DD is unwell, 3 month old in house

[Username19273]

DD is unwell, we have a 3 month old DS.
Am I being unreasonable to say we should try to keep a bit of distance between the two to avoid DS getting ill.

Yanbu to be sensible with handwashing etc but a sick kid in the house is fairly likely to pass it on to other members of the household. Hopefully if your baby gets it then it will help to build immunity. Sadly it’s bug season and wherever you go the chance of picking up germs is ever present.

How old is your daughter and what is she unwell with?

Teenage

It’s good to teach your DD that sick people stay in their bedroom until they are better. Buy a cheap set of towels, cheap plate/bowl cutlery set, get some wet wipes and make sure there is a lidded bin changed daily in her room, clothes and bedding bagged and washed on high temp, regular cleaning of hands and surfaces in Dds room and extreme hygiene from you and other adults in the home - yes keep them separate and protect yourselves from spreading it too. Look on NHS for the specific advice on how to avoid spreading and follow that strictly too

ETA - just read DD is a teenager, still good to instil in her to quarantine when ill

Fine for hand washing but I mean more child not picking up baby

I’m not sure that the NHS advise fully quarantining a child in their room to protect the household. That’s a bit OTT in my opinion. I wouldn’t banish any of my dc to their rooms if they were unwell, getting sick is a fact of life. Yes being careful around small babies or those who are vulnerable for other reasons is sensible but don’t lose your mind over it.

As long as you are caring for your ill older child and ensuring they are ok, fed, hydrated, and rested I see no issue in asking them to stay in bedroom for the evening and to use their own towel.

If you are leaving one sick child to care for a baby that's unfair.

Do you have a plan for if you get ill?

She's breathing the same air and touching the same surfaces. I'm not suggesting that she coughs all over the baby, but they do live in the same house and sometimes there's not a great deal of point in having a load of restrictions for the sake of 24 hours' delay in symptoms starting in everybody else.

Hand washing and good hygiene with regards to tissues etc. And not picking up baby

I couldnt put my older child in a room when they were poorly... You have to keep an eye on her too

What’s the illness?

Um…is it just me…?

No, not just you.

Fairly pointless if it's a standard cough/ cold. Baby's probably already been exposed.

Teenager should know to wash hands, cough away from the baby. But no need to isolate unless it's something awful or highly contagious.

Most younger baby siblings get sneezed and snotted over by older toddler siblings. Mine have.

Definitely not just you.

I assumed that post was a bit of a joke, was it serious do we think?

Is she meant to burn all these contaminated things afterwards? What a ridiculous overreaction, you don't even know what illness the teenager has.

Is this one of this step children how can I find a way not be around them scenarios? Otherwise unless you burn the place down not sure what else you can do?

Reading some of these posts I don't know how my children survived without me wrapping them up in cotton wool.

Oh maybe it was a joke. I’m not sure. But I mean I was here during the Covid era so you never do know with some posters here…

If aaayour older child was very young I’d say you were unrealistic but as she’s a teenager it’s not hard to get her to avoid passing on her illness to her baby brother (not picking him up for example). I wouldn’t quarantine her in her room though unless it was something particularly harmful like measles or flu.

Just making sure DD is not kissing the baby and follows strict hand washing. That's all you can do

I think it depends on the illness.

Is this your step-daughter by any chance ? If you are breastfeeding you’re baby will get a lot of immunity from you .

Snot or vomit?

Just remember that your older child was probably most infectious before she showed any signs of being ill anyway. Play it by ear a bit, younger children tend to get all the childhood nasties out of the way quite early by dint of the older ones bringing them home, and they turn out to be the most robustly healthy of the lot.

I managed to restrict Noro to one person in our house by pretty strict quarantining, but we had vulnerable people staying. Apart from that, basic handwashing is important even if nobody’s ill. Disposable plates is batshit!

Have we discovered that it’s a stepchild yet?