To think that gastro / norovirus is not a new thing as mum and MIL claim?

[PlumPudd]

We’ve got an 18 month old toddler and have had around 5 nasty bouts of gastroenteritis or norovirus since he was born. Almost always starting with him picking something that is going round at playgroup, vomiting all over us and then 24 - 48 hours later my partner and I both getting it.

Any time we get it the reaction from MIL is “how did he get that then? You should wash his hands more / be careful what you give him to eat? My two never had this when they were little.” AKA strong implication that we’ve done something wrong. A bit frustrating as we do wash DS’s hands and cook his food carefully etc. but short of keeping him away from all other children there is basically no way to avoid getting it from time to time because it’s a super contagious virus and toddlers are finger sucking face licking germ bags!! MIL is lovely and a hypochondriac and very much one to look for solutions rather than empathise so I don’t think she’s meaning to say it’s our fault, but her reaction to things like this is often to try to place blame.

The reaction from mum is less judgey but equally perplexed and she keeps saying that gastro / noro just wasn’t a thing when she had young kids (80’s 90’s), that we only ever got sick if we had food poisoning and that it must be a new virus.

Can anyone who had kids in the 80’s / 90’s shed light on this? Are MIL and mum right and gastro / noro just wasn’t a thing or are they rose tinting the past?

BTW, I do think some children/people are more prone to sick bugs than others are. One of my siblings caught every sick bug going. But the rest of us didn't. Similarly, one of my DC had what we'd now call norovirus at least four times in junior school (a good 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea every 15 minutes - delightful), and the others didn't have it at all. I always knew that if someone mentioned norovirus, DC2 would come down with it. Whereas I catch every chest infection going, and the rest of the family seem to escape them.

Sick bugs went round but we didn’t use the virus names then. It wasn’t until early 2000s I revel people would start saying Noro virus or rota virus.

However even with the motorist bouts of illness caused by children starting school or childcare 5 bouts in that time is very excessive. Especially for parents to be unwell as well.

Next time your little one is ill, call it a tummy bug and see what her reaction is.

You have my sympathies, some kids are always the one to lick the ill kid, and some kids chuck up more frequently than others - one of mine would vomit every time he had a cold/cough.

In the 80s and 90s a much higher proportion of children were at home full time until school age, ergo less mixing of viruses.

Norovirus is relatively recently identified but severe gastroenteritis was definitely a thing. There were numerous specialist isolation wards for babies and toddlers with D&V who could rapidly become very unwell. They were phased out in late 80s mainly.
Most illnesses were not transmitted as easily and in part, they are right that hand washing is key to reducing infection rates but far more children are in institutional care and the focus on hand-washing is probably less because there are far more children per adult carer. Many D&V bugs are transmitted by faecal matter on hands, and from there to cuts, toys, towels. Paper towels are lower risk than damp communal towels used to dry badly washed hands.
Isolation was carried out more effectively. You'd never send a little one with diarrhoea to play with other children but the pressure on many working parents means shortcuts are taken.

I don’t think it’s a new thing at all. What I would say tho is it’s strange that you and your partner are both catching it from him. Adults are normally sick with a sickness bug on average I think once every 7 years or so. Your body should be able to fight off this type of bug very easily without you becoming poorly unless there are other things going on-I would consider adding some vitamins to your diets and looking at your lifestyles-however to answer your original question-yes children catch germs often and that’s very normal.
Maybe just have a think about why it’s spreading around your household.

I had mine 90 -95. Of course it was around, what a silly woman to say it wasn’t. 5 times does seem a lot though, maybe nursery aren’t as stringent as they should be.

I do agree with everyone saying that 4-5 bouts in 18 months is a lot - my eldest hasn't had a vomiting bug that many times in nearly 18 years (and I think I've not had many more than that in nearly half a century of living all over the world and working in healthcare and education!)

I also think people call any stomach upset norovirus now when 9/10 times it isn't, just like people used to call every bad cold flu in order to justify not going to work or school .

Most mildly upset stomachs are food related or indeed, if it's stomach ache and even "diarrhea" which isn't medically diarrhea (i.e. loose not actually liquid stool) without vomiting often psychosomatic (worry/ stress) - though not in babies!

Playgroups are notorious germ pits of despair and obviously everything spreads like wildfire with toddlers but saying that 5 times of same thing in 18 months seems alot, does nursery follow strict rules on when kids can return after illness (no earlier than 48 hrs after last bout of sickness) and so parents comply. Of course there were sickness bugs I always got them as a kid in 70s and 80s but perhaps with all the germ prevention during covid our kids are more prone as not exposed to so many through lockdowns and mask wearing put them. Put em in a sandpit and let them make mud pies sure they will become more resilient but I would check hygiene and safety at nursery and make sure health visitor or gp is aware

Fewer children attended formal childcare settings in the past. More children were at home until they started school nursery at 3 years old.

More people in a room, more bugs!

Vomiting/diarrhoea bugs have definitely always been a thing, we just didn't have the name for them. I remember having a really bad bout when I was about 7 and then again when I was 10. You have been very unlucky - my DC (born early 2000s) got away with 1 bout each for the entirety of their nursery years.

I can remember filling buckets/ bins/ toilets as a child in the 80s. I was sick more than the combined total of my two who just aren't vomity children.

Some children are more prone to it than others. I've always heard about it more from DS2's class than DS1's particularly as DS1 doesn't go down with it, and some friends' children are more prone.

The good news is that they do grow out of it.
It's always been around, just the terminology's changed.

It’s not new, they just didn’t generally put a name to specific viruses in quite the same way. My kids (80s and 90s born) had ‘tummy bugs’, ‘chest/throat/ear infections’, or often just ‘a virus’. The day they were all being sick at once and we ran out of bowls and buckets, so that we had to use the pressure cooker as a receptacle, has gone down in family legend.

I used to get occasional stomach bugs as a child but I've never experienced anything as violent as the time I got gastroenteritis (that's what the French parents called it) while working as a nanny in my 20s. I was sleeping on the floor of my tiny bathroom because I couldn't get more than a few minutes break for about 2 days. I did wonder if stomach bugs are getting worse. The whole family got it and the poor mum just made it back from work in time to projectile vomit up the wall in the hallway. It took me a couple of weeks to get back to feeling myself.

it was always just called a tummy bug for us.

My 2yo is 2y 3m and has had 5 tummy bugs since July last year. And they’re not all linked to nursery, the first one he caught on holiday, another he had when he’d already been off of nursery all week full of cold and I have no idea how he caught it. My eldest who is 7 has had 3 or 4 tummy bugs in his lifetime. My youngest is 9 months and had 2 tummy bugs (one courtesy of his brother, other must of been nursery). I really think some kids are just more prone to them sadly. My middle son unfortunately is more like me, my experience as a child was I would have all night puking parties at least monthly (often more) until I was 7 or 8. None of my half siblings were ever like this, just me.

I have to say it’s never passed around the whole house though. In that time I’ve caught two of my middle sons bugs (but again, I’m definitely more prone to bugs and also have Crohn’s disease which I’m on immunosuppressants for so think only getting 2 is pretty good going). My partner hasn’t caught any of them. My youngest and eldest have caught one off of my middle son.

I would be questioning your childcare settings hygiene standards with 4/5 bouts and he’s only 18 months old! That’s very high!!

I had two dc both in full time nursery from 6 months. Ds1 had a tummy bug once. Ds2 never. They obviously had other things during early childhood, chicken pox and various viral infections but not gastroenteritis.

I had really bad vomiting and diarrhea in the early 90's, had a home visit from the Dr and was diagnosed with gastroenteritis.

It probably wasn't given that name but it's been around just about forever. I think you should ignore the both of them.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s and I don't think norovirus was widely known about (that's really interesting, a PP, about it actually being a relatively new virus!). I think I only started hearing about it in relation to epidemics in hospitals etc). But I definitely remember at least a few occasions of having sickness bugs.

My DD (6) also had numerous sickness/stomach bugs as a baby and toddler, escaped for two years because of Covid restrictions, then last year she had five in the space of five months 😯 touch wood none since November So I think some people are more prone to them (there is some theory it's related to blood type). Her 4-year-old brother on the other hand got his first two earlier this year.

I am definitely also prone to them (having caught several from DD!) . I think I probably had fewer than DD as a child maybe because they weren't quite as prevalent (though def still around!) and as a PP says, fewer children were in proper nurseries (I only attended a playgroup a few mornings a week and only from the age of 3 or 4).

There were always bugs. You dont know what bugs theyve been picking up though, could be anything. Norovirus is different to other viruses though, its spread through airborne matter so you can wash your hands as much as you want but if you breathe in the same room as someone has been sick in you can catch it. The only things that kill it are bleach and steam.

I do think that bugs spread more readily around schools now purely because more people work. So if kids are ill, people can't keep them home until they are 100% better, they send them in while they are still contagious

The monthly vom fests sound like cyclical vomiting @ChickenBurgers

One of my DC suffers from it and it’s rotten.

DH and I caught norovirus in an actual hospital. We visited Mil on Friday night then by Saturday night we were both ill. Hadn’t been anywhere else, eaten anything unusual.

The difference is there was no soft play, no whole class parties, and kids played outside,. Mine usually ended with norovirus, after one of the above. Another time it was from a selfish parent who brought their child round to play when he had an upset tummy due to 'teething' The virus generally spreads due to someone, somewhere being a selfish bastard

I agree. It wasn't a thing when my dd was small in the 90 s and me in the 70s. You tended to get a bug about every 3 years or so.

One born 1980 second born 1982. They didn't go to nursery I was a SAHM hand on heart they never had anything like this. Third born 2001. He had it as a baby and again as a teenager, he didn't go to nursery either.

Grandchildren went to nursery, ball pit play and other indoor play zones. They've been ill loads of times.

I think it's close contact these days in confined spaces.