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DEL.ICIO.USWould you cross-nurse? Should kids with nits be sent home?
Would you nurse someone else’s baby? Should schools send kids with lice eggs in their hair home? Where do you fall on these dilemmas?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The baby was sick for a week and then I was sick for a week so I missed talking with you guys about some crazy stories! I want to play catch up today and hit two that really jumped out at me.
Up first, the story about Salma Hayek breastfeeding a stranger’s child when visiting Sierra Leone has spawned a lot of discussion about cross-nursing.
Jennifer Bunn, an RN took a closer look at the issue of cross-nursing and wet nurses in a recent article in “News Health Guru.” “Salma has stated that she breastfed a stranger’s baby for two reasons: because the baby was starving, and to raise awareness among African men that breastfeeding is normal and healthy, and need not interfere with a woman’s sexuality.”
Bunn reports that cross-nursing is becoming more popular because it helps mothers share breastfeeding duties.
However, some are concerned about passing diseases in breast milk. Mothers who can’t nurse can get breast milk from milk banks, and the milk is purified before it is sent to other moms.
Bunn reports that “Nadya Suleman’s octuplets are receiving feedings of donated breast milk, and this has not been viewed as strange, likely because there is no visible woman at the end of the milk supply.”
What do you think: Would you share nursing duties with another mother? Would you use milk from a milk bank? Should wet nurses return?
And now onto lice!
The Associated Press reports: “With the backing of some major health organizations, a majority of schools across the country are allowing youngsters to stay in class if they have nits — that is, lice eggs — but no crawling lice in their hair.”
“It’s a change recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses, and it has been welcomed by many educators and parents, who worried that students were missing too much school, moms and dads were missing work and children were being made to feel ashamed.”
” ‘Nits don’t spread. They don’t jump from one person to another,’ said Amy Garcia, executive director of the National Association of School Nurses. ‘So to withhold a child from school due to nits really interrupts the educational process.’ ”
“About 60% of schools now allow children with nits to stay in class, Garcia said.”
“The pediatrics academy also says that kids who are found to have crawling head lice should be allowed to stay in school for the rest of the day but discouraged from close head contact with others. But not many school districts have gone that far.”
What do you think: Do you think your kid should be allowed to stay in class if they only have nits? Would you want your child in class with a kid with nits? What about full-blown crawling lice?
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment | Categories: Health
Comments
By Kathy
February 23, 2009 8:19 AM | Link to this
There is a beautiful story in this month’s O magazine about a mother who donated her stored milk to a milk bank after her baby died.
As far as lice goes, when I taught Pre-K many years ago we had a bad case of lice in the school. The mother of the infected child would not cooperate with us to rid her child of lice. I remember sitting on the playground with this sweet little girl picking nits out of her hair strand by strand. Never again will I do that!!!! We also had to wash and dry all the stuffed animals, dress up clothes, mats for rest and clean everything in the classroom. It was a nightmare trying to de-louse our classroom. If it is true that the nits don’t spread, fine….the child can stay in school. But the crawling bugs…..those need to be at home being taken care of. I am starting to itch just thinking about it!
Hope you and the family are all well Theresa….we missed you!
By FCM
February 23, 2009 8:28 AM | Link to this
I bottle fed my beds. Pumped for 6 weeks with the first then formula only after that. With the second formula only. While I would not get a wet nurse….I maintain that women who choose NOT to breast feed should not be out to be wrong.
on to lice: Keep the kids in school. All letting them out early does is allow the parents to deal with it earlier in the day. More than likely Billy & Susie have had the lice (at the crawling stage) for a day or two anyway so the chance of spreading has already begun. A few more hours is not going to significantly change it. However, I do think that kids should be checked for it regularly and that if it is found they should be checked the next day to make sure Mom and Dad got the shampoo to kill it in the kids hair.
By Teacher, Too
February 23, 2009 10:57 AM | Link to this
Yuck— lice are nasty little buggers. I don’t want to check kids’ hair for nits or creepy-crawlers. Who is supposed to do the checking? Are teachers supposed to work this into their day as well? (Especially if the nurses are cut out of our schools?)
By jct
February 23, 2009 11:21 AM | Link to this
Women should have a choice on whether they breast feed or not. I think that Salma was trying to raise awareness on breastfeeding and cross nursing. Even though we are in a recession, we still live in a country of privilege. In many developing nations where a mother may not have access to adequate clean water supplies or the ability to afford the cost of formula have been hoodwinked into thinking that it’s the ‘right way’ because it the ‘american way’ of feeding children. Babies are dying because of cutting the formula (remember the case of the low income mother in the US who did this and her baby died). Cross nursing should and could be an option for mothers who want to explore that route. Wet nursing is an ancient practice. I say if you can find an option that works for you than go for it. I can’t think of anything to say about lice. I am just itchy all over. I am glad that you are feeling better.
By catlady
February 23, 2009 11:39 AM | Link to this
Folks—NITS HATCH AT ANY TIME! KEEPING A KID AT SCHOOL WITH NITS IS A TICKING TIME BOMB.If you or your child has ever gotten lice from a kid at school,you would HAVE NO MERCY.If those recommending keeping the kid at school were confined in a room with said kid for a day, they’d change their tunes!
By Meme
February 23, 2009 11:50 AM | Link to this
Before we had a school nurse, the teachers did the lice checks. Yuck. I actually got lice the first year I taught in ‘73. I had to cut off my waist length hair to help get rid of it.
By DB
February 23, 2009 11:51 AM | Link to this
Re: Nits and lice. Gaggggg!!!!! So, can you say exactly at what point the “harmless” nits suddenly become lice? A kid could easily go to school with nits and come home with lice — hello? They’re EGGS and they take a week to hatch. Are we all such expert entomologists that we can look at a nit and predict when it’s going to hatch!? No way the kid should go to school and expose dozens of families to the misery of disinfecting that comes with an infestation. Give ‘em homework and worksheets and let mommy and daddy take care of them until they are lice-free.
Re: Cross-nursing. Not sure why this is even an issue — seems to be an extremely private preference on the part of the mother and the part of the milk-sharer. As long as the baby gets fed and everyone is comfortable — what’s the problem?
By FCM
February 23, 2009 12:36 PM | Link to this
Well who is doing the checking for the kid to be sent home? They can check again on the day the kid returns.
We have had several letters come home this year saying it was in this room or that room….My oldest had the dang buggers as a toddler…I have battled them—-no mercy to the bugs!—-but yes Catlady, I would say to leave the kids in school!
By JJ
February 23, 2009 1:28 PM | Link to this
Enough of the “sick” topics, lets get down to some fun.
We need a fun topic. The past two weeks have been nothing but sickness, and now it’s bugs.
C’mon we need some fun up in here!!!!
By Cammi317
February 23, 2009 1:46 PM | Link to this
Wet nurses have been around for centuries, so I don’t see the big deal there. I breastfed my daughter until she was 16 months. I don’t know if I would breastfeed another person’s child, but I don’t have any problems with someone else doing so.
If your child’s being or belongings are infested with any living organisms, lice, ants, roaches, etc….please keep them at home. I don’t want any of those little buggers catching a ride home with my daughter.
By motherjanegoose
February 23, 2009 2:20 PM | Link to this
I breastfed both of mine and maintain that while not everyone can do it…it takes at least 2 months to get the hang of it. Some give up way too soon. My own mother gave me all sorts of grief.
Yes, I had cracked nipples ( sorry to be graphic) but we had a choice: breastfeed and disposable diapers or bottles and cloth…I was working and toughed it out. We were broke…LOL. I loved doing it after everything worked out and I actually got the hang of it. So much easier than bottles. To each his own!
Funny story, our 75 year neighbor ( at the time) told me that she was a wet nurse for area babies ( years ago) and that her pediatrician would send folks over to her house to get her milk ( she never actually fed other babies at her breast but shared her milk for years). One Dad showed up with a gallon milk jug…LOL. She was a petite woman and laughed so hard while she told me that she had to tell the Dad she was not a COW! Please bring a pint or quart jar next time!
NITS….my sister still checks for lice in Wisconsin. She is an RN. One teacher asked her if she could please sub in her Kindergarten classroom while she had a medical appointment to go to. She felt that since the kids knew her they would feel comfortable. She agreed…. Later in the week,she met a mother, of a student, whom she knew. The mom relayed that her son came home and told her, “our teacher was not at school today and guess who we had: THE HAIR LADY!”
Love those kid stories!!!
By MomsRule
February 23, 2009 3:56 PM | Link to this
Are you kidding?
If a kid has lice — egg stage or not — they need to be sent home immediately. AND checked again before admittance back into the classroom. If they come back still infected, send them home again.
That’s just gross.
By momtoAlex&Max
February 23, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this
Lice is gross. Send the kid home. I don’t care if it’s too late. I don’t care! I don’t want anyone with lice and/or nits around my kids.
It takes DAYS to take care of everything if your child gets infected. UGH.
Cross-feeding? Please. Wet nurses have been around for centuries. This is no big deal.
By motherjanegoose
February 23, 2009 4:48 PM | Link to this
Cammi317 It appears that some children and their parents are offended by the stigma of being sent home with lice…as everyone finds out.
I guess we can file this under trying to be politically correct.
FYI…once, I was chatting with kids about animals and mentioned that sometimes we have animals near us that do not belong to us…example: birds, squirrels, toads, grass snakes etc. I asked if anyone wanted to share anything about these types of animals. One little boy raised his hand and said, “Well we have roaches at our house….” There you have it! Would someone please claim those roaches so they can go home to their rightful owner! LOL
A teacher told me that a little girl looked like something was bothering her inside her shoe. She asked her to take her shoe off and there was a dead roach stuck to her sock…true story!
By catlady
February 24, 2009 7:25 PM | Link to this
As a long time (36 years) teacher I have seen lice in action, seen nits hatching, seen children with scabies,girls with obvious vaginal infections, seen an intestinal worm a kid passed into the toilet. There are problems that need to be solved at home, outside of school. These are some of them.
I had a child last year that complained of his legs itching and when he pulled down his sock a half dozen fleas hopped out.
I have had parents try to get rid of lice by washing the kid’s hair in clorox. You should have seen that. They didn’t want to spend money for the lice medicine.
There is no stigma for getting lice, but there should be for keeping them. Being excluded from school gets the problem solved MUCH faster in terms of motivating some of the parents.