupid things and wish people would deal with them. I know ds would probably get them again anyway but it's just ALL the time. 3 times this month is ridiculous. Isn't it? Or is it normal?

Haven't read the full thread, but a bit at people claiming to have spent a fortune on nit treatment - you can get it prescribed by a pharmacist and kids get free prescriptions, so it shouldn't cost you anything.

Can anyone link me to some medical evidence showing the harm that headlice can do to a child's health? Or just put the information here?

Thanks

brassick I'd be interested in that, too.
I discovered a while back that ds was crawling with them - I have no idea how I missed them, other than that it was while we were on hoiday so I was rather lax.
Of course I treated him. I wet comb as well now at least twice a week and fingers crossed, not found anything for a few months.
Thing is although they are totally revolting and I fully understand that it is highly irritating when dcs get them again and again because one family isn't doing what they should, I do wonder if people are a teeensy bit hysterical over them. Exclude dcs from school? Notify the authorities? Cut child benefit? WTF?

Lissy our pharmacy will only prescribe the nit lotions with chemicals in (malathion etc). These aren't supposed to be used too frequently. So if your children are getting repeated infestations it's better to use something like Hedrin if you are going the lotion route. But this can't be got on prescription (at least not where I am). So if you have several heads to treat on a quite frequent basis it can turn out very expensive.
Much cheaper to keep up the conditioner and combing method. But this can be difficult if you have a child who screams whenever you decide it de-nitting time.

Yes, I understand they are not pleasant, and I do treat my dds, but I am sort of resigned to them now, and must admit I don't start screaming, panicking and shaving heads at the very first sign.

As for fumigating bedding and putting everything in plastic bags etc, well, I just don't have the time or inclination.

brassick

Here you go;

"What are the long-term effects of the disease?
If lice are not treated promptly and effectively, the individual may have chronic itching and inflamed skin. Severe long-term untreated cases of body lice can lead infections and loss of energy. "

It is the origin of the term feeling lousy.

Get rid of them, it's disgusting, all you have to do is comb your children's hair for fucks goodness sake.

ScreamingMormolykeia, I don't think anyone is suggesting that it's OK to ignore lice. But imo at least some of the suggestions (exclusion ffs) are way OTT.
There's no point in freezing/fumigating linen - at least not for headlice.

Well someone must be not treating their kids, I know a mum who is very, very lax about headlice, and leaves them for weeks and weeks (months in fact) before doing something about them

And I did (and would again) change and wash bedlinen, as I know from my jar on the bathroom windowsill experiment that they can live for a few days "off-host"!!

Thanks for that ScreamingMormolykeia, but I'm afraid it hasn't convinced me that I need to panic the instant I see dd itching.

It has to wait until I have the time to deal with it - which is usually a Sunday night, so never more than a few days.

Sorry, should have said time and inclination to deal with it.

Yes you are right getting nits is really annoying and a great extra bit of work!. It happened to my children twice and it was really a nightmare. You have every right to be annoyed. Yes I also just like you went to tell the teacher.When this happened to me I was so frustrated that I searched the internet on how to get rid of these nasty nits naturally and I really suggest this method, as the lotions that we use to get rid of lice are really hazardous to children's health. I found out that the best way to get rid of them is by lots of hair conditioner and the combing method, this helps to get rid of the big lice quiet easily as with the conditioner and the nit comb the lice slip out of the child's hair . I combed my children's hair every day with the nit comb when they came from school to make sure they were clean. The other problem is that you have to try to remove as many nits as possible from the child's hair. When I researched I found out that a great product to use is olive oil and I also tried it. You have to rub some olive oil in the child's hair and leave it overnight ,then in the morning wash it well with shampoo and then condition it and use also a nit comb.Lice detest the smell of olive oil.Another product that is good to kill lice is tea tree oil and it also is used to deter the lice from getting into the child's hair as lice hate the smell of tea tree oil. I used to wash my children's hair with a daily wash tea tree oil shampoo or add little drop of tea tree to ordinary shampoo. I hope this will help you and if you will need anything more do not hesitate to contact me.I know what you must be going through right now and I will be more then willing to help ,where I can!

yanbu but can I kill this thread now because it makes my head itch everytime I read the title!

Not just yet girlsyearaapart .

When we lived in the UK my dd1, in reception year, got nits. The first thing I did was tell the other mothers so that they could check their children's hair. They did not thank me for the info. at all. I told the teacher who I thought would organise a letter home but apparently it was not school policy anymore as everybody knew what the 'brown' envelopes meant. Could not understand this 'logic' at all. That time I successfully treated her hair with Citricidal (Grapefruit Seed extract).

My kids got nits again a couple of years later but Citricidal did not work so well then. I just did the conditioner/nit comb method as most have done and it worked well.

My DS is always bringing notes home advising that someone in his class has lice. He's had them once so far and that was very early stage. Lucky the hairdresser spotted he had just got them when he went for hair cut (how embarrasing). We treated him straight away, but took ages to get rid of the dead eggs. I had to sit and pull them out one by one for days. I now check him regularly and hope he doesn't get them again. Bring back Nitty Nora

There is so much ignorance though - my sister in law was staying with us and her daughter who has thick, curly hair was majorly infested - s-i-l said she was a "breeder" and would never be clear. She really believed this. Once I got rid of them from my DS and DD and me and DH I set about my niece. She had 1000s and I used malathion to kill the big fat ones and wet combed twice a day for 2 weeks using teatree conditioner (such thick hair meant I couldn't do her whole head in one sitting as she got hysterical) She hasn't had them since and that was 6 years ago. Neither have my two

Yuck - now I'm all itchy from the memory

Otter if your child was reinfested every week because other parents don't bother to treat their kids what would you propose to deal with the situation, or would you just accept the situation?

Off with their heads

KILL this I'm all itchy again.

And it's all your fault 3andwant1more

I'm so fed up with lice, it's only in my oldest son's class and we all know the children who are not being treated. I'm finding them more and more difficult to get rid of too.

Do you think I'd get away with giving Nitty Gritty combs away in party bags, (as long as I didn't name them!)

No-one has yet convinced me that there is any medical reason why we should treat nits as anything more than a nuisance.

Do we exclude children from school for having verruccas? They are just as contagious, and possibly more harmful (I'm guessing, I don't have any facts to back me up on that).

If someone can show me where it says that children have long term medical problems due to having nits ON THEIR HEAD - not body or pubic lice, then I will worry more and act quicker when I think my dd has them, otherwise I will deal with them when I have the time and inclination...

but don't you find them disgusting? How can you hug your children properly knowing there are little creatures walking about on their heads? You might be OK with them but I don't want them.

Other children know they have them too and don't want to play with them. I get rid of verrucas too as quickly as possible so that we don't pass them on to other people, it's being a responsible human being.

NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries

I don't think it's about how quickly you deal with lice, but more about making sure you deal with them properly and check regularly to make sure they don't come back.

It's not fun for a child (or adult) to have a constantly itchy head. You might not mind too much if this happens to your kids but other kids (and their parents) might not be that pleased about it.

HL might not be too bad for your kids physical health but will damage their confidence,concentration and self-esteem via bullying, isolation, etc.
Also you can't really expect adults (you know, your kids' classmates parents) to go to work with a head full of lice. I doubt their child free colleagues will be very blasé about it...

Seriously, can you not wet comb with cheap hair conditioner and tea tree oil once a week?

Thanks for the link. I think this, listed as one of the 4 complications of head lice infestation (with 2 of the other 3 being identified as rare)

"Anxiety, distress, and stigma in people who do not understand that the condition is benign and does not indicate substandard hygiene or adverse social circumstances."

sums it up for me...

From the same website:

"There is no need for children with head lice to stay away from school:

Children discovered to have head lice will generally have had them for several weeks, so keeping children away from school is unlikely to affect transmission.

Letters notifying other parents of cases have not been found to prevent the spread of head lice, but can provoke anxiety and itching."

If you read my post you'll notice I didn't mention school exclusion. I agree that it is excessive.

But it's not fair on your ids, other children, their parents and their work colleagues to have head lice because someone does not have the inclination to treat their child...

You mentioned that you could only treat your child on a Sunday. If you're wet combing once a week that should keep the HL at bay. Which I guess will make it less likely for kids to be passing them back to each other no?

Brasssck if your inaction and lack of time and inclination to clear your family of lice results in infecting my family then don't expect me to be happy with the situation. I think it is foul not to bother clearing your family of lice and allowing them to spread lice to others.