Do you always try to prevent sickness bugs?

[Tmatfirst]

I'm not great with vomiting so tend to go all out but wondering if it's worth it.

DD was sick before bed (bug going round nursery), it went EVERYWHERE, kitchen sink, dishes that were drying on the side, all over herself and DH who proceeded to take her to the upstairs bathroom leaving a trail of vomit wherever they went.

I've spent about 2.5 hours cleaning, bleaching and bleaching again but realistically there's bound to be a square inch I missed and we'll get it anyway, so should I have stuck with just one clean?

Especially as I'd rather we got ill now than over Christmas (silver linings...).

What does everyone do?

Lol my sick bowl is our mixing bowl so im prob not the sort of person you want to hear from.

I clean it up with a wet cloth, then use carpet cleaner on the top and thats it.

This made me lol!

Definitely a bleacher here too!

@Dacadactyl Wow so interesting to hear! I literally have a hierarchy of sponges depending what surface they have cleaned and how likely they were to have been contaminated and they will not be used for anything other than cleaning subsequent vomits.

DS had also been drawing in the kitchen and the pens were left out so I cleaned them one by one in case droplets fell onto them.

I wish I was like you , I truly do.

Mine are quite a bit older now. I don't use much bleach. Well, only in toilets. Generally I just used disinfectant/ flash sort of thing. Just do your best. When they're that young the bugs will just keep coming round. Later it will be lice. Try not to let it get to you. All the best.

I do normal clean of surfaces and floors that get vomited on (I don’t use bleach) and make sure hands are thoroughly washed as usual. I haven’t ever had a sickness bug go further than one person in the household each time, but I just see that as lucky rather than because I’m especially clever about avoiding it

@BiasedBinding I think that proves that I am wasting my time and energy, as it's mostly down to luck. In fact I always do the same routine and sometimes I've caught it and sometimes I haven't so probably shows it's unrelated.

Last time I lay down with DS in the night not realising there was some rogue sick on his sheet and only smelt it in my hair the next day. So I slept in it, yet didn't get sick.

My LO recently caught a sickness bug at nursery, luckily he managed to get it in the bowl every time so didn't make a mess but I still gave everything a deep clean anyway. But we still all caught it anyway 😭

I wouldnt reuse a cloth that had been used to clean up sick, id bin it.

But i have no issue with washing out the mixing bowl afterwards to use for food.

People dont tend to vomit often in this house though (not sure why cos, as you can read, im not fastidious) so iv only had to deal with it about four times in all my 15 years as a parent. And at least one of those times it was my husband after a night out 😂

I don't use bleach, but I use an enzyme cleaner - ok it's actually a type of kennel cleaner that's save to use at home.

My girls shared a bedroom. Can I just say you learn quickly not to let the one most prone to sickness bugs sleep in the top bunk.

Washing up bowl is used for an impromptu sick bucket in our house. If you can't clean it after sick, how would it be clean after washing up raw chicken on preparation bowls.

But luckily since the kids were about 7 (now 20/21) there have been no bug fuelled vomit incidents... alcohol however.... hmmmmm.

We (well, DH) are quite hot about cleaning and hygiene around sickness bugs, although not quite to your levels! Despite this, all four in our family have been struck down each time a bug enters the house. Perhaps we all have a susceptibility 🤷‍♀️. As you say, not the worst thing if you get it pre-Christmas. Good luck!

DS threw up last night. We have a designated jug jn the bathroom and I swear by Dr Beckmans carpet cleaner. Cloths and towels get a hot wash and I just accept that I've probably inhaled any viral particles. He slept with me last night so that I'd be there with the jug if needed. I'm all about carpet and mattress preservation here!

I don’t use bleach I can’t bare the smell. I would use dettol or similar antibacterial wipes or spray. I usually use Eco friendly cleaning stuff but I wouldn’t take any chances with a bug. Also hand washing or gel regularly and separate towel for sick person if possible. My husband doesn’t get paid if he’s off sick and because I’ve got other medical problems I can’t even get out of bed without passing out when I get D and V so I try and avoid it !

Heroes tub is our sick bowl.

I just clean as normal and bin the cloths or use kitchen towel.

I normally wash clothes, bed sheets and towels on 40 but will rinse in the bath then do a hot wash with dettol laundry sanitiser if they've been vomited on.

Cat litter on top of carpets or rugs that have been vomited on to absorb liquid then hoover it up and spray with antibac floor cleaner. Admittedly we mostly have hard floors with rugs so if DD feels ill will just roll the rug up.

I wouldnt have bothered cleaning individual pens, DD goes to school and I work in one were both exposed all the time so would seem a bit pointless.

Same 🤣 and whenever the kids get sick from school me and my husband never seem to catch it so I think the hard going approach has served us well over the years and we've built up an immunity

@flipflop00 urgh, bracing for the week from hell...

@GigantosaurusRex did he throw up just the once? It's been 3 hours and no more episode so far, fingers crossed. It's her first sickness bug so wonder how bad she'll be affected. DS shakes them off in a few hours, only vomits once or twice.

We don't have carpet, which I am grateful for today!

Luckily DH has never had a sickness bug ever so I'm glad DD picked him rather than me to throw up on!

I clean up the sick but certainly not 2hrs plus and bleaching etc.

@Tmatfirst yeah, just the once here, thankfully that's how he seems to roll and we have gotten away lightly so far. Nosebleeds on the other hand are a regular occurrence and it would look like a crime scene if someone went upstairs with a UV light!

I've definitely never spent 2.5hrs cleaning after a bodily fluid spill, but obviously I do clean and disinfect any surfaces where that happens. More hand washing, no sharing towels, and more regular disinfection of surfaces that poorly person has touched or been close to. I think it seems to help, me and DH have been living together for around a decade and I don't honestly think we've ever both had a sickness/vomiting bug from each other nor have either of us ever caught any of DD's.

I clean up the affected area with whatever cleaning spray I find under the sink and that’s about it tbh. Obviously this may include clothing/bedding etc being washed depending on where the sick has landed but mostly in recent years it’s all successfully ended up in the toilet! We do have an actual sick bowl designated that lives in the bathroom cupboard after dd2 contracted gastroenteritis as a baby and spent a year being very poorly when she was about 1, she’s now 17 and even now it’s ‘the sick bowl’ probably used once every year out of a family of 5.
I don’t own bleach so not something I’d use.
Some people are just more thorough than me I guess!

I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever spent 2.5 hours solidly cleaning anything in all my 38 years. I’m not a worrier of germs, worked in a school for years and sort of desensitised myself to it all I think.