Worms and nits in primary schools

[gbee99]

Hi, I've been reading school newsletters as I'm in the process of choosing a primary school for my LO who will start in September next year. I've come across one newsletter where it talked about having cases of worms and nits. Just wondered how normal this was?

Very. Every school has them. Very easy to pass from child to child. Same with nurseries.

I’m afraid it’s totally normal. Frankly a school that is open about it is preferable to one where they never mention both,or have a strategy for nits but not worms.

Sorry if this is all new to you - it came as a bit of a shock to me too - but it’s par for the course where lots of dc are gathered in one place. And the school need to be strict about management of both.

Yep, unfortunately it happens in every school and childcare setting. The fact school are making parents / carers aware is a good thing, as it helps remind them to treat their children.

That's really helpful to know thanks :) I was oddly hoping it was normal as I quite liked the school during the visit!

Very very normal.

It will be the bane of your life all the way through the primary school years, whichever school you choose. I was so happy when my youngest got to secondary!

It feels like not a week goes by when I don't have to send out a letter about nits/worms/chicken pox.

When preparing yourself and your child for school, ensure you have a bottle of conditioner and a nitty gritty comb in the bathroom cabinet and check regularly. It's grim. But normal.

I have three dc with 27 school years on aggregate and we haven't had a case of either.

Your children have never had nits or worms ? You should probably put yourselves forward for some sort of medical trial as anomaly because there's no way it didn't go around their classes over the years.

I would see it as good that the school are communicating and giving you the information that you need to do a check.

We had one kid in nursery who was constantly infested with nits which meant they spread frequently, so we were in a cycle of constantly being re-infested for about 6 months.

Reception - yr 2 nothing
Yr 3 they got them a lot (could hazard a guess at the child who wasn't being treated and was passing them about)
Yr 4-5 nothing (so far)

Nits definitely did the rounds but my dc are all boys so I think the short hair helped. I'm not sure how common worms is but I'm happy to have dodged it.

We have had four emails since September about nits in DS's year. Given its not even December yet and it's a nice area, I'd say it's very normal...

Worst year we've had so far mind (apparently age 7-9 is peak nit)

DS has only had once so far though thankfully.

We only got one warning of nits in our children's class- didn't ever catch them. We worm everyone regularly - advised by GP school mum, who did the same.

If long hair, they always have it up and warned not to share hairbrushes.

My primary experience as a child - more incidents, but everyone treated promptly.

I think some dc are more prone then others. I never had either growing up and so far neither have my 3 dc (eldest is almost 12, middle 10 and youngest almost 4). I get we still have time, but even when eldest was in a class that every week nits was reported for 6 months at one point she still managed to avoid it!

Just curious on what is the reasoning to worm everyone regularly w out knowing if you have worms?

I remember feeling very cross when one parent said to me that they got so many nits that she had stopped bothering about them, or checking.

That would be why I spent well over an hour on very many nights with the dreaded nitty gritty comb and a bottle of conditioner!

I regret the demise of the nit nurses we had at our own school, who could pinpoint repeated outbreaks and get them resolved.

I'm sure I read that 40% of children have worms at any one time, but a lot don't have symptoms. We were plagued with them for years but I still don't know which child brought them in, no-one complained about them except me.

We've just had our first nit message of the year!
I've 2 children age 9 & 12. So far neither of them have had nits and only 1 has had worms. Luck more than anything else I expect.

@SamPoodle123 I once read that precautionary treatment for worms is common practice in some countries. Not sure why though.

Absolutely normal. We had no nits at all throughout nursery and reception and then bam year 1 was a near constant cycle. I combed hair twice a week and treated more times than I can count and just couldn't shift them. But now year 2 and classes mixed up again and not had them once so think there must have been someone not treating them last year.

We had nits a couple of weeks ago (8 years old) and I was totally shocked as never had a case plus my mum had said I didn't. But yuck, just make sure you have that comb and hedrin in a cabinet somewhere. I was so upset at the time! Then realised its pretty normal

Same principle as regularly giving your pets worming tablets - hopefully nip any nasties in the bud before they spread. Worked so far - going on 8 years now.

If you get to the point where you know you have them - then you have to de-egg all the bedding, clothing, etc. So we have gone for using ovex tablets.

Not exactly like pet worming as they have ongoing protection too - that would be very useful for us :)

This

Least the school bothers to Inform you so you can. Be diligent

Nits are always around this time of the year as the children wear woolly hats, which are thrown around and swapped on the playground! And then in the summer, when the same happens with sun caps!