To ask for your positive sickness bug avoidance stories and give a spiralling mum some hope!

[Edenmum2]

Ok. Situation - DD4 sick in the night on Saturday (2-3 times and then again a couple of times on Sunday) recovered quickly. No diarrhoea. Nobody else she was in contact with have got it (and she saw a LOT of people in the days leading up) we are now passed 48 hours since her last bout.

DH is in currently in spare bedroom saying he feels so sick he can’t move. He is, I would say, prone to hyperbole but does look pretty ropey. No sickness yet but seems to be coming.

People I need your stories of hope - I’m completely spiralling, I HATE being sick, I have a heart arrhythmia which being sick triggers and it’s genuinely awful. I had 2 bugs last year and they were both hell.

Any stories of you escaping when multiple people in the household were struck down?? Or maybe one had it bad but the other just a dicky tummy? I’m living in constant anxiety right now and can’t even pinpoint why….i’m just totally and irrationally terrified of them. Feel free to tell me to get a grip.

For some reason I always seem to be immune when the rest of my family get norovirus. I attribute it to good gut health and incessant hand washing. I hope you don’t get it!

If it helps, I have four children and have only ever caught a bug from them once in the 15 years that I have been a parent. My husband has caught two, that I can remember.

This is all great stuff - thank you! X

I’ve got a bug at the moment I caught from my child, he was sick I haven’t been. And I’ve also looked after vomiting children and not caught it myself. In that situation I wash my hands A LOT.

Same as PP, I don't seem to catch these things off the children. The one time in ten years that I have, my dh had it very badly (up all night), but I felt mildly queasy, vomited once, then felt pretty much ok. I have had a slightly unsettled stomach a few times, but no vomiting. Chances are, you'll be OK op. I'm sorry you're struggling.

The second one of my kids or anyone in my house is physically sick I take Buscopan I don’t know if it’s mind over matter but it really helps nausea pass so I can plough through. Spray dettol EVERYTHING wash clothes separately and pray!

Nasty bug went round nursery, DD was very sick, slept with me in my bed breathing her germs all over me. She was even sick in my hair. My husband caught it but I escaped.

Spent a whole day worried it was coming but it never did.

When my kids get sickness bugs I only ever seem to get the D and never the V! Fingers crossed for you x

I’ve had noravirus twice and none of my family caught it, 2 under 4 at the time. I make sure lots of dettol antibacterial spray and keep surfaces clean.

Oh interesting, I think I have some somewhere thank you!

Sickness bugs have never spread through our house , probably helps that we have enough bathrooms to isolate people a bit but also good hygiene practices . I’m a retired nurse , worked with plenty of noro cases and c diff and I’m pretty sure I’m immune to everything .

I’d take that right now!

I got sick when my son had his fist sick bug. I learned from it. Next time, I washed my hands and anywhere sick got on me really really thoroughly. I kept washing my hands throughout the day. And used anti-bac/bleach spray on all door handles, surfaces, literally anywhere his grubby little mits might possibly have touched a couple times in the day. Didn’t get it!

I never catch tummy bugs from my kids tbh I think the last thing I got was maybe diarrhoea from after my eldest had the rotavirus vax !!! And dodgy food since then

I wash hands frequently, hot wash all bedding and change it daily if I need to, dettol the floors etc. Sometimes I even add a capful to my or the kids bath but usually only for scrapes or eczema etc

And if they're ill and laying on the sofa watching tv etc I lay them on their own designated blanket over the sofa 🙈 which then gets a hot wash. Obvs very careful with sharing snacks and utensils but I'm still caring, cleaning up their sick if I need to etc so not a total germ freak. I just try to treat it like hospital infection mode if I really don't have the time to be unwell.

Sounds like you have emetophobia OP, which is no fun. I similarly rarely pick up stomach bugs from my kids - they also actually really rarely catch them off of each other too. It’s bizarre how these things feel like they spread like wildfire across school but siblings sharing a bedroom don’t catch it!

It’s impossible of course to know if you will, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you that you don’t! I’m a big big believer in good gut health for a strong immune system too - get on the probiotics!

I'm always puzzled when people treat sickness bugs spreading within the family inevitably. I have 3 children and so far we have never spread a sickness bug from one to the other. Whilst I appreciate there is some element of luck to this, there are loads of things you can do.

First, if you have more than one bathroom, keep one for the sick person.

Put toothbrushes away in a cupboard, not touching. Don't share towels. Bleach taps, toilet and door handles often.

Wash your hands ever time you touch something they touch. Encourage them to wash their hands often and to limit what they touch and where they go.

Remember to wipe down phones/ ipads/ remote controls.

Use a bin to catch vomit if they need it. Line with plastic bin liners and bin them immediately rather than having handle vomit to clean it up.

If you have to clean up vomit wear a mask to stop accidentally getting it on your mouth (also helps with the smell).

You can do this. It will be fine.

Last January, husband and two children all had a D&V bug, I looked after them all, cleaned up after everyone and didn’t catch it. I’m meticulous with cleaning and hand hygiene.

I rarely catch bugs from anyone in my household, if I do get ill its not from them.

Hope you get through it

Good advice

I have known several families recently where the children (and sometimes the DH) have got a sickness bug, but the mum hasn’t caught it. I’d just crack on and hope for the best.

Hand washing, hand washing, hand washing
been a paediatric nurse for 20 years - 3 kids had 1 episode of gastro in all that time
hand washing is key

This is good advice thank you, I’m sure my gut could do with a spruce up tbh

Thanks so much, I fear the phone may be my downfall - it’s the one thing I haven’t really considered and she’s always grabbing it. I’ll be more vigilant from now on.

Last time everyone had it except me. Toddler threw up eleven times. Older child got it. Husband (medic) going both ends. I am obsessive about hand washing even on a "normal" day, perhaps that's what saved me!?

I have been obsessive with the hand washing but a bit more relaxed today because I thought we’d passed the magic 48hrs mark. I am of course now currently spraying everything in sight. The door handles have genuinely never been so clean.

Good luck @Edenmum2 !

I’m married to a paramedic, so everything comes into my house. I think at this point I could lick while doorknobs walking down the street and be exposed to less germs than the Typhoid Mary I’m married to 🤣. I managed to avoid his plague that he brought home a month ago and was sick with for 3+weeks.

Keep up the wiping of things but embrace the germs they do help at the end of the day!