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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

WIBU to take potentially infectious DD to the cinema?

95 replies

Pseudo341 · 18/05/2015 18:48

DD threw up all over her bed in the middle of the night last night, several times. She was still feeling a bit rough this morning but has now bounced back in true 4 year old style. Her preschool has a 48 hour rule for sending kids in after they've been sick which is fair enough. She's going to be bouncing off the walls tomorrow wanting entertainment. I'm disabled so have limited options as to what I can do with her. I'm looking at an 11am showing on a school day. I figure we'd book tickets in advance so just stop at the collection machine and then go in and not sit near anyone, we can always move seats if someone's bought ones near us, it'll be deserted. Okay or not?

OP posts:

FirstWeTakeManhattan · 18/05/2015 19:12

There's tons of things you can do with a four year old at home, I don't think you should risk a trip out.

Can you manage crafts, cooking, painting etc?

Grantaire · 18/05/2015 19:16

norniron, it's not about how robust your child is or how little recovery period they need. It's about public health and knowledge of how long a child remains infectious for.

All you need is a child using the cinema toilet, not washing hands properly or touching a tap after using the loo and you can cause all sorts of problems.

I've been to a children's party where about 2hrs in the mother of a very exuberant birthday boy made a blasé comment about how her DS had been up vomiting several times overnight but was fine in time for the afternoon party and look at him playing, you'd never know. Said child had already blown out the candles on the cake and all children had eaten a piece. Well, the virus spread like wildfire and my df's dd was hospitalised and very unwell with it.

The 48hr rule is there for a reason.

clippityclop · 18/05/2015 19:16

If she's not well enough to go to school she shouldn't be going anywhere else, there's been threads like this before re. clubs and parties etc. As well as other people's health think of the message you're giving her for the future. Hope she's better soon and you had a nice quiet day at home.

ShootPeppaPig · 18/05/2015 19:16

Sorry I think you wbvu especially as cinemas have no windows so germs will be spread further by whatever ventilation system they have

And then mums who come with their tiny babies for mum and baby showings in the mornings will get exposed to something they don't need to

Plus if she's poorly - I agree your setting yourself up for disaster if she learns sick days are when you get to go to the cinema.

tiggytape · 18/05/2015 19:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

letscookbreakfast · 18/05/2015 19:20

Haha no, don't do it OP.

Original poster

Pseudo341 · 18/05/2015 19:25

Very good point about not letting her think sick days mean trips out, I hadn't thought of that, definitely not a road I want to go down. The big problem at home is that she'll want to run around the garden and will be annoyed that I can't run around with her. She's always been very well behaved in the cinema and loves a trip out which was why I was thinking of it but I'll keep her home. On the plus side, it looked like a shit film anyway.

OP posts:

Naty1 · 18/05/2015 19:27

These things are very infectious. Several people on my antenatal thread have now come down with this.
Consider how you would feel catching d&vwhile pg and worrying it could trigger labour through dehydration. (Though unlikely).

PuppyMonkey · 18/05/2015 19:28

Noniron - good for you having such robust kids. What about the less blessed people who aren't so robust and might touch the same seat or door handle as op's DD and pick up a germ or several million and NOT be quite so robust about fighting the bugs off.

Floggingmolly · 18/05/2015 19:30

Yes, she probably would leave a "little bit of infection" behind, just by being there. Have you no idea at all how infectious diseases are spread??

MarniRose · 18/05/2015 19:31

You do know OP that you can make your own decision regarding this don't you? You don't need to listen to a load of randoms on here!

If you think she is ok and she is well in herself that take her. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest as a fellow cinema goer

nooptionforwillis · 18/05/2015 19:33

Good decision op. Let her run around the garden. Make mud pies/blow bubbles. She'll be back to normal soon enough and you can sleep easy knowing you haven't caused problems for anyone else in the process

PuppyMonkey · 18/05/2015 19:34

Lordy this really puts me off going to the cinema.

catlovingdoctor · 18/05/2015 19:36

If she touches one arm rest/door handle she will leave several million infectious particles behind for other people to pick up. Leave her home!!

Floggingmolly · 18/05/2015 19:37

If karma really worked, it'd be you she'd puke all over, Marni. Sadly, it would probably be some poor immuno compromised person who trusted that people would keep their walking germ farms at home.

LostMyBaubles · 18/05/2015 19:45

My son who is 4 is immunosuppressed.
He was hospitalised with chickenpox last month. The norovirus is really dangerous for him as he has a feeding tube in his stomach being sick causes him to lose weight like any other child but as he has this tube the skin around that becomes loose and starts leaking after every feed which could mean I have to chanfe him upto 15x a day.

Please dont take her out just yet.

Imachocolateportal · 18/05/2015 19:57

Just a thought but there is somethingn I used to do with my mum when sick. We used to make a fort out of the clothes dryer and chairs and bits. In front of the to and cuddle up in our fort and watch films/ read stories have snacks (of your DD is well enough.

Could you do something like so your daughter doesn't want you to run around with her?

BarbarianMum · 18/05/2015 20:01

Not the cinema. A country walk, or a walk in the park where you can keep away from people would be OK imo.

MarniRose · 18/05/2015 20:02

Molly - my father is terminally ill and immune suppressed and my mother has had cancer and likewise. I can speak with some certainty that they also wouldn't give a hoot about a small child who last puked a day ago or whatever. This stuff is all around us - small children vomit and then bounce back.

If she is still being sick/ has been sick within the last 8 hours or whatever then no, of course don't take her. But in the circumstances described by OP then do whatever you feel like doing

Difference is, in the many many years I've been here, I've never needed MN to make my parenting decisions for me. So I stand by what I said... But I'll bring my sick bag just in case OP

nornironrock · 18/05/2015 20:07

I understand what people are saying about the potential to still be infectious (no one knows what is actually wrong with the little one), but in all honesty, by the time they go to the cinema tomorrow it'll be 30 hrs plus since she was sick.

I am absolutely sure that the op wouldn't take her if she was sick again between her posting and time to go out!

Original poster

Pseudo341 · 18/05/2015 20:09

Thankyou to everyone who has replied so politely. Not sure why some people felt the need to be rude. I didn't say I was going to take her, I simply asked the question. I was keeping her away from people, I just wasn't sure about contact with objects.

I'm very concerned about spreading illness, someone kindly knowingly exposed me to chickenpox at 20 weeks pregnant when I'd never knowingly had it and didn't even bother to tell me (we found out several days later and nearly had to cancel our holiday trying to get bloods tested). My daughter has food allergies and had a very delicate digestive system when she was younger and a stomach bug could be a big set back for her. I was asking for information purposes as to whether it was an option or not. It's clearly not an option, which I thought it probably wasn't, I was just a bit desperate for ideas for tomorrow which is going to be a tough day to manage.

Since the subject's come up, we have a really big garden which was the main reason we bought our house as we thought it would make it easy for me to look after kids at home and not have to try to take them to the park, but it's massively backfired as I can't get around it very well and madam runs all over the place but still needs more supervision than I can manage over such a distance. It'll come into it's own when she's older I'm sure, just a bit of a nightmare at the moment.

OP posts:

ememem84 · 18/05/2015 20:20

I Was that child once. I threw up in the night and was kept off school.
Dad stayed home as he worked shifts.

He decided as I was clearly chirpy enough we'd go swimming.

About half hour in I turned myself inside out in swimming pool. (Off diving board).

Not a pleasant experience.

Floggingmolly · 18/05/2015 20:21

Surely she's safe in her own garden??

Grantaire · 18/05/2015 20:25

Pseudo, you are very gracious. The trouble with AIBU is that it does invite robust opinion. It's not a very pleasant place to post sometimes.

I don't know where you are but we're expecting rain tomorrow here in East Anglia so you might be looking at more indoor type activities anyway.

Building a fort is a good one if you are able. Even building a nest on the sofa with books, snacks, films, toys etc. Craft, drawing, colouring, baking, making a band (saucepans, wooden spoons, pasta in pots as shakers etc), or write a play/song together, big tub of water/bath full of cups, beakers, jugs etc, teddy bear's carpet picnic, play "school" or doctors and nurses.

ememem84 · 18/05/2015 20:26

Enjoy your quiet day tomorrow. I'd suggest pjs all day, telly duvet and movies.

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