Why doesn't every parent catch their child's sick bug?

[Flopsy145]

My 3.5 year old DD is currently down with the dreaded sickness bug, the last two times she's had one I've also come down with it a day or 2 later. But I know a good few parents who never catch it, their kid has 24 hours of sickness and then they just stay healthy. Even my mum never caught mine as a kid and I once threw up on her face.

I'm always diligent with hand washing and Dettol spraying, this time even more so as I'm 35 weeks pregnant and feeling drained enough as it is! We've also been so far pretty lucky and always contained it in a bowl so I'm not (touch wood) so far scrubbing floors or dealing with multiple sicky sheets and towels in the wash.

How do some parents avoid it?!

I'm an emetophobe. I remember being sick once when I was around 5 years old in PE. I've never had food poisoning, never got morning sickness when pregnant. I've never had diarrhoea either. I get drunk and have never vomited or had a hangover.

I'm also Type O and never seem to catch stomach bugs. I don't vomit much from other causes either; maybe a couple of times in the last 30 years (once when I was pregnant and ate something that disagreed with me; once because I tried to make myself throw up after realising I'd had far too much to drink - didn't work very well, though. Even if I feel a bit nauseous and try to make myself vomit, it doesn't seem to work).

I'm not an emetophobe; it just doesn't happen. I've sometimes wondered why not. I've dealt with vomiting kids and travelled quite a bit in countries with dubious hygiene levels (once caught giardia in India) and never vomited from any of that. I think there are some people who just very rarely vomit. My grandmother also didn't and I don't think my mum does.

Weird isn't it. We picked up a nasty bug from a young family member (not in household) last week having spent a couple of hours with him - he gave it to 4 of us, yet his parents, sibling and grandparents (who were all physically handling his vomitty bedding!) all got away with it..

^^ this.
My two DC are adults now but I only once caught a sickness bug off them.
I am rarely ill so must have a fairly good immune system.
When there is a D&V bug, I keep washing my hands and change all hand towels at least daily.
In January last year DH and both DC (both work in hospitals) all had Noro virus at more or less the same time but I didn't catch it even though it is really contagious. I suspect it's because I have a cover on my toothbrush and the others don't, so I avoided the virus in the bathroom.

I can’t remember catching any of my kids’ viruses- stomach bugs or colds. Actually I think they only ever had one stomach bug, and I didn’t catch that. They did have a few colds but I didn’t catch those either.

I think it’s luck and genes (my Dad had a ridiculously robust immune system too), plus living in a home with pets and without obsessing over hygiene. (Yes, I keep the place reasonably clean but don’t use bleach and don’t clean daily).

I agree with this wholeheartedly- I don’t think viruses always manifest in the same way in each person. My husband gets every cold going and will feel pretty rubbish with them; they often end up on his chest. Sometimes one or both of the kids catch it off him. But their symptoms tend to be milder. When this happens, I’ll often feel a bit lethargic for a couple of days but have no other symptoms and I’ve always just assumed that’s how the cold virus manifests in my body.

I am also an emetophobe.
Haven’t been sick since I was 7 years old, 26 years ago, which was when I had a sickness bug. Think I had 2 or 3 as a kid and I must have found it so traumatising that I now have this phobia.
I have two children and have never caught a sickness bug from them although DH has. I am really thorough with hand washing when there is a bug in the house and I avoid putting my hands to my nose or mouth. I think a lot of it has also been luck. I do tend to always catch their colds though and I’ve had covid twice. Blood type A+.

I presume because adults tend to wash their hands properly, rarely scratch their bum crack and almost never put their hands in their mouth!

If it's a proper sickness bug, like norovirus, the whole family gets it. But one of my dcs sometimes get sickness which doesn't seem to be contagious. She gets it a few times a year and nobody else gets it. I don't understand why or what it is

Depends how many kids they've had. I hardly get anything my second gets but when my first got it all I was sick constantly for a couple of years. Awful times.
Funnily enough my DH got more with the second as due to flexible working post pandemic he was around more at home during the first 2 years of nursery - and he dodged it the first time with the eldest son succumbed when it hit the second

Same here, neither dh, ds or I have ever had norovirus. We are mid 50s, ds(20) so been around enough.

I’ve had food poisoning/dodgy curry a couple of times, but never a stomach bug causing either D or V.

It depends on the adult and how they were raised I think, my kids are constantly bringing bugs home, my partner gets most even if it's just mildly but I get basically none, and he like to be indoors reading play around the house as a young kid and I was the one rolling in the mud playing outside in the rain

In my experience the people who are really into dettol and loads of handwashing ironically do get ill more as their immune systems are weaker. We need regular exposure to germs to strengthen our immune systems.

Don't get my wrong my home is clean and tidy and I shower daily and have good overall hygiene BUT I don't go round bleaching everything and I don't wash my hands every time after I've been outside and stuff like that. There is a balance.

Forgot to add I'm hardly ever ill. My kids are 5 and 2

It’s not just luck. Some people have a natural immunity to most noro viruses due to being ‘non secretors’. Don’t ask me about the science behind it but I had some genetic tests a while back and I’m a non-Secretor who never gets sickness bugs, despite being an emetophobe! DS also appears to be virtually immune to them, unlike DD, so suspect he’s the same

I've not caught one off mine since starting a good quality daily probiotic. Could be coincidence of course.

Bugs in vomit are airborne for about 20 seconds. You'd have to cover your face after each puke. Hard to do when you're holding a bowl to catch the stuff.

Pregnancy lowers your immune system any road. It has to to stop an attack on what really is a parasite.

Pure luck also.

As pp have said hand washing after contact with sick dc, and hand washing again before preparing/eating food.

I was also told by a piano teacher about 30 years ago her “secret trick” to avoid illness especially when around children. It’s to never touch anywhere on your face as when you rub or touch your eyes/nose/mouth that’s when germs can get into your body. So far dc has had several illnesses and a couple of vomiting viruses that haven’t spread to the rest of the family.

Same here, don't know why, just never get them

Also I am very lax about hand hygiene. Wash after using the toilet of course, but that's about it.

The funny thing is that my DS 15 has never once had a vomiting bug. He's adopted, so it's not genetic, but somehow we are a household who just never get sick. I have had one day off sick in 5 years. And as I said, pay very little attention to hygiene. I don't know why, just lucky?

I learnt to up my hygeine routine after years of catching them (severe emetophobe) Don't ever touch your face when there's one in the house, that's my tip.

I have two children under 5 so have been exposed to a fair number of bugs I think. I have only caught it once, and even then it was a day after my husband succumbed to it (even though I was the one sleeping beside the sick child and catching sick in my hands)

I catch most of the colds they bring home though so not sure why my immune system picks and chooses like that!

diligent with hand washing and Dettol spraying

Might it be that you are also killing the good bugs? A strong immune system is built by beating bugs. Maybe yours doesn't have enough to build up.

Another place to look is in the variety of food you eat. Anyone who eats a wide range of foods especially vegetables is likely to build a stronger immune system than otherwise.

But then I rarely ever get anything so may not have the kind of help you need. Hope you find what you need.

The Dettol only comes out during a sick bug, I'm a standard hand washer so I'm not overly cleaning on a usual day to day basis just clean/tidy/daily shower like most peope,! But while she's being sick I'm being extra diligent.
From memory I never caught any sock bugs from my step son, and once I was actively cleaning up vom.
This afternoon will be 48 hours after she was first sick, I'm hoping if I can get through tonight without being ill then I should touch wood be I. The clear 😅 she was also only sick for 12 hours, then just a bit tired and subdued even now so hoping she just had a mild one!