House Cleaning After Sickness

Probably cleaning too much. You need to be exposed to germs to become immune to them. I have never been a bleach cleaning, scrubbing, lysol spraying mom! (Unless someone comes home with a stomach bug!)

My kids are hardly ever sick. I just let the sickness run its course, wash sheets, clean toilets, and go on.

Also, I read it is not necessary to get new toothbrushes in some doctor article recently.

Also, I hear more and more doctors saying that hand sanitizers are HORRIBLE because more and more kids are not building up their lifetime immunities to the things they should.

Again- I'm NOT that germaphobe mom, and my kids are honestly like NEVER sick! We also do chiropractic treatments. In fact, the last time a tummy bug did hit our house, it lasted for literally like less than half a day. I think everyone only threw up once and had an ill feeling stomach for half a day. Meanwhile, my kids' classmates were missing 2 days of school or more. :)

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K., your uber-cleaning could be the reason your kids are getting sick a lot. You are cleaning so much that their immune systems aren't as strong as they could be if they were exposed to germs daily. I know, it sounds crazy, but there have been many studies done about how kids that live on farms (and that are exposed to so many different germs every day) are the healthiest kids and have less allergies. http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/medicine_h...

We have had a lot of success with giving my son vitamins that have Elderberry in them. We give him Sea Buddies from Whole Foods. It made a HUGE difference for him as he was getting sick a lot when preschool started. He's been (knock on wood!) very healthy lately. Give it a try, and take a few days off of cleaning. Lose the Lysol, and the bleach. ;) Germs aren't all bad- they give your body something to fight off. :)

I also wanted to add, to keep in mind that once you have a virus, you are immune to it, so as long as everyone is better, they will not catch the same virus again. So you don't have to worry about "getting rid of it". ;)

Good luck, Mama!
T.

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Just keep in mind that your house is probably warmer and moister inside since it's winter. Bacteria thrive in warm places. Air the house out along with your cleaning routine and hope that the germs all croak. Cold air doesnt make us sick, warm homes and stores do, they are the breeding grounds.

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Be sure to give them new toothbrushes after each illness.

Updated

Be sure to give them new toothbrushes after each illness.

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There is such a thing as over cleaning. I'm not saying let your house get super dirty but if it's too clean the kids have no immunity to anything and catch things even easier as well as have a harder time recuperating. I don't have lysol in the house (I have a sensitivity to synthetic scents etc. so can't use it) so I clean everything using vinegar water with assorted essential oils. My kids are very rarely sick (the oldest three are in school and the youngest is in preK). They were hit once this winter with a nasty bug but half the school was out with it.

I also agree that having a house closed up during winter can really harbor extra stuff that you wouldn't worry about during the summer since windows are wide open etc. If I were you, I would check for allergens and mold. Years ago, an apartment we were in had severe mold problems and it took us months to convince our landlord to give us a new unit. They say it was harmless (I wish we'd had the money to do our own testing) but that's when we were almost constantly sick, my migraines started, my synthetic scent sensitivity started, that's when my youngest daughter's weight didn't fluctuate more than a few ounces for six months (I'm serious, she had a flat line across her chart; not good for an infant. The doc was really worried and placed her on a super high fat diet.), that's when my oldest sons behavioral issues began (could be coincidence), etc. Within six months of us moving out, my daughter was gaining weight like a champ, my migraines had lessened (for a while there I was having one almost every day and now almost 4 years later I maybe have one once every couple of weeks), and we stopped being constantly sick. We still battle my sons behavioral issues and if anything they seem to be getting worse which is why I'm not sure if the mold had anything to do with it, but it may have triggered something. Any my scent sensitivity hasn't really changed except for a slight lessening at how fast and bad I react to them.

While I'm not saying you have this problem, I would certainly have it checked. Mold can hide very easily in the walls, ceilings and vents and you wouldn't realize it was there until it was bad enough to start manifesting itself on your walls. We finally convinced our landlords it was time to move when it began growing on our WINDOWS. Ugh! And a closed up winter house is the perfect environment for it.

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I actually think part of the problem is that it's so cold that we are inside with all the windows closed. I was just sick and so was my son. There is snow all around us, but I kept windows cracked and opened the sliding glass door during the day to let fresh air in and get some of the germs out. It almost doesn't matter how clean your house is if you are in an enclosed environment with all the airborn bugs and viruses.
Call me crazy, but I think this is why this time of year is so hard on everyone. It's cold and we want to get warm, but we also need fresh air and it's tough to do when it's freezing outside.

Of course, wash your hands everytime you touch a runny nose or icky tissues. Keep hands away from the eyes. You can continue to reinfect through the tear ducts.
Crack a window or two and get some ventilation.

Best wishes.

This is very normal for them to be sick. You are doing a great job! Wash their hands when they come in. Replace their tooth brushes after they are sick.

if you have a pretty or windy day, open enough windows to let the air, air things out.

Hi K.,

I had issues of illness continuing in my house until I stopped using 'regular' cleaning methods. Now that I clean with natural products, we have much less sickness. I use vinegar, natural enzymes (http://happyhomemaker88.com/2009/05/02/recipe-for-homemad...)
, tea tree oil and other oil blends that purify the air too.

If you want to know more, just email me.

Cheers,
P.

I agree with the liberal use of hand sanitizer and washing your hands. I also have to say that reducing stress is very important to avoiding illness so if you think the kids are stressed by the schedule or other factors work on that for sure. I would also look at washing the toys on a regular basis so the hard plastic toys get a regular wipe down with bleach solution and the soft toys get a spin in the washer. Dispose of the tooth brush after each cold and use paper towels to dry hands instead of a hand towel used by all. Also, be real careful with the drinking cups. When my kids were those ages the glasses seemed like a free for all but try to get them to stick to only their own glass and their own germs

Hi K.,
I see that you live on Long Island too. It has been a really bad season for the kids as far as colds, strep and what not. I have a five year old and i think his nose is stuffy every other week. We have an infant and I have been SO crazy about cleaning from top to bottom...door knobs, towels washed between each use, sheets changed every three days, showers twice a day...you name it! NOTHING works. In fact, I have never been so neurotic and my son has never had so many colds...go figure. My pediatrician says NO shoes in the house and wash hands and face when you come home from school and change the shirt. I read an article from a pediatrician that says she chuckles when she sees us moms go nuts with the hand sanitizer and wiping the grocery cart and what not because while handwashing is very important, most common virus' are transmitted through respiratory droplets that are airborne. All I know is that i cannot wait for the spring! These kids need to get outside!

My kids are the same age and I've been giving them immunity plus gummy vitamins. This year has been a lot better than last year but last year was my son's first year in preschool (the little one is home with me still). My son also no longer naps so getting him to bed on time helps too. I try to clean, but you never get all the germs.

I always make sure that before *anyone* enters my house (me, my husband, kids, visitors, ect) they spritz their hands with a hand sanitzer. They are fairly cheap and you just pump a spritz on to their hands, rub, and 99.9% of germs are gone off their hands. When we go out, I bring my sani-hands with me; which are alcohol wipes individually wrapped for conveince, and I also use one to clean the shopping cart handle when I go out. I find this very effective. My 2 yr old has only been sick once this year.

I use clorox wipes on all doorknobs and handles and remotes when people are sick

A few more points, if your children are drinking from bottles and you refill them, don't. Throw them away. If you use metal canteens for their water, make sure you change the water every day and wash thoroughly. I would sometimes leave my daughters metal canteen with water for a day or two, mildew or something accumulated inside and she had got sick repeatedly. I think I was accidentally poisoning her, until finally she herself refused the canteen. I took a whiff of the bottle and there was an atrocious smell. I cried, asking myself how could I have overlooked this? My daughter has been sick free for the past three months almost. Believe it or not, plastic bottles, plastic containers for food storage, or basically anything plastic are the worst items to have in your home. We've been gradually switching to glass. I know it sounds ridiculous because we've become so used to having them around. Last note: when my grandfather back in the late 70's saw plastic being used for food storages and all he said, that it's the most unhealthy source of food storage to be invented. Just the fact that it's production is petroleum you can imagine what we're eating out of and what poisons are going into our bodies.

It sounds like you are taking the right steps to get rid of the germs. I would just suggest remembering to clean the things every one touches all the time like, light switches, remote, refrigerator door, door knobs, telephone, railing on the stairs, etc. In most cases the lysol wipes do a great job. When we have a "bug/germ" that tries to linger in our house, I try to clean the bathrooms at least once a day. I prefer to use the scrubbing bubbles in the bathroom and lysol wipes in most other places. Also try making it a routine to switch out your dish washing sponge and run boiling water on the tooth brushes once a week until you are all healthy again.