Head-lice

[EllieMarianna]

Hey there,

I'm just looking for some advice really. My daughter has been sent home 4 times from nursery for having head lice. This is over the span of 5 months, twice at the beginning of the year and twice later on.

I've treated her with every product available without prescription, conditioner and a prescription from the GP. The rest of us have been treated but nothing was found.

Last Thursday she was sent home again, after being in the day before. They said they saw two lice. I bought her home immediately and treated her hair again.

Today when we took her in they showed us photos that they had taken today of one egg, which they have added to a report. Her hair is black so they show up really well in her hair.

I'm worried that at no time have they sent out a note to the other parents so how do I know that she isn't getting reinfected at nursery? She goes two days a week, and they have only been found on the second day each time.

Is there anything else anyone can recommend?

You need to be combing with a nitty gritty comb and conditioner every bath time.

Agree with the first post, just make it part of the bath time routine to put conditioner on and go through with a nit comb every time.
Physically removing them is better because the treatments don’t kill the eggs so they might be hatching after the treatment.

You could also ask nursery to send a message to all parents to ask that they check their children’s hair as you think she is catching them from nursery.

Almost certainly is being reinfected at nursery. Depending on hair type I would tie it back or plat it if possible, then spray with Nitty Gritty defence spray before she goes in. As soon as she comes home comb the hair throughly with a nit comb.just keep checking, It’s absolutely tedious but does get better as they get older. When you have a lot of small children together it’s hard to keep on top of as you are relying on every single parent to be super vigilant.

4 times in 5 months is a lot. You need to use a nit comb every day for at least a week to remove all the eggs. Treatment alone is not enough. It's absolutely tedious but combing every day is the only way.

The nursery should be letting everyone know there is a case of head lice as it means other parents can check and treat if appropriate. If they are only targeting you and are now taking photos I would be concerned they are recording the multiple bouts of head lice as a safeguarding concern. Obviously I'm not saying this is a genuine safeguarding concern at all but having worked in childcare and done safeguarding training, untreated head lice is a sign of neglect.