head lice

[baldowrie]

Actually the rise in nit's at school has not only to do with the chemicals that no are longer working 100% but also the nit nurse has now gone, and assault to touch a child hair, and the fact kids with nits are not told to remain at home until they have been deloused.

[Andy Hamilton]

I quite liked the nit nurse coming as I found it pretty soothing. This I am a bit strange there. I did feel sorry for the kids that got a bit of yellow paper and told to go home. When they came back they would get taunted for having nits.

[Millymollymandy]

I would have died of embarrassment if matron had found any on me!

Having said that, these days I have harvest mites crawling all over my body from August to October - they are miniscule spider like things, and a head full of midge (or harvest mite) bites which itch like crazy.

So not a lot different really!

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

my sister in law is a teacher in a nursery school and she has one child who is permanantly crawling with creatures and as baldowrie said it is classed as an assault and against the childs human rights for them to be fumigated by the school - what about the rights of the bug free children and families.

My daughter has started nursery last week and I am waiting for her to bring some 'friends' home with her, my mother is into aromatherapy and is currently scouring her books to come up with a remedy so once she finds it I will post it


www.welshgirlsallotment.blogspot.com

[cir3ngirl]

A while back I could not work out where our little visitors were coming from. My godson and his sister were coming to my house before school. One morning I watched as the 13 year old brushed her hair they fell everywhere. I ended up having to vacuum her and the surrounding area. Needless to say she is now not allowed through the front door. Scratching just thinking about it.

[hedgewizard]

Itching when you think about it... after 15 years of dealing with nitty people I'm finally immune to that. I think. *scratches*

Increase in head lice is partly due to resistance, partly due to withdrawal of nit nurses and a whole lot to do with poor parenting. I mean, some people just don't care! There's no itching until you start to get sensitised to the lice saliva, and some kids never do. I'm sure we all remember one kid at school who was always crawling with them... and passing them on to other people. Hello Cooper if you're reading this!

Conditioner and combing... yes, very effective but you have to pick motivated parents to do it. The success rate in lab trials is 57% (actually pretty good) but in the community demands on time are such that the success rate falls right down. People just don't stick at it unless I spend time stressing how they need to stay with the program :-(

[Chickpea]

We found the combing hard because there are 5 of us in the family, it just took flipping hours every night (doesn't help that Ed shares a hairstyle with Andy and Dave).

[dibnah]

we would sped hours dealing with our three kids then the eldest would go to her dads and catch them again, try telling the father of your step daughter you don't think she should come this week because you are sick of dealing with there problem.

[cir3ngirl]

I would have been in big trouble if nit nurse found any on me she was my Aunt.

[Mancblue]

We use teatree oil and a nit/lice comb on my daughter, which is a nightmare due to her long hair. We clear her of the little buggers and a week (if were lucky) later there are more of the little joys running around on her fine little head.

Blimey I've just deleted aprox 30 lines of rant, it's now taken me 23mins to write this. After I'd read the rant, i thought why would anyone want to know that! (highlight and delete)

Even though i've not posted the rant, I feel somewhat better.

[2steps]

same here Mancblue I am now checking my daughters hair every night. which means rather than a quick brush it takes ages. I got so sick of it and don't know what else to do. In the school hoildays they stay gone so it has to be that one or a few parents aren't doing it right or bothering at all. Nits do seem to like my daughter though, as I have only had them once or twice and my son and OH don't catch them either

[Welsh Girls Allotment]

I've recieved a note from my daughter's school advsing that the critters have been spotted and to be wary and to fumigate where necessary, now I am going to regret asking this ..... but - what am I supposed to be looking for ? I wash her hair everyday and haven't spotted anything out of the ordinary but what do these things look like ?

[dibnah]

here is one of the little buggers

[PurpleDragon]

Get yourself a lice comb from pretty much any chemist or supermarket.
Get some conditioner and put some (not too much) on your childs clean washed wet hair
Comb thru sections of the hair, starting right at the roots and working thru to the ends of the hair.
Wipe the comb on a white cloth or white paper and have a look for small (probably black or red) beasties.
Check behind the ears and in both nape and crown of hair for little white eggs.
If you find any, you can either go the chemical route to remove them, or comb every night for a couple of weeks. I cant remember the lifecycle times but you have to get the live ones to stop them laying and you have to get the eggs (nits) out before they hatch and start laying themselves.

They are insidious little blighters and you are fighting a losing battle if the kid your child sits next to in class doesn't have a similar routine.

I check my kids on a Friday night, unless they start scratching without cause.

[cat]

when one of my childeren got them, I found the commercial stuff no good at all, and got rid of them using this recipe from "The fragrant pharmacy" by Valerie Ann Worwood - excellent aromatherapy book
25 g beeswax (melted)
50 ml castor oil
27 drops each of Rosemary, Geranium and Lavender essential oils
Rub into the scalp and leave overnight

I didn't have castor oil so I used olive oil instead.

Are lice seasonal? I just got a note from my childrens schools here in Italy saying they're on the rampage here too.