Head Lice and teachers - help, need advice - just a little angry right now!!!!!!!!!

[Lizziekid]

Hiya, i'd like some advice on headlice and teachers!!

Headlice has been an on going porblem for my daughter. We manage to get rid of them and then about a month later they seem to re-appear, summer holiday, easter etc etc she is all clear, the minute back at school she gets them.

Today my daughters teacher pulled me to one side after school and explained that a helper had looked in her hair and that she was crawling with lice, she then went on to say that the headteacher had said that unless they are gone she has to stay home from school until they are gone. I was made to feel like my daughter is the root cause of the whole schools problem with headlice. Having spoken to my daughter who is 7, no-one has touched her hair today, and having combed through her hair tonight with a nitty gritty comb i found one lice in her hair. i'm so angry and want to say sonething to the head as

1. surely being made to stay at home is like a suspension from school and would have thought a letter would need to be written to me
2. why is she being singled out, as no other parents have had this said to them
3. and why did the head send a message through the teacher and not approach me herself???

am i over reacting????? pls help!

I'm a teacher too. I've told them and they have either not been bothered or they have been in circumstances where they have not been able to. In these cases, they have received the appropriate support. Some parents try but do not follow the correct advice.

yes Sagga that would be fine if she had them in the first place, but to say she was crawling with them and then having combed and found none, it did anger me

I know they don't all do it because they come in & tell us they can't do it. Our LA has tried a district wide day a a few times - if they suggest it in term time, people say 'I don't have time' and if they suggest it in holiday/weekend time they say 'We're going away'

Poor kids with parents who just let them scratch.

FWIW - I have found that all day olive oil treatment is also good for "suffocating" live lice. With a bad infestation I hear you can actually see the lice falling out of the hair as you pour it over. (Obv don't waste the good extra-virgin on this!)

My mum knows someone who got so fed up that she covered her DD's hair in olive oil, plaited it in a french plait and left it for a week! Cured the problem though.

Olive oil means you don't have to use nasty chemicals either.

When we got an infestation, we did the olive oil for a day, loosen oil with neat shampoo (no water) then wash out. Comb with plastic comb. THe "Bug Buster" ones available online seem to be the most effective. Then comb every 3-4 days until no live lice have been found for a week. Then comb once a week to keep clear. Painfully boring and time consuming, but it works.

i didn't think they could just exclude for that. The teacher that approached me did seem very uncomfortable with what she was saying, and to be honest i thought she was almost passing on a message from the head, therefore i took the dont shoot the messenger approach! I'll save that for tomorrow when i see the head, i'm usually quite quiet and dont like confrontation at all, so trying to work out how i'm going to say it etc and i know i'll be quiote nervous whicj is silly!

cat - DH's mum is a primary teacher. You're not allowed to send a letter to just one home - you have to send one class wide that "there has been an outbreak". It's why it's so surprising that the OP said the head has suggested the child stay home.

cat that would be hilarious!!!! go on!!! lol!!!

I remember someone saying that dd1 was 'crawling with lice'. When I looked it was just the egg cases that had been hanging around for weeks. I don't think many people know alot about the lifecycles of lice. Me - I've had years of experience.

havent read all the threads. have also been approached by head, not advised to dd stay at home though and i check dds hair, she doesnt breed them ffs.
i have years of experience too btw. sent home from the hairdresser in disgrace through dds.

they do grow out of it though

Last monday had to treat me and my daughter for the same problem. Not completly sure where she got them from as she does not go to school yet. My son does go to school but was clean when I checked him. I do know though that there is a child in my son's class that has had them and who's mom does not treat. So there is nothing to surgest my son did bring one or two home and passed them to my daughter. Also I know a dirl at the mother and toddler group I take my daughter to who has had them on and off since before xmas. Her mom says she treats her but a week later she has them again. I think it is peopl like these that causes the agro for everyone else who do everything they can to make sure they get rid of them. My son's school has just recently changed their policy over the problem, so may get some of the problem solved. It is just a pain in the butt, but part of life.

Our school (in Germany) sends letters home if anyone has been found to have lice (i.e. it just says that there has been an outbreak of lice at the school to warn parents to keep an eye out and monitor their own kids' hair which I think is fine). If your dc have lice, they're not allowed to go school. They have to be clear before they can go back. Can't say it's very common.

When DS started school (he is now in Y1) I was told that they wouldn't check children but if one was found to be infected we would be asked to remove the child until they had been treated and a general letter would be sent to parents. Now we have had letters approx once per term and I check DS every time but have seen no evidence - DS has short but thick hair. I also check 2yo DD at the same time - she has fine, blonde hair but it will eventually thicken up, get longer and maybe darker.

However I have no treatment. Last time we got a letter DS had a friend round for tea so I gave them a bath and conditioned their hair and combed it. I wouldn't do this with just any friend DS had round, but I know his mother really well, and just popped him in some of DS's pjs.

Touch wood so far this school year we have been clear. But DS had them twice last year and once the year before.

Last time I was phoned by the teacher and asked to come and get DS as they had been checking the children and DS had some. The teacher was very embarrassed and I had to go see the school nurse before getting DS. The nurse was great and said that they wouldn't normally ask that the child is removed but as it was a Friday of a holiday weekend they were hoping that the children affected would be treated and come back clear. He asked that I take DS back to see him before he went back to school so he could check him. (Thankfully the school has a nurse who does check the children and they send a letter home to every pupil if there is an outbreak).

I too find the Bug Busting kits good. The combs are much better others I have tried.

Someone on here recommended Alberto Tea Tree Tingle shampoo as a deterrent and we have used it and so far so good.

I also think that some children are just more prone to them for some reason - maybe a bit like how mosquitos bite some people but not all.

And now I'm itchy!

Haven't rad the whole thread, but our school has told us that they are supposed not to send home any letters - but thet they are allowed to send home the affected kids. This is in Glasgow

They ignore the rule and send home the letters (School wide, so no-one is singled out), but are still struggling to contain the current outbreak.

Only in extreme cases - where a whole family is badly infested and (to quote the depute head) the nits are wearing tackety boots, do they send the kids home.

Bozza - chances are your 2yr old may not get it while her hair is so fine, when DS1 got it we had just started a camping holiday in the wilds so could not treat DS2 slept next to him for two to three weeks - not a sign as he still had baby fine hair. Have noticed it with friends as well.

SSShakeTheChi - I have a German aunt. She said that when she was a child, they checked heads at the gate before the kids were allowed back into school. I can imagine the uproar if they did it here, but it most certainly would force parents into action. She said she can only ever remember it happening once (the gate check), her whole time in school.

where do you get the nitty gritty combs from? my dd is always getting headlice and its a nightmare ,im going to get her hair cut short ,but have to wait until she is lice free !

ratclare you can get them online, but also some chemists do them now like Ashtons. I'm not sure if Boots does.

Hi,

You can get the nittygritty comb free on prescription , one per household I think. The nittygritty website has a letter you can print off and take to docs surgery and get them to issue one for your child.
Hth

Just heard bout a new type of head lice that does not die when using the shampoo needed to treat them. God knows how we are going to get rid of them

I've just spent another evening with the Hedrn. PLUS they'll all have to get up extra early in the morning so I can wash four lots of hair before school.

steward-those lice have been doing the rounds where i live for the past 5 years.i used headlice shampoo on my children the first couple of times they got them but the lice just seemed to be slightly stoned-they didnt die!!