Toddler sickness bug with newborn

[Eyelashwishes]

Help! My 3 year old has just thrown up everywhere and I have an 8 week old baby.

I'm terrified of her catching it and had quite bad anxiety about her getting ill since she was born.
Any tips for how to avoid it or what to do if she does catch it, what do I need to look out for? I am so worried about her being ill when she's so little!

Are you breastfeeding? If so the milk will have antibodies in it from your contact with your toddler and that will help a lot!

Generally I found with tiny babies they seem to miss stomach bugs for some reason. Just keep up with excellent hand hygiene and bleach/antibac all touch points.

No specific advice, but just hopefully a recent anecdote from me to help with your anxiety... my toddler DD got a vomiting bug when DS was just 5 days old, and like you, I was panicking that he would catch it. Well, he didn't. And I did nothing particularly specific. You can't separate a toddler and their new sibling, but obviously as the PP said, trying to keep on top of hand washing and ensuring surfaces are properly cleaned when clearing up any sick will help. I do breastfeed both children, so maybe that have some benefit too. It's an anxious time, but try not to assume the worst.

I had this when mine were little, and we all ended up with conjunctivitis. So my advice is to wash, wash, wash your hands. Think hygiene. Good luck.

I found with my 2 sons, they would both catch the same virus with a day or two in between so it’s not as bad as them both feeling ill at the same time. We would try and keep them apart as much as we could, that’s all you can do, wash DC hand’s regularly, maybe get fresh air into rooms.

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately I couldn't breastfeed and have had a lot of guilt about that so the anxiety is worse as I know she's not getting the antibodies from me. Luckily my husband is off work the next few days so maybe we will have to try and have one each for the next couple of days and I'll just go crazy with the bleach and antibac!

Hi @Eyelashwishes i hope your 3 year old had a speedy recovery. Can I ask how you got on? My 2.5yr old DD has picked up a stomach bug and I also have a 10 day old DD I’m scared will pick it up. She’s vomited twice today and then seems to be mostly over it so hoping it’s just a 24 hour thing but I’m terrified the baby will catch it and become poorly 😭
Im also not BF so feeling really anxious that she has no antibodies 🥺

@anxiousmammyagain oh bless you, try not to worry. I ended up catching it, but DH & my 8 week old completely escaped it. I just kept washing my hands and disinfected everything thoroughly and as regularly as I could manage. Try and keep then apart as best you can and that's all you can do. Benefit of formula feeding in my case was that when I caught it too my husband took over all baby duties for 48 hours whilst I dealt with our toddler. Try not to worry- easier said than done I know! Hopefully she won't catch it, but if she does it will be OK ❤️

Sorry to jump on this, my 2 year old also now has a sickness bug and my baby is 11 days old! I’m so so anxious about my baby getting it. Did you little one catch it in the end and if so were they okay?