I am beyond frustrated. I almost have to laugh at this point because it is so ridiculous.
My family has been sick a total of 12 times in the past few months. And when I say sick, I mean sick - missing work/school, staying in bed unable to move, sick.
All three kids are in school/day care. So I do understand illness will be passed. But this is getting ridiculous. The baby (5 mo) has been ill 3 times (ER visit once due to vomiting) in 2 months. Same with the other 2 kids. My 6 year old has been vomiting sick 3 times in 2 weeks. That cannot be normal!!
We are a healthy/clean household by any standard, but are by no means over the top. We eat healthy, lots of organic "live" foods, veggies, fruits, lots of water. After each illness, I get new toothbrushes, wash everything, doorknobs and all. Am I missing something? Is there anything we can do? My husband and I cannot miss any more work! How do other working parents do this? It is like one kid gets sick, we miss a day or two staying home with them, then we get it, and miss one or two days ourselves. Then, 2 weeks later, it starts all over again!! Please give any advice you can. We are at our wits end. We have a sick one home today with dad, baby is getting a cough again, and now my stupid throat hurts. I give up!!
JC A - good points. We have checked for mold and are good to go there, thank goodness - but...it has been a little while since our last check. We have a CO detector as well. Thank you!
Jo - No antibacterial nonsense! lol. I have never used hand sanitizer, although we are religious hand washers. I use "regular" soap, often organic soap or goatsmilk, and I don't use things like clorox or other harsh cleaners - I use predominately vinegar and baking soda to clean.
Tedsmama - I do take my prenatals with DHA (still nursing) - I don't give the kids anything except probiotics when they have to take antibiotics. I always thought their diet was sufficient and don't believe those chewable "vitamins" do anything.....hmmmm. Hubby does not take anything either, but he is the healthiest out of us all - go figure.
* INFO: NO PET OR SMOKING HOUSEHOLD
We started taking supplements 16 years ago and it greatly improved the whole family's health. We also switched to nontoxic cleaning and laundry products. Let me know if you are interested in them.
You are doing the right thing by changing the toothbrushes out, this is something most people seem to forget to do. When we wash after an illness we strip the beds, new towels, and take lysol wipes to every thing we can touch. The toys that can be put into the dishwasher (hot water no soap) get cleaned that way and the others we like to boil on the stove if possible. We also like to open the house up to get some fresh air in. When it is freezing cold out we may only open a window for a few min, but I think fresh air does wonders. Not sure I would change eating habits as it sounds like you have a good grasp on feeding your family a good diet. Do they/you take any supplemental vitamins that may help out?
It seems like everyone has been sick a ton this winter so maybe it was just a bad winter and things will start to change with warmer weather on the way. :) Mom and Dad being sick sucks, but sick kids who can't tell you wants wrong I think is even worse. :(
You have to find a homeopathic doctor or naturopath who is very good. Your immune systems are all shot. Do you know what a dock plant looks like? Dig up the dock and cook it in a soup. It is a bit bitter but it will clean your spleens and that will get the immune system up and running. At the health food store you can find Burdock root. Whatever vegetables you eat cut a finger length of burdock into it. It's also time for Dandelion another repairer. Cut it into salad.
Everyone of you should be on 5,000 units of vitamin D every day sun or no sunshine.
Lots of hugs and jokes are required so all return to health. Watch funny movies and your health will be better.
I would possibly look into having your house checked for mold or other irritants (Carbon monoxide, mites, etc). I couldn't say for sure that I know all the different things that could be in the air, but it is a place to start since it isn't just one of you that is bad. Usually I would say the interenet is bad because it is just going to scare you but in this case you may need to look into it a little further. Try and make a list of all the different illnesses and complaints so you can make sure you know what is up. you can find people who will come out and do a little check of the place.
If you don't have a carbon monoxide sensor in the house I would get one anyway, but just a little leak is undetecable and can really make people sick.
On the other hand- I have heard from a lot of friends this year has been rough for everyone so maybe the summer will clear things up.
In our area, every time the schools decrease the number of allowed sick days "everyone" gets really sick for that year because parents send their children to school sick more often. In the past 10 years it's gone from 15 per semester (30 per year) to 9 per YEAR. (so ridiculous)
Any chance your local school decreased the number of allowed sick days? (this affects the entire population, btw, not just school aged kids... because their parents are also sick more and illnesses just spread. Esp airborne ones)
I feel your pain. I do home childcare...and I have never spent more time bleaching and washing and disinfecting things as I have this winter.
Just in the last 2 weeks, all of my 7 daycare children have had either strep (1), pink eye (2 plus ME), and a raging up and down fever that lasted 5 days (the remaining 4 kids, including the 2 infants)..and now many of us are experiencing awful allergy symptoms due to the tree pollen count being so so high (which of course mimics a horrible cold...noses run down throats at night, irritating them to coughs...the vicious cycle of the mucous train!).
But we have had loads of ear infections (not contagious but the colds that can lead to them are!), a few with tummy bugs...and many parents getting them as well. It just really does seem to be a never ending year of illness. I think most weeks since November I have had someone sick at least one day each week. Probably 80% of the weeks since then.
And I hear this same story from all of my daycare contacts... Its bad all over I think!
Feel better!
You're going to get good advice from lots of people. When my husband and I both worked, we had to take turns for the kids and we went to work sick for ourselves (unless the boss just said GO HOME!). Do you have a dog? When I was younger, our family dog was a strep carrier and we passed strep along with all kinds of other viruses around. Once the dog was treated, we got better.
Our throat issues right now come from a multitude of things....the raging wind.....mucous at night.....Gross! I was worried about my older son bringing strep home because it has been going around. Not yet, thank goodness, but for the sore throat (wind, mucous caused) I have been having everyone gargle with a sea salt solution (1 cup warm h2o to 1/4 tsp sea salt). It takes the sting away (not for baby though.....sorry....no help there!).
I have no ideas or help different from what has already been mentioned... Just wanted to let you know that many, including my family, have been sick the same way. All the dcotors I have been to say it is just a horrible cold/flu season that seems to keep going and going. Whatever we last had lasted for 1 1/2 months, which is not normal, but it was stuff, runny nose, then sore throat & cough, moving onto sinus infection, back to head cold, ear infection and now just now it seems like things are clearing up with warmer weather on the way (of course it is going to get cold again, which means our illness might not fully go away). I have noticed that family and friends who got a flu shot it seems to not be as hard on them, while I who can not get one due to egg sensitvity has had it the worst.
Hi S.,
I don't know why, but we went through the same thing!!!! Since we moved in to our new house, my kids, husband and myself had very bad colds, and flu which came and went for about 3 months. It was awful, I feel your pain. We don't smoke either, I keep the house pretty clean, etc....I just started to open the windows more often very early in the morning and put the fans on in each room. I made every single day lots of lime and lemon juice and honey for everybody. I had everyone washing hands more than they usually do it; I made everyone to do gargles with water and salt every night, drink lost of water;I sprayed Lysol everywhere on the air and things. I washed towels and sheets more often, things like that.
Finally the problem was solved by itself. I think it was a kind of virus or bacteria that was around and everywhere since friends of mine went through the same situation.
Patience, and good luck and health to you...
Yes, I feel your pain! It seems like my kids are fighting a cold every two to three weeks. I have missed two days of work over a two week span. Now, my husband is fighting one. I hope this is over soon! I have a 1 and 2 year old and they are in a daycare. I hope you guys get better soon.
