ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

How does one discern if a nit is viable or not? If all children with nits are admitted to school, how would the remaining viable nits (and resulting lice) ever be eliminated?

I agree that children and parents are traumatized by a lice infestation. But turning a blind eye to nits doesn't seem to address the real issue: eliminating lice and viable eggs.

The no nit policy has made all the difference in the world for our center.
I know the children are the ones that suffer
My 26 years in child care I see the same families and friends of those familes that seem to be the ones you can count on getting head lice every year.
The no nit policy does create more hardships on the parents. The education of treatment and removal in homes is available thru Health resources. However, alot of parents just are willing to do all that cleaning.
If we did not have the no nit policy.
The numbers would be 70% greater.
We work hard to keep this problem in control. I vote to keep the NO NIT POLICY
FOREVER.

From someone who has lived in FL, HI, Fiji Islands, and now NC, I have had to deal with lice on more than one occasion. A "No Nit" policy is absolutely the only option. One case alone infected at least a dozen children and everything in my YMCA nursery had to be treated accordingly. We took extreme permanent measures, i.e. no bedding in cribs, no stuffed animals, no dolls with "hair", steamed cleaned carpet, etc. in order to rid our facility and to reassure our parents! That's a big reason right there, our parents, to maintain a "No Nit" policy.

There is no other alternative! I believe "better safe than sorry!" The problem will just reoccur and reoccur if you do not approach it aggressively. Not doing so will also put other children, staff members and the cleaning crew at risk.

I also have a family based daycare and I will not, by any means, take that kind of chance.

In my opinion I have found that the best thing one can do is to pick,pick,pick until all the eggs,nits and lice are gone. I don't like the idea of toxic chemicals being used on anyone let alone a child. Equal parts vinegar and oil seems to work pretty to help kill the pests, but you still have to pick the hair & scalp clean no matter what type of lotions and potions you apply.
I will continue to enforce my "no nit" policy and educate parents on ways to treat and prevent head lice because my family & I live in the home where we provide a quality early care & learning environment for children.

Thanks for your opinion, however I do not feel that suddenly canceling the "no nit" policy is the job of caregivers. It just makes matters worse for everyone else involved; all the other children, siblings - that attend other schools, staff, parents, cleaning crews, etc. While it may be a hardship for the families and their employers - that is a basic childhood disease that may infect a huge population if not attended to swiftly and properly. The concept that is not mentioned, rather than the removal of non-viable nits is the amount of cleaning that needs to occur at the families' homes, cars, clothing, furniture, bedding, etc. One cause of the reinfestation that I have seen is the lackadaisical response from parents. They are annoyed that they are having to endure something of this nature and until you have a handle on it, it will be with you and everyone else for quite awhile. My opinion - attack it like the plague with all powers united, at home and at school and keep it away from everyone as much as possible. Missed work or not. As for the statement "alternative ways of examination and treatment for head lice should be found" is a more inspiring topic and would be more favorable in addition to the "no nit" policy.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? As a mother of two children, (one having very fine, long, hard to nitpick hair), as an ECE who has hosted lice NUMEROUS times in my long hair, and as a previous child care supervisor, I don't care what that study says, no nits is the only way to go. Working in a child care in a high school setting, I was able to borrow a microscope from the science department. It was very educational to view nits and lice in all their various forms close up. We could actually see lice forming in the eggs. We could actully see nits from which lice had hatched. We got a really good look at those almost indestructible little adult lice too.

After all that, I say recommend using natural remedies such as olive oil and then nitpicking. There are private individuals you can pay to consult or nitpick - well worth the money. And no nits is the best policy.

Can you imagine the problems we would have if we stopped the no nit policy?!! The expense and psychological trauma we would go through over and over and over again. Not to mention the loss of clients because we can’t control this problem at our center or home daycare! Just because one nit doesn’t mean any live critters are on the child … it does mean there will be and there are live ones some where the child goes. The family needs to know. I would want to know! This is a crazy idea. This article doesn’t address the hours lost by child care workers because they were infested or the cost of cleaning the infected center or home daycare!

What is next? Should we get rid of the no fever/sick policy? I mean it is very hard on the parents and their families when a child gets sick. Parents have to loose hours from work, kids loose hours from school, and the psychological hardship of not playing with their healthy friends! Then the no pay policy… I mean we can’t “reject” children just because the parents don’t pay. Buck up and take the loss!

Honestly, I agree maybe too many people use chemicals to treat but we can not demand how parents treat an outbreak. We can only try to protect the other kids and staff from the same troubles and expenses.

PS…. I like using Tea Tree shampoo to keep the critters off me.

What is the alternative method????????

I think this posting sets up a false choice between unnecessary treatment and a no-nit policy. Careful combing, rather than any specific chemical or non-chemical treatment, removes nits. Some parents prefer to use non-traditional treatments such as mayonaise - we do not and cannot prescribe treatment although we pass along information from the National Pediculosis Association. After treatment and very careful combing, nits both viable and not viable will be removed. We permit children back 24 hours after treatment but emphasize to parents that if we find nits we will exclude children again. The only thing we can go on to determine the effectiveness of treatment is by some objective measure, namely the absence of nits.

AS IF! It is true that a child with nits does not necessarily have a live louse... but they WILL!! the problem with nits is that they are eggs that hatch. As long as there is one louse left (or one nit, that hatches into a louse) the problem will keep up.
This individual obviously has not had a 6 week long infestation, in which the children (who had been exhaustedly nit picked) kept getting re-infested. It is hell and would be exponentially worse if no attempt was made to eradicate the lice.
I agree that there may be too much use of pesticides to treat the problem. the successful removal of nits is the key to the solution

I appreciate a glimpse at international research and policy recommendations. It seems to me this research supports the AAP recommendations. Emotions always run high with an outbreak, and any additional information and support that helps keep staff grounded when dealing with all the issues - impact on kids, parents reactions, our risk of taking lice home at the end of the day to our own family is all very helpful.

Don't leave us hanging. What can we do to control head lice without excluding children? What do the authors suggest? My head begins to itch with the mention of lice.

It is very difficult to stop an outbreak of lice in the early childhood classroom WITH the "no nit" policy! If we loosened up on that policy we would all be continually scratching our heads!