Anyone else absolutely SICK of this winter already

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The germs… oh the germs!!

my household has had hand foot and mouth, flu (which is led to a chest infection and double ear infection which im struggling to shift) and the baby has bronchiolitis twice, including once where he was hospitalised. and it’s only early December.

how does everyone else survive the winter months especially with an older child bringing bugs home from nursery and making the baby poorly? We’re so careful with hygiene to reduce spread but it sometimes isn’t enough. And I’ve tried to focus on eating plenty of veg and protein which hasn’t been easy when I’ve felt so unwell myself with kids to look after who’ve also been poorly!

appreciate there’s 1000s households in the same boat right now.

feeling especially pants post partum with weight gain, and it’s so hard to exercise at the moment with one illness after another.

sorry just having a pity party here… sick of feeling sick!!

Still along way to go though.

Why would anyone enjoy being ill?
It’s awful OP. And it goes on forever and never really warms up until we get a random 3 day heatwave.

This year is worse as we had a crap summer. Still people moan about ‘not coping in the heat’. What bloody heat?!

It will pass OP- they do get more robust as they get older and their immune systems develop. I remember being at your stage and thinking there wasn’t a single day between October and March when someone wasn’t snotty or coughing. DS used to be on a nebuliser at least twice a year and then we’d have bastard HFM and noro on top of it. It does improve. My two had v little time of school despite the “rivers of snot” preschool years.

Also, if it makes you feel better, my DC grew up in HK where the winters are actually v mild ( almost like uk summer at times) but we still got a flu and cold season and kids are sick just as often as in the UK.

Everyone is fine at my place. It doesn’t feel particularly wintery at all. Only two weeks to go and the days start getting lighter.

Thanks everyone. My anxiety has just been through the roof this year with having a newborn. Trying not to let it spiral my mental health right now… I just don’t feel like going to baby groups again til spring

Winter is just horrible. Dark, grey, wet. It has no redeeming quality. I've decided next year to buy a house abroad and start seasonally emigrating like a bird.

god id love to have the money to do that… what a dream it would be!!

It sounds awful.

I'm curious, how old are you and what was your family"s attitude to cleaning when you grew up?

I have some theories about immune systems!

So sorry about your baby, OP 💐 Totally understandable to want to avoid baby groups etc. for now. Absolutely rotten bugs out there right now.

I'm just trying to tell myself that we must be getting through the worst of it at the moment, surely 🫠 I'm in the first trimester with a toddler and in the last few weeks between us we've had the flu, hand foot and mouth, an ear infection, vomiting and conjunctivitis. Not sure I've breathed through my nose for about 2 weeks. Feel very guilty for the baby as I can't be a great home for them at the moment.

My mother was a bit obsessive with tidying and cleaning, didn’t have loads of money and a lot of us in one house with siblings but us, our house and clothes were always clean.

im 33, I did struggle badly with office bugs even pre kids and before my pregnancy weight gain so not sure if im just a bit more predisposed.

in fairness my 3 yo is pretty robust, rarely gets sent home from nursery but seems to be a “carrier” to me and the baby

Ah it's horrible isn't it 😢 I'm sorry you've all been poorly and that your little one has been in hospital, I know how awful that is to deal with.

We've had croup, chest infections, a sickness bug, colds and a random UTI in there too (although I don't think that's cold related!) and it does feel neverending sometimes.

I think maybe that's part of the problem. You need to relax a bit about germs.

When I was growing up, we had much less in the way of anti-bac cleaners, and more basic soap and water. My grandparents didn't have a bath or shower in the house for years - just public baths and strip washes.

I grubbed around the fields and garden and was exposed to many more germs than kids are today.

Personally I think it builds a natural immunity.

I have not had a bad cold or flu for about 30 years, never got covid, and shake off day to day bigs pretty fast.

I think kids these days are too wrapped up in cotton wool and germophobic parents. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I know where you are coming from and I am sorry things have been so rough for you and your family.

Winter is never my favourite time of year with the short days and long, dark nights. By around 3pm it's already very dingy now and is practically fully dark by 4, especially if there is heavy cloud and rain as there has been today. Today I got back from shopping and a meal with DD and DH and was very surprised to see that it was only 5.20pm!! It felt much, much later and more like the middle of the night.

Still, we are approaching the winter solstice now on 22nd December so things start to slowly turn a corner after that. Barely perceptibly at first, but the evenings begin to stretch out by a minute or so every day or couple of days. I count down to that point.

Personally, if I had a choice I'd hibernate from mid November until the start of March to miss the worst of it all.

Sorry to hear that, OP. I seem to be prone to catching everything, but I’ve had a clear run of good health since March after I stated taking a daily pregnacare multi vitamin (I’m not pregnant but they are milder on my stomach than others) and an oral spray of Vit D every day. I’ve also started magnesium glycinate at night as numerous docs and consultants recommended it to me - apparently Vit D and Mg are the ones we may be deficient in.
Worked for me!

I freezing wanna get Nutella I put the spoon in.jar and is hard and freeeze 😂. My heating on I still cold

Sounds like you’ve been sick loads - can’t say we’ve had anywhere near that level of sickness, in fact apart from minor colds I don’t think we have at all and rarely do tbh!

I love this time of year personally!

My health get bad too

I was going to try to magnesium until I read it can cause cardiac arrest! So much for it being anxiety relieving.

It’s only autumn, and it’s a warm one so germs multiply easily. Winter starts around the 21st December on the solstice after that it should (hopefully) get much colder and kill off the germs.

I'm so sorry you've all been so poorly. It's an awful winter so far. I've no kids, but 2 horses and I've been flattened by a virus twice already. Everything feels so hard. I keep thinking only 2 weeks till the shortest day! Feel like wading through slurry to get to spring.

Magnesium does not cause any cardiac issues unless you take a month's supply in one day - toxic dosage. In fact it is highly recommended for those with cardiac arrythmia, Mg Taurate.

Mg Glycinate helps sleep and relaxation
Mg Citrate helps the gut and constipation

It is one of the wonder minerals and one we are often deficient in.

Glycinate is easily absorbed and has lots of benefits. Add a daily dose of VitD and you're good!

I'm on my 3rd bad cold. I teach in a secondary school and it's just an absolute germ fest at the moment.

So many staff and kids unwell and it's just being passed round and round.

Problem is, people can't really stay off every time/until fully recovered - we'd all be on absence reviews by now!
Parents are encouraged to try get kids in/get them in later, so loads of kids in with viruses.
It's grim 😫

I resorted to keeping my lab windows last week in an effort to keep fresh air circulating but in cold weather it's hard.

I do like Autumn/Winter, I'd just like this cold to disappear.

I hate the cold, ice, wind, etc, but we are still in autumn. Winter hasn't even started yet.

Well that depends on your definition of winter. Astronomical winter doesn't start until 21 December but meteorological winter started on 1 December.

This concept makes me feel hopeless.

Once 21st December is over and the days very slowly start getting lighter, I kid myself spring has started. The idea that we aren't even in winter yet is crushing.