Does anyone with small children NOT routinely catch the dreaded bug?

[WellErrr]

I’m terrified of being sick. It’s awful this time of year, and worse since having DC - the bug is in their school at the moment and I am just privately living in terror of any of us catching it.

I just wondered how many have/have had DC going through school, and how often they/you catch it. Is it inevitable!?? I think social media can skew it as it sometimes makes it seem like the plague.

Thanks all.

Infact I don't think I've been really ill for about 5 or 6 years.

We've been fortunate in that respect, DD went to nursery 2, then 3 days a week and she was barely ill. Approx 5 days off throughout the whole of primary school. Now a teen in year 13 and like me, rarely has colds, coughs and I honestly can t remember when she has ever vomited apart from occasionally when a baby/toddler, and a couple of times after alcohol Like me, her weak point is musculoskeletal, suffering from periodic back pain, and also bouts of anxiety. So no, "bugs" are not inevitable....good luck!

My 3 have rarely had sickness bugs they are 15 11 and 7. They have prob only had a sickness bug once or twice in their lives each. I think i caught it only the once.

I had the sickness bug when my dd was in nursery. She was too young to properly tell her to wash hands independently and always had fingers in her mouth (aged 1 and2)
Unfortunately she was also too young to tell her to aim for a bucket and really just wanted mammy cuddles so she was sick a lot on me which is probably why I caught it soon after. Since she’s been a bit older we haven’t had anything (yet) but I do think nursery age is terrible then it gets better once they’re a bit older

I have 3 DC age between 10 and 14, so we're nearly done with the primary school years now. They have rarely been sick and I've not had a day off sick in the last five years. Touch wood!

I've always felt lucky that I never get ill.. And when I had kids they never got ill either! Until he started nursery aged 3 and got everything, then I did too He's now in Year 1 and neither of us have been ill this school year so far.

We've just got over probable noro.
Oddly enough, DH caught it but was never actually sick. Rest of us - full works.
My mum seems to escape every time. Even when I know she's been exposed, she doesn't catch it.

I've got 3 dc, now in their teens. Tbf they don't get a lot of sickness bugs. They're the one of 5 children left in the class when the rest of them are off.
But other than one time when it went round the family, I don't think we've ever had a sickness bug passed between any of us.
Chickenpox, scarlet fever, yes, sickness bugs-no!
It's certainly not to do with lots of cleaning etc either.

@SubordinateThatClause where is the emetophobia support thread please?

Do you generally find older children pick up fewer sickness bugs? My 3 are now 18, 16 and 12 - am I over the worst?

What is meant by a sickness bug? It’s only on Mumsnet that I hear about them. I’ve never had one. My DC, now teens and 20s never had one. My DH has never had one. Nor my elderly parents. Am I misunderstanding what one is?

I'm like you OP. I've just recovered from a bug and I'm now living in fear that DS will catch it. Once he's at school I don't know what I'll be like. I've just self referred for CBT to try and get control of my anxiety

I think I read somewhere that some blood groups are immune to sickness bugs? Does anyone know more?

My older children last had D&v in 2010 when they were preschoolers. I didn’t catch it and it didn’t last long.

My almost 4 year old has never had d&v (yet!!). Cold after cold after cold though!

Some friends do seem to get it every year so I think we’re just lucky

@twosoups1972 interesting, I've just looked that up as DS and I never get sickness bugs and saw that type A is the least likely to catch them, and DS and I are both type A!

Interesting @wax I don’t know my blood group. Must be in my medical notes somewhere.

That's interesting, our whole family are A+. There is norovirus sweeping through school at the moment. Littlest is complaining of a tummy ache, so I guess she has 'caught it' in some sense, but without the d and v!

I think I read somewhere that some blood groups are immune to sickness bugs?
Sounds unlikely that they're immune. Possibly less inclined to have them badly. Can you even be immune to tummy bugs?

For what it's worth our family is O+.

We are not avid hand washers and my kids (9&11) just seem to get colds and nothing else. All their friends had the sickness thing over the last couple of weeks and it missed us completely.
Last year they both had 100% attendance because they weren't ill at all.
I don't really know why either so can't offer advice

It’s easing off now that my older twins are nearly 7. Youngest is 4 and I caught a bug from him but everyone else has escaped. So far...
2 years ago it was awful, it would go through us all. I bleach and hand wash and segregate us all but we’re in London with the tube and 1000s of people around and not as much running around outside as I would like in the winter months for the littlest (he is v tired after starting school).

Also some people are just more prone than others. Not sure why

My daughter's had 2 stomach bugs this winter and I haven't caught either. Seem to get all her colds though 🤷

twosoups1972
Its supposed to be B and AB blood types. As I said above my family very rarely got sickness bugs. I'm B but dont know what DC are.DC are adults now, but never really got d & v bugs going around.

DS aged 11 and I can’t remember him having a sickness bug since toddler years. We’ve never had the norovirus thankfully. At most we have one cold a year. The nursery years were the worst and primary school has been a breeze (apart from the threadworms☹️).

Dc are 5 and 7. They do get mild viruses and colds but we rarely catch them. Dd1 had a mild d and v bug once which lasted for a couple of hours. The rest of us were fine.

Touch wood!