Stomach bugs

[Cappuccino17]

My child has a stomach bug. She's my first and previously i have handled it by always washing my hands after handling her or the vomit but the part i feel i might be creating more work with is i end up changing all my clothes aswel, i change all her bedding every night depending on how long she's ill for aswel. I do fear germs quite a lot and excessively wash my hands. All this stuff i wash has no vomit on it but my daughter has touched it. How do all other mums handle these situations. What makes it bearable? Do these bugs settle? She vomitted 3 weeks ago albeit just once but she was unwell. and it feels like its back! I feel quite down. She is at school reception so it might just be the start. So any support or advice would be appreciated. Any way i can look at it in a different light just to get through these days and for the future ? I feel so anxious. Plus i have another toddler and my efforts to keep them away from one another exhausts and panics me!

We have had a sickness bug this week she was sick on Wednesday in the car seat and Hallway.
She had a change of clothes and the car seat cleaned as best I could at the road side then I washed the car seat cover over we got home using the manufacturer recommendeds.
I cleaned the hallway with towels and put them on a rinse wash with her sick clothes. Then I put them in with her regular wash.
I moped the floor with disinfectant.

If she is ever sick on bedding that gets put in a hot wash otherwise I only clean where she has been sick plus the bathrooms.

We did cloth nappies and the cleaning routine for those was a 30 minute short wash followed by a v long wash at 40 minute. I consider sick to be less of an issue so do the rinse followed by a longish wash. Nappies used to be 4h and for soiled how I count sick is 2h40.

It's been in our house recently too. Anything with sick on is obviously washed but I would go as far as cleaning anything that has been touched (clothing/bedding etc). Dd was sick last week and slept in bed with us. I'd only changed the sheets the day before, I wasn't doing it again! She'd been breathing and coughing directly into my face all night so I don't think the sheets were the main issue there.

I use the Dettol spray for door handles, plenty of bleach down the loo and in sinks. Wash your hands a lot, especially after nappies and cleaning up vomit. Open the windows and hope for the best. You'll get it or you won't, there's no point worrying about it. Surprisingly I didn't get the last one but dh did.

I have never washed or cleaned unnecessarily, why are you adding on to your problems.
If my child is poorly but hasn't made their bedding dirty I leave it till they're better, and once they're over the illness I wash the bedding. Don't obsess over it, whether it's clothing or hands.

I only wash clothing and bedding that has had actually been puked on.

Thank you for your responses. So i shouldn't be washing my own clothes aswel really if they haven't been puked on? I feel if iv carried my daughter then i pick up my toddler it could spread germs but then i can't think straight because I have a contamination OCD so trying to rationalise with what I'm doing by getting your opinions. It's a stressful time for me as my OCD gets worse. I have help on the way via GP for it.

I'm emetaphobic and swear by apple cider vinegar - as soon as there's any sickness bug around I drink a tablespoon in water three x a day. Three stomach bugs this year (including two weeks of noro), I haven't caught any. My partner caught the first, then drank the cider vinegar, and didn't catch the next two.

Also I give the toddler probiotic powder from holland and Barrett in their milk (just generally) and it's really helped with catching bugs.

I leave any unsoiled bedding until they're better, then change it. For vomit, we found sitting them on the huge waterproof nappy change mats (Bare Baby sell them) with a lined shoe box to try to catch the vomit has worked best

I don't have the full stats but germs don't tend to survive for very long on soft surfaces. The do a bit better on hard surface and in the air but some warm-hot soapy water should do the trick.
You would usually need multiple contacts. So you have germs from your daughter's hand transferring the germs to your clothes and then from your clothes to your hands and then from your hands to you face as the mouth and nose are probably the main infections areas.
I don't know if it helps to think of it like this? If it does and you are worried about how a particular item could be an infection risk how did the germs get from a to b and then to c and d to cause infection.

What is the best way to mitigate that pathway good general hygiene try not excessively wash hands as chapped hands and then become vulnerable to infections.

Do you have any support for this? CBt or similar therapies might be useful?

Im due CBT therapy, my hands are already chapped unfortunately! I do try and talk myself out of it whilst I'm waiting for this therapy. But yeah I understand the pathway you have described, but i still worry and cannot think of anything else but germs so always wary and anxious.

I generally do change my clothes if I've dealt with vomit. Mainly because I just feel a bit icky. For example, if I've picked up a child covered in sick, got them undressed, scooped up sicky bedding etc, then yes I would change. My DDs are young though (4, and 18 months) so if my youngest is sick, it will get everywhere and if I pick her up I just assume it's gone on my clothes because it will be on her hands, she'll want to cuddle in to me etc

I wouldn't change after cuddling an unwell child who had been changed.

Try using aqueous cream as a soap. I'm sensitive to soap and as a lab user I wash my hands a lot! Carex destroys my hands and one heavy lab day takes 2 weeks to get my hands back into a good state.

When my daughter was a newborn she had 20 poos a day and the only thing that saved my hands was switching soap for aqueous cream.

I think maybe what we do is a little beyond you right now and that's ok. You are being so brave in reaching out and perusing therapy. What could be achievable to reduce this massive burned on you and your resources which in turn makes it hard to cope with these thoughts? Maybe if you right down what you want to do then roll it back a step. Ok you want to wash bedding every day ok maybe change just the pillow case where they have lay. Or wash every other day if you feel every day. Or rather than washing on a dry day you just peg it out. Sunlight is the best antibacterial!

I'm bipolar and in dark depressions I get pureO type symptoms. I really do understand how hard it is to contradict your thoughts. Just keep exploring where the weeknesses might be. I had compassion focussed CBT once and that was really good for the ruminating side of things. Sending love

@Superscientist thank you for sharing your tips and experience.

It is very difficult for me to click out of my mindset but I really hope and pray that the CBT will help me see life from a new perspective.

I just want to know what normal looks like because I cannot see it any longer unfortunately. A long 2 years and i only realised recently how bad I have got after family and friends mentioned it to me.

I will get the aqueous cream, thanks for that suggestion my hands are not feeling great at all!