To ask for your positive sickness bug avoidance stories and give a spiralling mum some hope!

Some workplaces have a wfh when you're sick policy, for colds and bugs. Some people homeschool. Neither of these things are possible for me, I can't wfh and wouldn't be able to, or want to, homeschool, but it works for some.
Windows/other ventilation actually seems to work, but for the last few years, no one seems to want to do that.

When one of mine used to be sick, I would put them in their bedroom, use rubber gloves handling their sick bowls, get the antibac out and spray all the door handles, phones, anything like that, and ask them to use one bathroom (if you have two) and then use the other one.

I never got sick off their sickness bugs, and they didn't used to get sick off each other.

Lots of handwashing.

My children (now adult) laugh at my 'quarantine' way of dealing with sickness, I used to do it with colds/flu too. I used to do it in a very loving way- like why don't you stay in bed, here's the TV, here's your bin for tissues, deliver all food and drink and pamper them in bed but the real reason was so we didn't all get ill.

I'm not good with sicky or snotty children, and it kind of worked and they laugh about it now. Hugs at arms length as well.

Thing is, the anxiety is worse than the event itself. Obviously it's not pleasant and nobody likes being sick, but when it happens you've just got to go with it and let it pass. Nothing you can do.
Over the years I've been steadily training myself to just accept this fact and it has slowly dawned on me that the anticipation is the absolute worst part because you don't know if it's going to happen, and it can hang over you 24/7. The last time I was sick I was surprisingly calm because I knew it was happening, no more anticipation.

The last sickness bug I picked up from my eldest was conveniently when I was 9 months pregnant with my youngest - had a chest infection to boot and it all happened in that poxy 40 degree summer we had - never felt so sorry for myself. It’s now been over 3 years and I’ve not picked up one sickness bug from either of them and there have been PLENTY. Dettol in all forms, segregation of the plague ridden and boil washes are your best friend. Good luck!

I'm terribly emetophobic so I know how you feel.

Weirdly we've never passed anything round in our house though. We have a 6 year old and she's had mild sickness episodes but neither me and my DH have caught any. In fact generally if one of us gets a sick bug it's usually isolated and doesn't pass.

My DH is a special case - I can honestly only count about two, maybe three occasions he's had any kind of sickness in the 18 years we've been together. For me, maybe 3 or 4 proper sick bugs that's about it.

You get the impression don't you that these bugs inevitably wipe a whole household out as you hear so many stories, yet in reality I don't think that's the case for most families.

Good luck @Edenmum2 !

I’m married to a paramedic, so everything comes into my house. I think at this point I could lick while doorknobs walking down the street and be exposed to less germs than the Typhoid Mary I’m married to 🤣. I managed to avoid his plague that he brought home a month ago and was sick with for 3+weeks.

Keep up the wiping of things but embrace the germs they do help at the end of the day!

Last time everyone had it except me. Toddler threw up eleven times. Older child got it. Husband (medic) going both ends. I am obsessive about hand washing even on a "normal" day, perhaps that's what saved me!?

Hand washing, hand washing, hand washing
been a paediatric nurse for 20 years - 3 kids had 1 episode of gastro in all that time
hand washing is key

I have known several families recently where the children (and sometimes the DH) have got a sickness bug, but the mum hasn’t caught it. I’d just crack on and hope for the best.

Good advice

Last January, husband and two children all had a D&V bug, I looked after them all, cleaned up after everyone and didn’t catch it. I’m meticulous with cleaning and hand hygiene.

I rarely catch bugs from anyone in my household, if I do get ill its not from them.

Hope you get through it

I'm always puzzled when people treat sickness bugs spreading within the family inevitably. I have 3 children and so far we have never spread a sickness bug from one to the other. Whilst I appreciate there is some element of luck to this, there are loads of things you can do.

First, if you have more than one bathroom, keep one for the sick person.

Put toothbrushes away in a cupboard, not touching. Don't share towels. Bleach taps, toilet and door handles often.

Wash your hands ever time you touch something they touch. Encourage them to wash their hands often and to limit what they touch and where they go.

Remember to wipe down phones/ ipads/ remote controls.

Use a bin to catch vomit if they need it. Line with plastic bin liners and bin them immediately rather than having handle vomit to clean it up.

If you have to clean up vomit wear a mask to stop accidentally getting it on your mouth (also helps with the smell).

You can do this. It will be fine.

Sounds like you have emetophobia OP, which is no fun. I similarly rarely pick up stomach bugs from my kids - they also actually really rarely catch them off of each other too. It’s bizarre how these things feel like they spread like wildfire across school but siblings sharing a bedroom don’t catch it!

It’s impossible of course to know if you will, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that you don’t! I’m a big big believer in good gut health for a strong immune system too - get on the probiotics!

I never catch tummy bugs from my kids tbh I think the last thing I got was maybe diarrhoea from after my eldest had the rotavirus vax !!! And dodgy food since then

I wash hands frequently, hot wash all bedding and change it daily if I need to, dettol the floors etc. Sometimes I even add a capful to my or the kids bath but usually only for scrapes or eczema etc

And if they're ill and laying on the sofa watching tv etc I lay them on their own designated blanket over the sofa 🙈 which then gets a hot wash. Obvs very careful with sharing snacks and utensils but I'm still caring, cleaning up their sick if I need to etc so not a total germ freak. I just try to treat it like hospital infection mode if I really don't have the time to be unwell.

I got sick when my son had his fist sick bug. I learned from it. Next time, I washed my hands and anywhere sick got on me really really thoroughly. I kept washing my hands throughout the day. And used anti-bac/bleach spray on all door handles, surfaces, literally anywhere his grubby little mits might possibly have touched a couple times in the day. Didn’t get it!

Sickness bugs have never spread through our house , probably helps that we have enough bathrooms to isolate people a bit but also good hygiene practices . I’m a retired nurse , worked with plenty of noro cases and c diff and I’m pretty sure I’m immune to everything .

I’ve had noravirus twice and none of my family caught it, 2 under 4 at the time. I make sure lots of dettol antibacterial spray and keep surfaces clean.

When my kids get sickness bugs I only ever seem to get the D and never the V! Fingers crossed for you x