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Original poster

Headlice....my grand plan.....

97 replies

Blandmum · 26/09/2006 12:35

We should start a campain to get rid of the little bastards.

We need to get it sorted as lice seem to be getting to epidemic levels, I bet there are very few parents of school age kids who have not had to deal with these little bastards at some point.

Round one. Education. Having hedlice doesn't make you a bad person/parent/child. It does not mean that you are dirty.

Round two detection. on one day of every year health visitors should look at every primary childs head. thise with lice should have their parents notified and sent home with infomation on how to shift the little bastards. There should be no shame attached to this, it is a simple statement of fact.

two weeks later we should check again. parents who still have kids with lice should be given more help in shifting them.

Please can we have Nitty Nora back? Who will be the Jamie Oliver of the headlice world????

OP posts:
yorkshirelass79 · 26/09/2006 13:25

Message withdrawn

earlgrey · 26/09/2006 13:25

My sister made me laugh.

I bought a book, about 2 years ago, with the idea that dd2 might get the gist of how horrid they are.

It was called "Head Lice Close Up".

Sis, when she saw it, said 'Haven't you had them close enough already, Carla?'

LOLxx

TooTicky · 26/09/2006 13:25

LadyDooM you don't need to buy the chemical glop - liceare starting to become immune to thoseanyway. Justarm yourself with a good nit comb, a bottle of conditioner (preferably organic and not tested on animals - most big brands are horrid) andaway you go!

earlgrey · 26/09/2006 13:48

YL, that's on a bald pate, and I bet it's H's.

No wonder we have so much fun in this household ......

LadyDooM · 26/09/2006 14:24

I just keep a good check on my kids hair and scalps now. And they know to tell me right away if they have any itching. We were lice free the entire summer and so far this school year. However, about 1 1/2 weeks ago I got a letter from my sons teacher saying that there was a child in his class that was found to have headlice. My first thought was "Already!!!" I just couldnt believe it, they have just been back to school!!

Also i want to say, while people say it doesn't matter if your clean or not you can still catch it. I agree, but its the people who don't check their childrens heads or don't care or are not clean that carry it and spread it around to everyone else. It's a nuisance and hard to get rid of, lots of money and lots of time but we still do it so why can't everyone else? Sorry if I sound harsh, but after battling this for so long it really gets my goose.

TooTicky I agree with the conditioner and nit comb(have done that loads of times) but it will only work for people who are persistant with it. If people can't be bothered to dump a bottle of full marks on their kids heads, its unlikely they will nit pick or do the conditioner comb through.

strudelface · 26/09/2006 14:46

My dd1 is in a state school here (Austria) and the school doctor checked all the kids'heads yesterday. My dd was sent home with a note saying she had them and she wasn't allowed back into school until I had a note from a doctor saying the eggs/lice were gone. Fair enough except she didn't have them - she has a very dry scalp in places and the doctor thought flakes of skin were the eggs. So yesterday afternoon I had to take her to the doctor to confirm this and get him to write a note saying she was fine (50 euros in his pocket - thank you very much) grrrr.

Anyway point is it's a good idea IF the school doctor actually knows what they are looking for!

Blu · 26/09/2006 17:15

Kids can have lice for ages before any itching sets in. They may never itch, in fact.

nikkie · 26/09/2006 20:57

According to my old head she had the power to suspend a child who kept returning headlice to school -something to do with H &S and staff catching them?

In the end she sent the school nurse to the house (mum had Sn) and also got permission to treat in school (SN)

I'm itchy now!

Original poster
Blandmum · 26/09/2006 21:01

The thing is, if a family can't clear the lice, for whatever reason, they are going to stay long term, making the child itchy and miserable, risking skin infections and being ostricised by other kids. They also risk reinfecting every other child in the class.

No matter how sorry you feel for the family it isn't going to go away on its own, but schools are pussy foting round the issue. I'm a teacher myself and one of the kids I used to teach in year 8 had so many live you could see them walking up and down her partings.

pretending it isn't a problem isn't helping the issue is it?

OP posts:
Spidermama · 26/09/2006 21:01

I spent a large portion of my weekend de-lousing my four. Very disappointing. They've only been back a couple of weeks fgs! I agree there seems to be an epidemic. The pharmacies are doing well.

My recommendation in Nitty Gritty aromatherapy oil and I've tried everything from crystals to full on organo phosphates.

The oil doesn't kill them and you have to leave it on for a few hours, but they lose their grip and you can get them and their eggs out with ease. Providing you do so with the Nitty Gritty comb of course.

2plus2plus1 · 26/09/2006 23:03

The argument our headmaster made was that a Nit Nurse will only tend to find infestations, whereas 'BugBusting' can detect a single louse.

That said DTDs got them for the first time 10 days ago. They have been at school 2 and a bit terms. I noticed 1 crawling in DTD2s parting when I was drying her hair. I was very lucky to spot it as I only found 1 more on her and one more on her sister. I also found quite a lot of eggs on DTD2 which I made the effort to pull out. Seems to have been worth it as DTD1 has only had 1 more louse which I found 2 days later & DTD2 has had about a dozen since. I think we are just about clear, but will keep combing for a few days.

That said the combing takes about 2 hours to do both of them - or am I being overcareful?

SparklyGothKat · 26/09/2006 23:10

I have managed to keep nits at bay since jan. My children start at a new school 2 weeks ago and within a week dd2 had them Went through everyone's hair on sunday and dd1 had 3 and dd2 a few baby ones.. but grrrrrrrr

LadyDooM · 27/09/2006 10:06

Also I wanted to say how I am sick of hearing about how it violates rights to chack childrens hair at school. The headteacher at the school my children attend also said this to me. She said they are not allowed to check heads but if they happen to notice they can alert the parents. It really ticks me off that everyone seems to have rights for this and that, but my kids don't have the right to attend school without the risk of catching lice. And what about the rights of parents that end up spending so much money that could be better spent on other things on their children, because other parents can't be bothered? Im so sick of it. The people that make the laws seem to get everything backwards. Hope that makes sense:S

Spidermama · 27/09/2006 12:02

With resepct I don't think that raging against other parents is justified or useful in any way.

Of course there'll be a tiny minority of parents who don't keep on top of the situation and don't care if their kids have nits, but the vast majority of us are doing our best. The lice are very successful these days and extremely hard to eradicate.

I have four children and I've spent and will continue to spend hundreds of pounds on potions and hundreds of hours nit combing. My 18 month old is already familiar with the drill - he approached me the other day with a nitty gritty comb and a bit of loo roll.

I am doing my level best but my kids keep on catching headlice and probably passing them on to other kids.

We're in this together. Let's not blame other parents because this is more likely to drive them underground and make people feel ashamed when it's not their faults.

We can't nit comb every day. There are meals to cook, clothes to wash etc etc. Nits are annoying, time consuming and itchy - but there are many worse things.

littleducks · 27/09/2006 12:20

I used to get them frequently at school, but they were allowed to check then the welfare officer or medical lady did and this was in the early 90s, hair plaited and tied up and few drops od lavendar oil are best deterrant if they stay in the class.

LadyDooM · 27/09/2006 12:55

I just feel that I would much rather spend the hundreds of pounds on my children for other things besides lice treatments. Also theres no real way of knowing what damage can occur from having to retreat them over and over. I now pretty much use the smothering with conditioner and a good nit comb instead.

Also, I do agree that raging against other parents wont help. But educating them better on how to tackle the problem will. I also think that schools or doctors or both!! should offer the treatments free to parents who cannot afford to pay 10£ a bottle(more or less)or even tips on how to spot them and chemical free ways to combat them. Maybe that would help to reduce the spread of lice. But its down to the parents, they might listen and treat their kids or they might be to busy getting ready to go out to the corner pub.

These are probably the same parents that let their children run wild with no adult supervision to terrorize the local businesses and elderly.

sandyballs · 27/09/2006 13:11

It isn't necessary to comb through every day. Every 3rd day over a 2 week period would break the cycle and get rid of them.

That is until the next little nitty bastard decides to join our family and then it all starts again.

I'm not sure if is the right thing to do really but I've been asking my DD's who is scratching the most in their class and I now have 3 names regularly cropping up. Should I mention it to their mum's? I don't know them really.

nikkie · 27/09/2006 13:12

With free perscriptions you can get the treatments free .

nikkie · 27/09/2006 13:13

With free perscriptions you can get the treatments free from GP

LadyDooM · 27/09/2006 13:14

Sandyballs - I wouldn't approach the parents but the headteacher instead. Theres no telling what reaction you will get from some parents, so don't risk it.

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 27/09/2006 13:15

Morrisons do a great tea tree/detaingling spray for kids hair. You spray it on wet hair, comb thro and leave it. DD's not had nits since I've been using it.. it's much better than using other tea tree products. It's £1.89

redshoes · 27/09/2006 15:50

I use a leave-in conditioner (Dove - for coloured hair LOL) on my 2 dds and neither have had nits in the year I've been using it (did before). I really rate it - plus saves time rinsing!

mosschops30 · 27/09/2006 15:54

Our school is having a bug busting weekend this weekend. They are asking every parent to buy a comb and some tea tree conditioner and do the comb through method even if there are no signs of infestation.

I suppose its a good idea, if everyone does it, i know i will so that I have done my bit then

megandsoph · 27/09/2006 16:04

OMG!!!! Totally agree it's frikkin winding me up now DD1's head looks so sore at the mo I'm conditioning and combing and dry rooting every freakin night and yet still she comes back from school again with them

Original poster
Blandmum · 27/09/2006 16:15

Spidermama, with respect, I don't think that I have advicated 'raging' at other parents. Rather that those parenst who can't shift the lice, for whatever reason, should be given the help that they need. In fact I have stated, in several posts, that there is no shame in children having nits and it doesn't mean that you are a 'bad parent'

there are small numbers of parents who do not shift them, sometimes this is due to SN in the parent, sometimes social factors like alcohol and drug abuse, sometimes parents are wildly disorganised, and the smallest number can't be bothered.

I don't think you should 'rage' against these parents, however you do have to educate them, and help them. Otherwise their children end up uncomfortable and ostricised and reinfest the rest of the class.

Pretending that there aren't 'key' children who are the almost constant source of the infestation isn't helping anyone.

You are right, we are all in it together, and that involves the currentely 'uninvolved' parents.

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