Grandchildren illness

Sometimes I feel a bit of an oddity on Gransnet as I worked full time for 40 years. Now I want to support my Dil as she works full time. In this instance, it means that as I am in fairly good health, and take my free flu jab, I will look after lovely granddaughter when she's poorly.

Yes. Stop being pathetic. End of.

It’s not condescending or patronising at all. There are many things one may not LIKE doing, but having been responsible for all paws personal care - yes, including arse wiping, vomit mopping, full body washing, dressing , the lot, there are things you can do with good grace because you love somebody and it is not their fault they need it.
Disposable rubber gloves, like nurses and Carers wear can make it more bearable, but the bottom line is that is what we do.
And frankly it is a lot easier with tinies than a grown man of 70 so pardon me if I don’t sound as sympathetic as others.

Golly, how condescending and intolerant some people are. It's so easy to criticise or say "get over it" when you don't suffer from a particular phobia.

I have spent 4 years looking after dgd until this summer. She never had a sickness bug thankfully.
What she did have was severe constipation. She was vomiting and leaking poo. Sadly it wasn't sorted until she was admitted to hospital. I'm not great with sick if I'm honest, not even my own!!!!
If you don't feel able to care for an unwell child then be honest, if the parent is armed with this information now they will know not to expect you to look after dgc in the future.

Mumofmadboys yiu surely didn’t believe I was serious did your?

No, it's not unreasonable.

Happy to be on call for emergency sick grandchildren (never thought about it til I read this post).

Any phobia I might have had about children being sick was sorted out early in my teaching career when a child stood next to the desk where I was hearing a child read, announced "Miss I feel sick" and threw up all over my desk, my Reading record Book and the reading book. He had just drunk his school milk, so the smell was dreadful.

I don't mind looking after them when they are poorly but my children will always say don't come over if they have a sickness bug. I work in a hospital so try to minimise spreading it!

Thank you librarylady for link it describes me perfectly.I will do some investigating .

I don't live near to my grandchildren to help out on a daily basis but if I did, I would draw the line at D&V bugs. That's because it's never a 24hr illness for me, more often it means I'm very poorly and in bed for several days myself.

I've had a number of nasty tropical stomach complaints when living abroad plus my sister has Crohn's disease with a familial component so I wouldn't care to take the risk.

Fingers crossed, I never seem to catch the little ones' coughs and colds now, which is a bonus!

P.S. You should get help to deal with your paranoia.

You have had your time as a parent. Now your offspring have responsibilities which they have to deal with. Leave them to it.

If we are not willing ( providing we are fit enough) to look after poorly grandchildren while the parents go to work, what good are we as grandparents!! Both my grandchildren are often sick especially at bedtime and often after the daily wash has been put on. On many occasions I have gone home covered in sick and took the extra washing with me. It's all part of family life surely.

www.emetophobiahelp.org/fact-sheet.html

I would dearly love to live near enough so that I could look after any sick grandchildren when needed. No-one likes vomiting or dealing with it, but I'd happily deal with it if it meant I could see more of the GC.

So glad my grandchildren are adults and this question doesn't arise. If it did I'm afraid I'd have to say no, I have lung problems and have to avoid catching colds, flu or sore throats as it could give me real problems. Had to cancel a dental appointment last week because dentist had been off work the previous day with a heavy cold.

It's not unreasonable no, it's much harder for an older person to shake off illness and can often lead to worse health problems and possibly hospitalisation.

I myself would never refuse to look after a sick grandchild, but then I am not at all concerned about catching things, and both my DH and I are healthy, touch wood.

However, if you are seriously worried about catching illnesses, or have a condition that makes even a cold potentially more dangerous for you than for me, then I think you should explain kindly when the grandchildren are all well to their parents, that looking after sick kiddies is not, and never has been your thing, or that you because of your own state of health just cannot help out.

Your children won't be happy about it, as getting sick children looked after is well-nigh impossible, and employers are not amenable to parents taking time off work because the kindergarten or creche, sensibly refuses to take in sick children, but that cannot be helped, if your really cannot help them out.

I personally have never said no, my immune system is pretty resilient now, and am close enough to my grandkids that they are happy to be with me as a surrogate parent.

Older people have weaker immune systems and do not bounce back as the did when they were youger.My husband recently spent 12 nights on CCU,the last 24hrs he began coughing terribly.He was discharged,I caught it and we had three courses of antibiotiics and because I smoked,years ago,I had to have 2 courses of steroids,which I was very frightened of ,as you are more susceptible to infections.My nephew,wife and four children ,the youngest on antibiotics for a throat infection,wanted to visit .We said no,and why.We haven't heard from them since.The illness aged us both.It left us feeling very vulnerable.I was a nurse for fifty years and I realise now that you need to protect yourself,or who will look after you?

No, it's not unreasonable. Children need their parents when they are ill. Emergency care only if they are ill. The parents commit to have children - it's their responsibility.

I developed a " phobia of vomiting" as a 12 year old girl at school. Back in the days when we sat in two seater desks with joint seat. The girl sat next to me threw up all over the desk and surrounding area, including partly onto me. The teacher as was the way back in the 50s sent one of the boys for the bucket of sawdust to cope with the mess. Someone had to take the sick girl home and I was also allowed to go home and change. I have had my share of "sickness bugs", severe morning sicknesses with each child, and now on chemo get severe sickness for several days of each round. Some people have stronger stomachs than others dealing with vomiting. As you age anyway your immune system is not as strong as when you are a much younger person. Looking after the grandkids is one thing with coughs and colds, sickness bug ...no way. As a matter of interest a lot of people are quite unaware that the Norovirus is still live inside your body for a full 48hours after your symptoms have subsided and you are at risk of passing this horrendous bug onto others if you mix with others too soon, go back to work too soon etc. It used to be called Gastric Flu in my childhood and you would be kept away from work for a full week to prevent contaminating other people.

You do what feels right for you. I look after my grandchildren when they have any but sickness bugs, and my daughter in laws know this. They have to be in the house and cope, as we did when our children were young. If you dont have to catch these things, you shouldn't feel guilty, and should stay clear if you want too.