Oh No Not Nits Again!

[Guest]

What can I do, I'm fed up of scratching! I need points of view on this topic. We have a child who has had head lice for over a year, I've put up the standard poster " please check your child's hair", given out flyers from the health visitor, put it in the news letters. I hoped this would prompt the family concerned but the lovely long blond hair still had little friends! I spoke to a very embarressed mother whom said she must of got them from playgroup, well it is possiable but I have looked at the children and can't see any thing lurking! This has gone on & on, they are so large you can see them & when spotted I remove them!!I tell mum who goes off in a grump, she tells me she has tried every thing to get rid of them. I have made up a solution of tree tea oil in a spray bottle for parents to use on entry. I have to do some thing as the parents know who it is (as they can see them) & encourge their children to stay away from her. I feel that a little time & effort from the parents would cure this problem. Do any of you think I should ignore this or is it a form of neglect? I can't exclude the child & it's not her fault. I speak to the mother at least every 2 weeks and I get no where execpt to anoy and upset her. I have been to our health visitors to make sure I'm giving the correct advice and I've relayed it to the parents. The child is in contact with over 30 other children think how many infested heads this could have / or has lead too.

I bet you've scratched your head now!!

[Rea]

I remember one family of 3 children who arrived at playgroup with nits and the eldest left school with them 14 yrs later. Their mom was a district nurse who swore the best remedy was fabric conditioner! Some people need a shake I'm afraid, talking and offering advice appears to go over some peoples heads. Can you have another talk with her, privately and during a session rather than at the end or start when she might be rushing off somewhere? You might have to brave the huffiness and be very to the point. If you can see big ones they are probably grandparents with loads of offspring waiting their turn to lay eggs. I'm sure you have all the facts about nits after having to deal with them so often but is mom fully aware that she may need to comb the hair every day for a more than a week? I do hope you get it sorted though, it's always worse when other parents know who it is and later at school the child will get picked on. Good luck with this tickly issue

[hali]

yes..scratching away.

 

You just have to keep plugging away with her really.......

 

A hairdresser told me the other day leave in conditioner is good as the littles fellows cannot stick to the hair then..good luck.

[Guest]

It's definately one of those grey areas, isn't it? When you can see them crawling around, it is very hard to resist the temptation to pick them out, but at the same time, it is something that we are not really allowed to do.

 

I can't understand those parents who get upset and embarrassed by nits. It is not, as we all know connected to dirty hair, so Mum shouldn't feel bad. Ok, it isn't a nice job to get rid of them, but if the parents don't take control, there will be a huge outbreak. Most of all, it must be very uncomfortable for the children as they constantly scratch, sometimes drawing blood.

 

I too would try to speak to Mum during the session, rather than allowing her to rush off. It is an important matter and needs resolving, especially if other parents are noticing and encouraging their children to stay away from the child. Some parents might complain.

 

Anyway, good luck with Mum, I haven't really got anything more to add other than what has already been said.

[Inge]

i know of one setting who had a continual problem who had it as a topic in the planning and incorporated games information and also included hand washing and other general health related issues. I know she also had made a 'beatle drive game' using headlice pictures!! Not sure how this will help but it seemed to work for her, perhaps a few more ideas may be offered for this idea.

Perhaps incorporate a bug busting day for everyone to check.bug busting day

 

have you asked if you could contact the childs HV to ask for help and advice. Have done this before with a dad who could not cope with it and it really helped.

 

we have a problem with them too at present but nothing for so long, but parents are saying lotions used as a last resort do not work, nor the one recently advertised, and only way is combing.

 

we also have parents who leave conditioner on hair to help, also hairdresser said they do not like products for stying so staff regularly plaster their hair with them!

 

A local school did a survey about a year ago, asked parents permission and did regular head checks and tratments at schoolt to find a solution, it turned out that in thier survey coconut shampoo and conditioner was better than tea tree.

 

Inge

[mundia]

my daughter had persistent nits through her junior school years. We tried all the usual stuff, conditioner, hours spent combing her very long hair every night, tea tree, you name it.

 

We then discovered ......garlic... Smells horrible and she didnt speak to us for ohhh at least a couple fo days...but it did work...she never had them again....

[Posy]

Oh and I'm scratching too

B

[Posy]

Well my first post got lost in the ether!

I wanted to know what Mundia does with the garlic-pills or cloves?

Barb

[Guest]

Cor, I hate nits. We have an epidemic at the moment

[Marion]

We had a bug busting day last Thursday and still some of my class (twins) are totally infested to the [point the whole of their heads are moving. YES IT IS THAT BAD! The school nurse has visited and phones everyday and it goes over the mothers head (shes scratching too!) When the children scratch lice fall off onto the table and on the trampoline.........well! We have even offered to comb their hair everyday with mums consent. The school nurse was at a unrelated meeting yesterday and said its the worst case shes ever seen and she thinks it will take weeks to clear up. The worst thing is parents seem to blame us when their children become infected.

[mundia]

Posy, I believe youc an try the capsules for a coule of weeks but we used the real thing crushed and rubbed in, head covered with a shower cap and left overnight, then washed out next day. Repeated weekly, just in case you miss a few...yep the little blighters really dont like the smell.

 

have heard that mayonnaise works too but garlic is much cheaper!!

[Guest]

As a last resort we have excluded children. We have said to parents 'your child can come back when she/he is clear'. This is very much a last resort and only as a measure to prevent the other children getting them again and again. It is just not fair on those who treat their children. You will be amazed how quickly they are dealt with when this happens!

 

We have also contacted the health visitor who has done home visits to help the parents treat the lice aswell.

 

These have probably not gone down very well but this is only after we have sent out fliers, spoken to specific parents, sent out information booklets etc. and when they are still crawling with obviously no attempt to clear them!

 

Sue

[Guest]

We have a child, currently in Y3, who's had them since she started in Reception. Like Marion's case, you can see this child's head heaving. If you look at a strand of hair you can see them running up and down. You can also see her head is suppurating and the child looks ill. Not surprising really when you think that she is, quite literally, being drained. Mum has said that the doctor has said not to comb her hair because her head's so sore - hmm!

[Guest]

persistant little devils ain't they. we reccommend to parents a bug busting kit from boots. you find it in the natural section in a blue box . it is a conditioner and comb with tea tree and lavender. you can either leave it in or wash it out . well worth it and most of the staff use it as well. trouble with parents is a lot of the time they are too embarrassed to go and ask for the combs let alone the lice soloution. something else they dont seem to realise is that they have to wash the bedding on a regular basis as well .

i think it is one of those problems that no matter how hard you shout it just dont get heard .

[Posy]

Years ago when my daughter first got nits another mum gave me this 'recipe' It's expensive but the oils last forever.

rose, lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree and geranium oil(we're talking drops here) mixed with a good slug of almond oil. Massage in and leave for 24hours if head is hosting a lousy party. Use weekly as a conditioner ( comb thru' and leave on for 5 -10 minutes) as a preventative measure. It seemed to work for us and others - don't know why. Also combing hair daily used to be a catchy little rhyme on the leaflets to do with broken legs and eggs as I recall!

Trouble is, of course, some people don't do anything.

Barb

[Guest]

Oh yes, we have the same problem My class is OK at the mo but we have children in the school who seem to be permanently infested. There is a new product out (Hedrin?) that works by coating the lice and stopping them from breathing. It is not an insecticide and is safe for children.

[Rea]

. trouble with parents is a lot of the time they are too embarrassed to go and ask for the combs let alone the lice soloution.

 

 

 

I recently bought a nit comb from the local chemists. I couldnt see one on the shelves so asked an assistant. She got it from the under the counter as if I was buying something that needed to be in a plain brown bag, 'there you are love' she whispered

[Guest]

Ditto Marions experience, we have a child who is extremely infested.

 

We have the bug busting leafletes and send these out every end of term, hoping ALL parents will treat during the holidays.

 

Just last week my manager spoke to me about the extremely infested child, she said that other parents were complaining and so she put a notice on our board saying something on the lines of "Lice are back, please check and treat" and that she had sent a "gentle reminder" letter to the parent of the child. The child has not been in since!!

 

My comments to my manager was: " It's not useful to say on the notice "Lice are back" if we are honest they never, ever go away, by saying they are back, this makes parents look to see who is to blame for bringing them back. I don't think she should have sent a letter to mum either, the mum will know other parents haven't recieved a letter and feel singled out. There should be a no blame culture as far as these 'natural' phenomena are concerned. The sooner parents, staff and children realise this the better, I think.

 

The chemists behaviour says it all, we should talk openly about them as being something that is a natural part of our lifes, but needs controlling. I like Inge's comment about talking to children about Lice, the same as we talk about healthy eating, washing hands etc. If children were asking their parents to treat their heads then maybe this would be more effective.

 

Parents who leave their childrens hair untreated have many reasons, these are not excuses but should be considered when addressing the issue with parents.

 

1/ They could be illiterate and cannot therefore understand the many leaflets sent to them.

2/ They may have tried and the child won't let them, screaming and shouting at having their hair done, thus causing conflict that is easier to ignore than to continue with.

3/ They do not have the knowledge how to deal with it, and/or the persistance of care when the infestation is really bad.

Some parents may not even check their childs hair thinking , my little darling would never catch lice, it happens to other peoples children, not mine.

4/ They don't understand that the whole family needs treating at the same time ( the logistics of this can be a nightmare for most families)

5/ They don't have the money to buy treatments and combs

6/ They think why bother, their child will only get them back next week.

7/ They just hope it will go away on it's own and they have many, many more important/ serious issues to worry about like how to pay bills, feed the family.

8/ They are negligent of their childs health and well being

 

Health visitor intervention in worse case scenario's could help, especially as the family may need support in other areas of their life, with lice being the least of their worries.

 

I have thought of providing / selling combs at preschool, but haven't done so yet. I quite like the idea of asking parents permission to check for and even treat children in the setting, we care for other hygiene needs, so can't see why we can't for this hygiene need. However, I am aware that there are issues of the rights of the child re: physical contact, but surely their health and wellbeing supersedes this. Maybe treat each child individually depending on their response to staff offering treatment / combing. Would the staff see this as part of their duties??

( Sorry, rambling a bit, thinking out loud)

 

My concern with exclusion ( be it by the provider or self exclusion by parents as in the case of the child mentioned above) is that this is segregation because of something that is not actually that harmful to others, yes, a nuisance , maybe even uncomfortable but not that high in the list of health risks. Do we only exclude children with lots of lice? one louse can lay 300 eggs, so what makes one louse less of a risk, in terms of spreadable infection, when one can soon become 300?

 

Peggy

[SmileyPR]

I need help! Yesterday I discovered that one of my students had been having lice and we had not been informed about it. It has been hectic lately and I didn't keep checking. Well, the thing is that his father isn't so communicative. Some months ago the child had parasites and we got to know about it 'by accident' when the child's nanny told me. When I asked her why had we not been informed, she told me that she was just the nanny and that the father should have told me in the morning (she picks him up in the afternoon). Well, I gently got into the conversation with him next morning and he said he had expected the nanny to tell me! And he added: "Oh, but it is not something important and he has been under treatment." I politely said that indeed it is not something to create a commotion, but that other children could get infected with parasites as well. So, it is not the first time the dad doesn't notify us about things like this.

 

The thing is... that I asked to be checked and the Head-Teacher discovered he thinks are old eggs I bought medication at the chemist but now I have to wash all my bedsheets and my clothes. This is the 1st time in my live that this happens so I don't know what and how to do it. PLEASE help me .

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited June 24, 2006 by SmileyPR

[Marion]

I have thought of providing / selling combs at preschool, but haven't done so yet. I quite like the idea of asking parents permission to check for and even treat children in the setting, we care for other hygiene needs, so can't see why we can't for this hygiene need. However, I am aware that there are issues of the rights of the child re: physical contact, but surely their health and wellbeing supersedes this. Maybe treat each child individually depending on their response to staff offering treatment / combing. Would the staff see this as part of their duties??

 

 

Peggy

 

 

Peggy I collected 400 FREE combs from our local chemist which we gave to every child in the school (think we got them through the health srvice so maybe worth looking into )

[Guest]

Hi Smiley,

If you have head lice you will know it pretty quickly because your head will itch - usually in the nape of the neck and around the ears first. You can remove them by regular combing with a nit comb whilst your hair is wet and smothered with condtioner. The important thing is to comb in all directions, including upwards from underneath the hair (if you know what I mean). If you have eggs in your hair you will need to keep up the combing for about 10 days, until all the eggs will have hatched Unless you are heavily infested you shouldn't need to worry about washing bed linen etc because the lice like to stay on your head - but I can understand the temptation to throw everything in the wash anyway

Don't worry it's all part of the job...

Fox

[SmileyPR]

Thanks, Fox !

[hali]

wow 400 free combs...excellent

[Guest]

Peggy I collected 400 FREE combs from our local chemist which we gave to every child in the school (think we got them through the health srvice so maybe worth looking into )

 

 

Thanks Marion, I'll give it a go

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Thanks Peggy for pointing out that some parents have reasons for not being able to beat these parasites.

 

My children have had headlice on and off for months now, I really struggle to keep them away, we routinely headlice-comb them twice weekly an very often sitll find 1 out of my 5 children may have one or two, it is totally draining, which sounds silly but my three younger girls hate having their hair done, it is a battle to get it done and we all know how tired we all are trying to work, look after the house and study, the last thing you want is a battle with the children about headlice - as for it being a form of neglect I am horrified to think that is what someone might think, I am a really good mum (one of the only things I am definitely positive about in my life) and I continue to battle this problem, at the end of the day headlice are horrible and none of us want them but on the big scale of things it's not a life-threatening disease and I am sometimes made to feel ashamed if I dare admit or warn other parents that my children have had them!!

So I will continue to try to beat these blighters, but please spare a thought for parents struggling to battle headlice - as for those who don't bother to check their children or are ignorant of the risk of spreading to others well they make me want to SCREAM!

 

Ooo I really went for it then, must go now it's Sunday Headlice-check day, great!

(One week all the children and myself were clear, just my husband had them!! )

[Guest MaryEMac]

On a lighter note, a couple of years ago we had a child who was constantly getting nits. She would stay with her Nan for a time and would be clear and clean but as soon as she went home to mum she would be infested again.

One morning in the summer we were playing outside and I could smell that a farmer was spraying the fields with insecticide. I quietly said to my assistant, "can you smell anything?" and this little girl said, "Oh that's probably me cos Nan said I'd got some eebie jeebies, so she put some stuff on my head." We had to smile and even now we refer to them as eebie jeebies.

 

Mary

[SmileyPR]

Hi Shirel,

 

I am glad you are one of those mums that one would like to have in our groups, the type of mum that would be able to come to us and inform us if their child had nits or lice.

 

At the beginning of the school year, or when an incident comes out, we orientate the parents about what this is and how to deal with it (the Head-Teacher sends the letter... I don't have a copy . We make clear that this is not caused because of lack of hygiene or so and that it can happen to anyone, so that no one is to feel ashamed. Sadly enough some parents still stick to their old ways of understanding the situation and don't come to us to let us know what is happening.

 

Possibly because otehrs don't check their children or because they feel ashamed, then they don't inform the school. Hopefully we will have more parents like you who understand the importance to do so. Don't loose heart. Okay?

[Guest]

"as for it being a form of neglect I am horrified to think that is what someone might think, I am a really good mum (one of the only things I am definitely positive about in my life) and I continue to battle this problem"

 

Shire please don't think that I mean parents of children who have headlice are neglectful parents, your example actually proves the opposite because you continually "care" for your childrens head health by consistently attending to and keeping on top of the situation. ( sorry, no offence intended)

 

In my experience however, I have found that children who have extensive infestation, to the point that it appears that the childs whole head is moving (as Marion describes) this scenario is often combined with other concerns about the parents overall care of their children. These are parents who never check or treat their children, not necesarily due to lack of information but sometimes due to a lack of overall care. These family's do still need support but in different ways, and with more professional agency intervention.

 

I am greatful if parents inform me that their child has headlice, but I don't feel that it is essential because I think providers should always consider that there will most likely always be at least one or two children with headlice at any given time within the setting. If we think this way we can be more pro -active in our approach, rather than re-active to individual cases as they are bought to our attention by parents.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Thankyou SmileyPR, just finished the check and wanted to let you all know my good news NO LICE FOR US THIS WEEK!! Of course I realise it could all change by midweek but tonight I celebrate, any excuse for an extra glass of wine!!

 

Ooo our replies crossed, no worries Peggy it's nice to discuss the matter and pose different views and opinions that's what we're all here for isn't it, no offence taken.

Edited June 25, 2006 by Guest

[SmileyPR]

You know? Today I was thinking that a possible big infection focus is the Role-Play area. Why? Because we usually have hats and scarfs there for the children to use. My husband wondered if there exists any product that one could put on these things to prevent the survival of nits or lices and that way preventing these to pass from one child to the other (apart of the fact of head contacts).