Nits and the school ...

[Brillenbar]

Our primary had a very long standing problem with nits. I cleared ds and dd2 last weekend with the time and distress that causes them and have just combed about 1000 adult nits out of dd2s hair after a week at school. This is the routine every single weekend we clear them and by next weekend they are hopping again.

Does anyone have any practical suggestions I could make to the school? I don't know ( I don't want to know) whether it is particular children or all children. There is no nit nurse that comes. The school won't send kids home if they have nits. They have tried sending rubbish combs to all parents in the past but it made no difference.

Is there anything else we could try or ask the school to try? Or do we just put up with an hour or 2 of combing and sobbing every weekend until they at at secondary?

We love the school in all other respects!

There is also a tea tree spray that that you used to be able to get in Savers - that was really good.

Dd2 does wear a broad headband already( and yes it does get washed!)

see about coats and hats being separated from other kids

How??

When we get them I do a hedrin leave in treatment and rinse out the next morning. I then nitty gritty comb every day with cheap conditioner until after 2-3 days I find nothing. I then check a couple of days later. I do it whilst they draw or watch TV. Unless you are siting there for hours, once a week won't be enough to get rid of them. If you are getting tons by the weekend, they would have been appearing for days from eggs left in there. That's not coming from other DC, it's coming from them breeding in situ.
Our school recommend just continual combing with conditioner.,

see about coats and hats being separated from other kids

How??

Give than a carrier bag

Why?

'(combs don't remove eggs...).'

Surely this isn't true? How else do you get rid of the eggs?

Pointless tbh and who wants carrier bags everywhere?

Totally pointless since head lice can't survive on clothing

Comb with a nitty gritty every day.

You don't get rid of eggs. You wait till thy hatch and get the immature lice before they're old enough to lay their own eggs.

Some combs do remove eggs.

I don't think 1000 adult nits can have transferred from other children, it just isn't possible.

Even with Hedrin, combing once a week makes you part of the problem. I combed every day when they had nits and checked every 2-3 days if they didn't to catch any adults Visiting that day. Combing is the only thing that contains the spread of infestations, especially with the rise of lice immune to chemicals.

(Nitty Gritty comb definitely removes eggs)

There is a kid in DD's class who regularly has head lice, parents are aware and do bugger-all about it. Said child stole DD's hat last year and wore it all lunchtime play. Thankfully DD had the good sense not to put it back on her own head, told me what had happened and asked me to wash it. As I went to put it in the washing machine I noticed that there was a live bloody louse happily tramping around the hat. This was 4 to 5 hours after the kid was wearing it. I combed both my kids daily for weeks after that incident and requested that a rule be implemented in school to ban hat sharing. They even did this six months later when the head lice situation was out of control.

Make sure you wash all bedding hats etc

Suggest the school sends out correct info on how to get rid of them and put in place a rule of all hair that's long enough must be tied back if it isn't currently

If you combed out 1000 adult lice I'm afraid your dd is the source of the infestation, not a freshly infected new host. It's not the school, if they were to send kids with nits home your dd would be first. You must be missing some if you have such an extreme infestation.

Do you tie your dd hair in plaits?

Try combing their hair everyday when they get home from school with a good quality nit comb. This will stop an infestation talking hold. Check the comb and if you see any eggs or lice then comb twice a day for 10 days. I found the shampoos to be a waste of time, the combing however has been excellent.

A typical infestation on a child involves around 10 lice.

Does anyone have any practical suggestions I could make to the school?

The best practical suggestions you could make to the school is to say you are keeping your dd home because of a massive infestation.

I don't know ( I don't want to know) whether it is particular children or all children.

It is a particular child. Yours.

http://www.nittygritty.co.uk/site/images/pdfs/School-A5-Facts-of-Lice-Oct-09.pdf

I found Hedrin to be effective the overnight stuff - and it's free for the kids (or anyone entitled to free prescriptions) on the pharmacy first minor ailments scheme, which not all pharmacys participate in but there should be one in your area.
With regards to school they should send regular letters out - but ours didn't when we informed them, so I made sure I did it by word of mouth! hair tied up defo should be made a rule - but not applied at ours - esp when the girls decide to play hairdressers