If you regularly worm your children

[Patpatrol221]

How often do you give Ovex and at what point in the term for maximum efficiency?

DD starts school in September and is a thumbsucker. I am already shuddering at the thought of her sharing toilets, sandpit etc with dozen of other kids.

Ive read on here before that some parents give Ovex regularly and there is a pattern to when worms seem to appear back after the start of term. What would you recommend?

Obviously I don't want to give more medicine than necessary but I'm keen to prevent bad infestations before it gets passed around the family and becomes the sort of horror story I have read on here before (where its impossible to get rid of without tons of daily cleaning, laundry etc..). With energy prices as they are I can't be laundering bedding every day.

Thanks!

Are worms really that common in children? I don’t remember ever hearing about it as a child and I’ve never had. I don’t worm my child either

She's not a puppy!
Mine (3 dc) have only had worms once in 17 years so IMO it would be crazy to treat regularly.
It's quite expensive too

Unless someone in your household has them there is no need to give worm treatments at all.
Encourage really good hygiene and handwashing and she'll be fine. If she gets them, treat then and only then.

Only treat if she gets them, she might not. 😂 You can't worm a child like worming a puppy her poor tummy! The laundering thing is just two washes of the sheets and PJ's after the first treatment not loads of daily laundering. It's not really something that can turn into a really bad infestation like bed bugs or silverfish in the house, once it's treated it's treated, you wash stuff for a couple of nights as the worms can take a couple of days to go, then treat again in a fortnight incase any eggs remained.

It's very common, about 1 in 10 children have them at any time.

I think you need to wait until she has them. I understand the temptation though Just be aware of the symptoms. Itchy bum, being disturbed at night with a sore tummy, poo sometimes looks like it has light coloured pin heads on it which is why they are called pin worms sometimes.

Treat with Ovex, free from pharmacy under minor ailments.

Some countries worm DC routinely. UK does not. Wait for some Ozzies or Kiwis OP, they'll know the skinny.

And if you have DC and think they are rare, then you are likely an asymptomatic carrier! As a teacher, I assure you they aren't rare!

But over isn’t preventative? Is it? I thought you could only treat them not prevent them (other than via hygiene etc)

Ovex*

My son has had them on and off all through primary school. Each time he gets them, we do the family treatment, boil up sheets and towels and then the second treatment. He’s got good hand hygiene but seems susceptible somehow.
I had no idea some countries routinely treat - I think it’s a good idea - it’s incredibly irritating for my son when he gets them.

Thank you. It's good to have some balanced views as that's the danger of the Internet, when I read about it they seem unavoidable and horrendous to get rid of.

Ovex doesn't prevent it but the idea is it would catch anything in the early stages as sometimes there won't be any signs until there are many, many worms.

Perhaps I'll just wait and see if she is prone to them, or just have a low threshold for giving Ovex if I spot some bottom scratching, rather than do it on a regular schedule.

DD is getting better at stopping herself thumbsucking out of the house, and we are teaching her thorough handwashing but I have no doubt it will go out of the window when we're not there to supervise.

@Alwayswaiting yes that's what I read about, DC getting them every few months all through primary school and I'd rather avoid that, I think it would end up affecting my mental health massively. Did others in the household generally catch it when your DS had them?

@picklemewalnuts do you pick them up from the children? You have all my sympathies if you do! I'd hate catching them from my own child, let alone someone else's!

In my experience of school, 3 children over several years, I've only had one letter about worms, and about 40 about nits.

Kids don't regularly come out of school infested and scratching their bottoms.

You can't give a medicine to treat worms as a preventative measure, it won't stop them getting worms.

Bottom scratching also doesn't = worms. My son was scratching horrendously recently and it was actually anal fissures. Everyone said it must be worms and it wasn't, he needed cream to treat the tear and nothing else.

Just encourage good hygiene, our school is still carrying on with covid measures in terms of regular hand washing throughout the day as it just makes good sense.

I have 4 kids and have never ‘wormed’ them at all ever. They have never had worms
give medication if your child if they have worms the medication doesn’t prevent them
I also had a thumb sucker he did not do this at school though.

As an Early Years teacher for 30 years I was only aware of one case of worms. I used to wash my sand regularly. I'm quite horrified at the thought of regular worming of children.

Actually 40% of under tens have them at any one point. At one stage ovex could be requested free under a special pharmacy programme aimed at stopping people using GP appointments to get prescriptions for nit, worm treatments and calpol. But it may not run now. We had a bad patch with 3 small kids, 2 of whom were thumbsuckers. But we just treated everyone whatever if they got it. I won’t tell you how you can get worms from kids as I’m not sure you can take it.

Wow. Every day really is a school day. I've never heard of this before in my life. Will relay this to my DD who always has to be told to wash her hands. Should do the trick.

@Patpatrol221 whilst he’s had the regularly, he’s been the only one in the household with symptoms, I have two younger than him also at primary school. They may have been asymptomatic? But they’ve always been treated together and same hygiene practices. I agree, it’s horrible, and I hate it when he starts getting symptoms

Pin/thread worms are harmless. Even in countries where other, more harmful types of worm are common, there is no evidence that regular worming improves health.

Our bodies are full of wildlife! About three-quarters of cells in our body belong to other creatures, mainly bacteria. A few threadworms are neither here nor there. Unclench.

As an oldie I am amazed! Me and my sister were at school in the 60s70s, neither of us ever had nits or worms and never heard of friends having them either. I had long hair but had to keep it tied up, school rules! My two boys (at school in 90s 2000s) also never had either although nits were rife, just lucky I guess.

It gives me hope that some of you have never encountered them!

@Alwayswaiting that's reassuring as one of my worries is that I have a baby and am breastfeeding so if the baby or I get worms, Ovex won't be an option and we'll have to do the hygiene measures for 6 weeks. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Where did you read breastfeeding mothers can't have ovex?

Mine caught them twice. After that I used to give them a dose of ovex every half term.