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Merry Christmas, you’ve got the stomach flu!
Most people who have known me for more than four minutes, know that the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is my favorite time of year. I am that mom and I openly admit it. This year wasn’t as magical. Despite my best efforts at creating a magical atmosphere for the season, my plans were derailed by one single happenstance error – we visited the local library.
Our stomach flu fun all started with a visit to the local library.
Our library has a reputation for being a germ factory. Most stay-at-home parents avoid it completely (yours truly included). But, my kids wanted to run in and warm up from our playgroup and I obliged. A series of unfortunate events unfolded, and we didn’t wash our hands before we left. Two days later, my middle child began violently vomiting, lasting the whole night. Forty-eight hours after that, my youngest and oldest started. At one point, I had one child with a 104 fever, and two that were alternating turns with the toilet and bucket because it was coming out of all ends. And honestly, that wasn’t even the worst of it. The whole ordeal lasted a bit over a week, and I was blessed with my turn on Christmas day. And now I’m here to tell the tale.
Whether you’re planning for norovirus, or it’s already infiltrated your house, two things are certain: you will survive it and it will be terrible. The good news is that most adults have more diarrhea than vomiting, a hugely positive revelation for me. Puking is terrible sauce. Alright so here goes – ten intentional things you can do to make your life a little easier during your journey through a really hard week of parenting.
1. Cover the couch with old sheets
A couple of layers of old sheets on the couch go a long way in protecting your couch. I’ve only found one product so far that is validated to kill norovirus on soft surfaces. From what I’m reading, peroxide and oregano essential oil will do the trick; however, that’s got a potent smell that may trigger nausea or vomiting. Of course, the smell of a vomited-on couch will also do that, so… ya know what they say about battles. Anyway, the sheets buy you time before deciding between buying chemicals on Amazon, making an essential oil spray, or sitting on a puke couch.
2. Place towels on the floor in front of the couch.
My personal preference is to clean towels over mop floors. You have to pick your poison when dealing with the stomach flu. Towels catch the splatter and it’s less likely germs are going to get tracked all over your house.
3. Give the gift of a plastic trash can with fancy liners.
This is two pieces of advice in one. First of all, plastic trash cans are portable and a crap ton easier to clean than a whole bathroom. I was horrified to learn that my husband had never been so sick in his life that he actually couldn’t make it to the toilet, but I’m here to tell you that is a real thing and norovirus with kids is that scenario. You are going to be sadly disappointed if you have dreams of your children making it to your bathroom and puking into the toilet. They might make it to the bathroom, but projectile all over the sink next to the toilet (I’ve done this). Besides which, who wants their face in the toilet? Gag.
Now that you have an easy-to-disinfect waste receptacle, go ahead and use up those fancy-schmancy Walmart bags you’ve been hoarding, and get rid of the remnants after EACH EPISODE. If you don’t, the whole room is going to smell foul. Trust me on this.
4. Establish a safe bathroom, if possible.
Now that you have given the gift of a plastic trash can with some floor protection beneath it, it’s time to establish a safe bathroom for all the people who aren’t yet sick. This bathroom should have no occupants who are vomiting or having diarrhea (or can at least wash their hands well after a bathroom episode). Optimally, this bathroom should have paper towels for handwashing or the towel should be removed and refreshed periodically throughout the day. If anyone with diarrhea frequents this rest area, clean your high-touch surfaces with bleach-based cleaner daily.
5. Double-wrap the bed.
This is something we didn’t do and I’m highly regretting it. I didn’t even think of it when my four-year-old started violently vomiting in the middle of the night, and I was kicking myself for not preparing in advance for the other two catching the plague. Double-wrapping the bed is a little trick I utilized when I was preparing for each of my homebirths. Make your bed up to the flat sheet, then start with a fitted sheet and make it again. I like to sandwich a mattress protector in between, but you could also use a towel in the puke zone (aka near the head). This means when you strip the first layer of sheets, you’ll have a fresh set underneath. It’s a lot less work at 2 AM than remaking the bed.
6. Wash water bottles nightly.
I am guilty of not washing my water bottle every night. Norovirus isn’t the time for that. You may have forgotten to wash your hands before you drank from your water bottle. Someone else may have touched it after touching something unsavory. Just throw it right into the dishwasher. Or better yet, nix the water bottle altogether for the healthy people and get a new glass every time you get water. The same goes for the pukers of the house. Wash THEIR water bottles every night, too – for obvious reasons.
7. Wash everything on the hottest cycle, and bleach what you can.
Norovirus is hard to kill. Like. Really hard to kill. There is a time and a place to be a hippie. The stomach virus is not it. Bleach is your friend. And if you can’t bleach it, wash it on the absolute hottest cycle your washer offers and then dry it the same way.
8. Use a moisturizing soap and lotion your hands from the get-go
If you’re doing it right, your hands are going to look like absolute shit in about 24-48 hours after norovirus hits your house. If you head that off by using a moisturizing hand soap and lotion from the beginning, you should make it out with hands that are a bit dry but aren’t cracked/bleeding/itchy/flaky. My past life experience in a microbiology lab will tell you that you want to stay as far as possible away from Mrs. Meyer or Method handsoap for this one. AttitudeLiving is normally my jam, but it stripped my hands in a hurry. I wish I had a good recommendation for a hand soap for this, but I don’t.
9. Make sure your cleaning products are validated to kill norovirus and check the contact time.
I’ve run a few cleaning validations in my lifetime. Fun little fact: not all bacteria and viruses can be killed by all products. When you see something that says “Kills 99.9% of germs” that does not mean all germs. It means that it kills 99.9% of whatever “germs” they’re testing for – and often those aren’t very hard to kill in the first place. Check to ensure whatever you’re using kills norovirus. Otherwise, you’re wasting loads of effort just to end up really effing sick because you thought something was clean and it wasn’t. Another place people go wrong? Contact times. That’s the amount of time a product needs to be WET to disinfect. I prefer a hospital disinfectant, followed by a 70% IPA wipe-down for bathrooms. I told you once: the time for being a hippie is not while you have a norovirus outbreak running rampant in your house.
10. Hydration & P.R.O.B.I.O.T.I.C.S.
Everyone in the house needs to hydrate with a norovirus infection running rampant. It’s very easy to get dehydrated from vomiting and diarrhea, but it’s also easy to get dehydrated when you’re concerned about everyone else in your family. Make sure everyone is consuming enough electrolytes, so you aren’t just diluting the salts in the body further.
In addition to hydration, you can’t go wrong with lining your gut with healthy bacteria to fight the good fight. I took probiotics every day during our norovirus outbreak and I have to credit them for why I wasn’t violently ill. I have never made it through norovirus without projectile vomiting everywhere, and besides one day of unpleasant bathroom adventures and some nausea, I was T-totally fine.
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