Nits again! Advice please..

[autumnmum]

My 6 y.o dd had the dreaded headlice for the first time about 4 months ago. I armed myself with a nitty gritty and got rid of them. I also informed her class teacher, thinking school might want to send a note home to tell parents to check their kids heads. School didn't do anything. Six weeks later she starts scratching her head again and the nits were back. Out came the nitty gritty again. Not being particularly au fait with headlice I thought maybe I hadn't got rid of them all the first time round, although I did think 6 weeks was a long time for them to have gone unnoticed (particularly as I was now paranoid about them and grooming her like a monkey!). Anyway we are now a further 2 and a half months down the line from the last infestation and what have I found today - more b**y headlice. Just done the nitty gritty again and only found 2 lice and about 40 eggs so I have caught it early this time. Someone at school obviously has them and doesn't know. For those of you reading this who have never had kids with lice - believe me it isn't always obvious that they have got them. You have to look really hard in the early stages of infestation - so I can understand why people can miss them. We've broken up for the holidays now so at least I know I can keep her nit free over summer. My question is how do I get school to take it more seriously and ask all parents to check their kids heads?

We had this problem for a year. In the end another parent and I went round the playground and asked every parent to check their child's hair. Whenever someone said the classic 'I would have noticed' we explained at length that they may not have, how to check and offered to lend a nit comb.

The problem was solved. No more nits for about four years

do you always use conditioner? that seemed to reduce the times they caught them with my kids

Thanks for the advice. If she gets them again when term starts I think I will have to go round the playground armed with a nit comb! I do use conditioner everytime I wash her hair and I had been using a nit comb on her every Sunday, but for the last few weeks I haven't because she hates it (very thick hair) and I hadn't found anything for weeks.

What I don't understand is that the rest of the family haven't caught them but she seems to be able to pick them up at school just like that. It makes me think that someone in her class must be crawling with them. I wish Mumsnet would start a campaign to get everyone to check their kids hair regularly. I was quite shocked at how hard they are to spot. The first time she had them I am ashamed to say I didn't realise until there was loads of the little devils and the DD was scratching her head. I just assumed that if your kids had nits you'd see them leaping about

once boys hit a certain age they don't get them any more because of their hormones - or this is what a doctor told me.

Anyone can get nits at any age and despite the cleanliness or otherwise of their hair (personal experience as a teacher!). I am surprised that school didn't do anything about it. It is policy at all schools in the area to issue all children in a class where nits have been discovered an anonymous letter that alerts the parents to the fact that someone in the class has headlice and that asks all parents to check their kids hair.

Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that there are some classes that are far more prone to reoccurances of lice than others, simply due to the combination of the parents and how vigilant they are.

My DD1 got headlice three times in her entire primary school time. My DD2 has just finished y1 and things are so bad in her year that there have been several visits to the school by the nit nurse to talk to the parents and even a couple of home visits done to the worst culprits. Children who are discovered with them are now sent home (if the parents turn up to collect them when they are called, that is). She must have had them nearly a hundred times since starting nursery. It is a running joke that you check your childs hair after they have attended a party of anyone in the class.