Nits! And teachers reaction

[Svrider]

My 6yo dd2 seems to attract nits
I do them every month with hedrin once
Dd1 tends to have a few (5) ds tends to have 1 or 2
Dd2 has LOADS
So dd2 rather upset today as her teacher had told her "tell your mum to get you some nit lotion, your always itching"
I'm tbh
I only did her on Sunday
She's only just stopped being bullied by other girls about having nits, and had just started to be ok about going to school again
I think teacher should have spoken to me, not a 6yo girl who now doesn't want to go to school

[sashh]

OP can't help with the nits.

Other than some international students I taugt swore by using parafin

But I have psoriasis and excema, the psoriasis is mainly on my scalp and I get Alphosil shampoo on prescription. It really helps with the itchyness. You can buy it OTC as well.

[Sokmonsta]

I don't believe teachers approach individual parents about nits these days hence why your dc got the reaction they did. Although quite why the child was told

I used to suffer from eczema a lot on my head as a child. Conversely I rarely had nits, even though my sister was often found with them. You can get prescription shampoos for eczema. I had one that was a pink liquid and then a coal tar one which actually worked but stank. Maybe the nits didn't like that?

I would arrange a meeting with the teacher to explain about the eczema and also to highlight previous bullying due to nits. I'm afraid I would also call the teacher out on her behaviour as having been bullied myself, I would feel that the teacher was no better than those children. Whether rightly or wrongly, that is how I would feel.

Thankfully dd hasn't had nits since starting reception. I'm not so naive to think she won't get them, but I do comb her hair once or twice a week, her hair is sprayed with a solution of tea tree oil as I've always had to dampen her hair to tie it up and have been told tee tree has natural not repellant properties. Then once her hair is up, it gets a blast of hair spray as well. Because I only wash her hair every couple of days, I do use a more expensive (one i would use) hairspray on the recommendation of my hairdresser. She said it would brush out better than cheaper ones. But each to their own.

Hope you find a solution which works for you and dc doesn't get targeted by the bullies again

[Pyrrah]

If you want a gentle shampoo that is sodium lauryl sulfate and paraben free shampoo then try the Burt's Bees Baby Bee Shampoo and Wash. It comes in two forms - one is unscented. It is expensive but a little goes a long way and you can get it cheaper on eBay and other online shops.

I have friends who swear by mixing up a spray bottle of water and tea-tree oil and spraying the hair every morning.

I hadn't thought about the coats thing. Ick. Apparently bed bugs, nits and lice are often spread via seats on the Underground which has always grossed me out a bit.

I so wish they would bring back the whole school check - or that all parents would check their children's hair.

Even worse than the nits, DD managed to pick up scalp ringworm at her nursery - she had to have oral anti-fungals for 3 months (that said in the bumpf that a man shouldn't father children within 6 months of taking the stuff). It's taken even longer for the hair to regrow - by the time we got an official diagnosis she had lost a patch of hair the size of a golf-ball on the back of her head.

[UrbanSpaceManBaby]

Thank you for seeking advice and getting a grip of the nits.

You can't really blame the teacher for this, I'd just take it on the chin.

Two girls in DDs class have nits, its not their fault but time and time again their parents fail to effectively sort it out. My DDs have ezema and really thick curly hair that hair slides can disappear into for months. When they've caught nits, our whole family has to devote considerable time to sorting it out. I'm not being unreasonable when I suggest to DD that she does n't work, play, share with these nit girls, it's no reflection on them, just they're dangerous to play around.

Clear up your kids then you can be smug and your daughter can be confident.

[arkestra]

This is a bit long but might save some people the hassle we went through - after an infestation we repeatedly failed to clear I did some basic research, and treating according to that worked first time.

What I found was:

1. Lice can start laying eggs as quicky as 7 days after hatching - NOT 14 or more days as many websites say. Look at (eg) UK dept of health website for the 7 day number.
   
   
2. It seems to be very hard to guarantee killing/clearing all unhatched eggs by treatment/combing. All evidence I found is that NO treatment can be relied on to do this.
   
   
3. But there are treatments that do seem to clear all LIVE lice. I personally have found Hedrin Once works well for this.
   
   
4. Lice eggs take 7-10 days to hatch.
   
   
5. Although headlice are not supposed to be able to survive for long when not on a human head (they dehydrate), they can last for 24 hours at least if the climate is reasonably moist.
   
   And the consequence of that is:
   
   A) Treating once, or twice 1 week apart won't work since you will likely still have unhatched eggs and get back to square one.
   
   B) But if you treat at days 1, 7 and 13 then no headlice live long enough to lay eggs, and all pre-existing eggs have hatched. So this should clear everything - and this did indeed work for us.
   
   C) You should change bedding, clothes and towels on treatment days. I know it's a pain but there does seem to be a chance headlice can hang around for a day without being on someone's head.
   
   The trick is to not leave more than 6 days between treatments, and for the full span of treatments to cover the 10 day egg hatching period. So days 1, 6, 11 should work too for instance.
   
   You will still need to comb dead lice and eggs out of the hair. The Nitty Gritty comb seems to work well for us. But the detailed combing is clearing up afterwards, rather than a necessary part of the killing process. It is quite easy to comb nits/dead eggs out while Hedrin Once is applied (if that's what you use), so worth doing as much as your child can stand at that point.