my son had his first day at nursey yesterday and now has head lice how bad is that?

Question

he definitely did not have them before he went and i've just washed his hair and there were 5 big lice in his hair.

i must add i have 2 other boys one 9 and 1 18 months old who are both clear. the whole family will be treated.

ok my head is now burning from constant combing with a nit combe. i'm clear my husband is clear and my 18 month old is clear, all i have to do now is check my 9 year old when he comes home from school. i've also gone through my 3 year olds hair over and over with 2 different types of lice combe and put a lotion on his hair too. it just freaks me out those little horrible things.

thanks for all the advice guys.

ok no-one else had them in the family, plus we haven't been anywhere this weekend. he hasn't played with any other kids so it has to be the nursery. i'm just going to combe with the nit combe and conditioner every day and see how we get on.

Answer 1

oh i have to say how disapointing it is to read some very nasty comments re not being friends with the kid that had headlice....

how archaic of you.and how cruel

First thing about headlice .. they don't like dirty greasey hair .. they like CLEAN hair.
Second thing .. how can you say nasty things about a child that has them .. how mean spirited of you .. Instead of being such a nasty judgemental person HOW about you approach the child's parents and ask if they need a hand to help get rid of the lice.

Headlice aren't some nasty disease that indicates poor character.. I just hope that the person who said that they didn't want their child to be friends with the child that has them.. doesn't ever have their children ostracised because they have headlice...

headlice have been with mankind for centuries ... there is NO SHAME in having headlice .. BUT it is a condition that needs to be dealt with as thoroughly as possible because the little buggars are most annoying

I thought the stigma of headlice went out in the dark ages ...
how mean to judge the child..

My daughter had them twice .. and YES it was a damn annoyance and inconvenient BUT i didn't tell her to stop playing with who we thought the source was .. what we did tell her was NOT to share hairbrushes ( because she could JUST as likely pass them on to other people as catch them from other people) not to share hats and not to rub heads with each other...
Telling a child NOT to play with another child is teaching bullying and teasing ..

Now re treating the lice .. get a fine tooth comb and comb through his hair several times ... treat his hair with olive oil. tee-tree oil, lavender oil, and leave on for about two to three hours ..

DO NOT believe that headlice will survive only 24 hours off the head .. we stuck one to a microscope slide and it lived for over 36-48 hours...

It is also likely that your son will get them again over his junior years at school.

Answer 2

Two thoughts - head lice only go for very clean hair where they can get to the follicle to feed, they dont like dirty or greasy hair, so it means that all the kids at the nursery have nice clean hair.

Secondly it takes a couple of days for the eggs to hatch so I'm wondering if you do actually have lice, or that your son has been in close contact with an animal in the previous couple of days before going to nursery school.

Good thing is they are easily treated ( and regularly have to be) most people consider that common outbreaks are due to our super clean living standards.

If its any help try a product called 'Not Nice to Lice' from Naturally does it ( http://www.naturallydoesit.co.uk ) I have no affiliation with the company other than being a satisfied customer.

Answer 3

My children's school have this problem also. Luckily, when a teacher realises that the children have head lice they send a note out to all parents to inform them.

A few years ago, before my children started school, the problem was so bad that some parents took a petition to the local MP asking for something to be done, they were informed that they couldn't do anything, and as it is a natural occurrence the children who consistently have them cannot be excluded from school. Unfortunately there is one parent whose children have them constantly and they refuse to do anything about them.

Luckily, my children have so far avoided catching them, every day I spray a head lice repellent on their hair - the one I am using at present is called Nitty Gritty and it cost £10.00 for 250 ml. and I'm sure this must have helped.

I know that there is no shame in having them, but it is the inconvenience caused to the responsible parents who take the time to get rid of them.

Answer 4

pretty bad you need to inform the nursery, if the lice are large then they were caught, if they are small and still in eggs obv he had them before, but looks like he caught them there im afriad,
comb them out with lots of conditioner and nit comb and spray some tea trea oil onto the hair, they hate that.

but do tell the nursery they need to know!!
have a good day nit picking lol

Answer 5

Oh dear - unfortunately this seems to be par for the course once children start school - many people argue that it's the absence of the 'nit nurse' that has made it so prevalent. My girls had them loads and really all you can do is check regularly. If you cover your son's hair in conditioner and then use a nit comb it's a good way of keeping a check - the eggs etc slide out because of the conditioner. Good luck.

Answer 6

Unfortunately it is pretty common these days in kids who mix with lots of other kids. My stepdaughter has had head lice virtually constantly the 5 years I have known her. She is great in the holidays then as soon as she goes back to school she is riddled again. There are many things on the market, but we havent found one that works completely as yet.

Answer 7

I had my first day at school over 47 years ago and we never used to have children with head lice ,I believe that hygiene standards have dropped with some people, plus the problem has been aggravated by central heating.

Answer 8

Kids catch and spread lice really easily. Let the nursery know, it's not their fault if parents don't tell them that there is a lice problem.

Answer 9

its not common children of school age can get them the only method that really works is fine tooth comb and conditioner i have 2 girls and get head lice at least once a month at the minute there an epidemic of them all i can say is good luck and check your children`s hair every night

Answer 10

When I was in elementary school my friends locker partner had it a few times a year.....needless to say, her mom had a daycare so it was awful! Put all stuffed animals in plastic bags, wash ALL linens (bleach whatever you can), wash all hats, sterilize all combs, brushes, etc. and vaccum, vaccum, vaccum! Hope this helps! Sometimes it takes more than one treatment to kill the lice and nits...Good Luck!