lice (UK)

[kosh]

just curious - is head lice common in the UK?

 

[Amy_T]

Yep - seems to be a common occurrence at any school I'm aware of!

 

[Twinmum87]

Yeah it usually gets round a lot in the younger classes as they tend to play very closely and touch heads. Can depend on what the parents are like too thou as if they do not treat their children effectively or check often etc you just repeatedly get nits spreading round over and over starting from the same kid. We had this when mine were in reception. A few parents had suspected she was the source as it was clear she wasn't looked after properly and when they moved house and she left the school ( 2/3 of the way thru reception) there has never been a single case of nits in the class since and they are just about to start yr 3! I used to put my girls hair in a plait every day and put hairspray on and check both over for nits twice a week until there had been a good few months with no cases of nits.

 

[lau86]

Yeah I agree with pp, I suspect in some classes there are one or two culprits that are just constantly spreading it. My eldest is nearly 4, the youngest 18 months both have been in nursery since 7 months old and not had it. Occasionally there will be a notice saying they're going round but it's certainly not all the time. But they are boys and I use a repellent shampoo so I don't know if that makes a difference

 

[k4th]

Yep. My dd caught nits once at preschool. Since then we've always put her hair up and we use a repellant shampoo - she hasn't had them since although there have been signs up to say they are around. She has hair halfway down her back now.

 

[sequeena]

My son just had his first lot - he caught it at his new school. I used Hedrin to get rid of them and will be using tea tree shampoo to repel them.

 

[Rags]

When DS started nursery I bought an electric comb. I put it through his hair at the end of the week as a precaution - not had anything so far.

 

[Sqwidge]

Well my daughter (who's at nursery and a very snuggly girl) and myself have them at the moment. It sucks!! But Hedrin is on us both and I've got a nitty gritty comb on the way which I will be using daily for the next few months and then weekly after that! I was going to get an electric one but they don't recommend it for under 3s.

 

[k4th]

Well my daughter (who's at nursery and a very snuggly girl) and myself have them at the moment. It sucks!! But Hedrin is on us both and I've got a nitty gritty comb on the way which I will be using daily for the next few months and then weekly after that! I was going to get an electric one but they don't recommend it for under 3s.

I only used the nitty gritty comb on dd with lots of conditioner. It took about the length of "finding nemo" to get them all but we did it without using any chemicals. It was a really good comb & dd's hair is quite fine!

My friends dd had a bad allergic reaction to a chemical nit treatment so we went au natural (not like us to be honest! )

 

[Sqwidge]

I was going to do mayonnaise and shower cap and combing the crap out of our hair, but unless the nitty gritty comb works with hers, so far the combs I've got don't take anything out of her hair as it's quite fine at the moment! My hair is too thick to be faffing about combing!!!

 

[lindseymw]

So far in Joshua's class, there hasn't been a case of nits. However, one of the older classes constantly has them doing the rounds and have done all the way through School. The parents have an idea on who the suspect is but obviously can't do anything.

*anyone else start having an itchy head reading this?*

 

[Jchihuahua]

I teach reception and I see them in kids hair all the time. My own kids have never had them touch wood.

 

[dani_tinks]

Jacob had them badly once so far, all the kids appeared to have them in yr F. I spent most of the year checking his hair, but since then he's been fine *touch wood*.