Has anyone's child gotten the dreaded Norovirus?

[~earthmama~]

Just wondering what to expect...

[cb at sea]

Anyone can catch it at anytime. Have your kids ever gotten the "stomach flu" at school? If so, it was probably Noro! It's everywhere...not just on ships! Schools are PRIME spots, as are nursing homes, hotels, etc....anywhere folks are tightly packed, the probability is much higher, if the virus is present!

If you or they do get it, it usually lasts about 24-48 hours, and you'll feel pretty damn bad! Once it's passed, you're fine.

[~earthmama~]

Anyone can catch it at anytime. Have your kids ever gotten the "stomach flu" at school? If so, it was probably Noro! It's everywhere...not just on ships! Schools are PRIME spots, as are nursing homes, hotels, etc....anywhere folks are tightly packed, the probability is much higher, if the virus is present!

If you or they do get it, it usually lasts about 24-48 hours, and you'll feel pretty damn bad! Once it's passed, you're fine.

 

Thanks I did not know that. My child has never had any illness, he is only 9 months old. He will be 11 months when we cruise.

[Kerry's Girls]

My girls have had it. As CB said, it was during a visit with grandma & grandpa who had visited a senior citizen home earlier in the day. We had one day of misery, and then all was well.

 

On our last land vacation to Spain, one of my girls must have picked up something on the plane, because she had the stomach flu for the first day, but then, again, was fine.

 

As far as our 8 cruises, we haven't ever picked anything up - not that I don't expect to one of these times. I bring packets of hand wipes - I think they're Clorox - that kill viruses as well as bacteria and we use them often. The only difference though, is my girls were exposed to lots of germs by the time they were 11 months old - we visited play areas, parks, etc, so they had been sick a lot by that age. (Haven't had any colds at all for the last year though - I think they've run through most of them now!)

 

Have a great time.

 

Best,

Mia

[Ellanora]

I picked it up myself at the tail end of a Disney cruise a couple years ago, but my son didn't get it until this year when it was running like wildfire through the local school system. He's thirteen.

 

Very, very bad stomach ache - bad enough to elicit some moaning. Severe diarrhea for almost two days. One rather intense session of vomiting for him. I also got it this year when he did, and had the same symptoms, plus I blacked out for a minute or two on the bathroom floor. :eek: Not fun.

[bean24]

My son got it before we went on the cruise, ask your pediatrician about pedialyte, the label says for 1 year or older, but my pedi had me give it to him at 7 months when he had noro and she told me to bring the powdered one with me. Thankfully with 4 toddlers we did not need it. Enjoy.

[WeatherGeek]

My daughter is 2 and she caught a norovirus at age 10 months and at age 22 months - almost exactly 1 year apart to the day! She has been lucky so far and they are usually in and out of her system within about 10 hours. She's always the first to catch it in our family and then it spreads to me, then my DH. It's always far, far worse for DH or I to catch it - the worst part lasts about 6 hours, but the recovery time for us is miserable! This last time, we got sick 5 days before we went to Disney World. It passed and we were out of the contagious phase well before we were due to get on the plane to Orlando, but trying to get our digestive systems back to good working order took until after we got back from Disney. Well...the greasy Disney food probably didn't help :) But the 2-year old - she was totally fine. You never know how hard it may hit any one of you. Just be vigilant about handwashing and wash your baby's hands too. If you have room, stash a couple of pedialytes in your luggage just in case. I always bring a little pack of antibacterial wipes when we go on vacation and wipe off the table and high chair my daughter will be eating at. You can get them in the travel section at Target for $1 for a pack of 20 (Target brand). I'm not one of those crazy anti-germ moms, but when I'm on vacation, I am extra cautious because no one wants to spend part of their vacation sick. And despite my efforts, I always wind up bringing a cold or a cough home with me! Still - I'd rather have that than noro any day.

[Cruising Khi]

I have a bit of a concern about this, too. I'm thinking of taking my 13 month old on a cruise in September when she will be 15 months. I wanted to point out that even better than taking Pedialyte is to make sure the baby nurses a lot. DD unfortunately came down with a stomach bug last month but was able to get through it okay by nursing. Breastmilk is wonderful at hydrating babies and also provides nutrients if baby can't eat any solids. It literally kept DD out of the hospital when she was so sick.

[QTMichele]

Unfortunately, yes. :( Fortunately, it wasn't while I was on vacation - my sister and I contracted it at a local restaurant. For us, we both woke up in the middle of the night and started vomitting. Then the diarrhea hit. It was horrible - and lasted for hours upon hours without relief. Thankfully, the biggest part only lasted for the day; however, both of us felt a lot of fatigue and general unwellness for a good two weeks. :(

 

Try to keep in mind that washing hands often and keeping them away from your mouth, eyes, nose, etc. will do wonders to keep you well. Unfortunately, if someone contaminates your food with norovirus (or other viruses/bacteria), then there isn't a lot you can do about it. :(

[uppitycats]

I'm not a child, but I caught it on the last cruise we were on (and was the only one sick on the ship..so I suspect I brought it with me). Anyway...I do have other health issues, so those probably contributed to it..but I was sick for several days, and ended up needing intravenous liquid drips because I became severely dehydrated. Not pleasant.

 

I did all the precautionary things...to no avail.

 

I hope your cruise goes uneventfully.

[Mack2]

Infants can get dehydrated really quickly.... so it is prudent to try to get them re-hydrated with things like Pedialyte.

 

Eight ounces of water doesn't seem like a lot to us, but it's a significant amount of body weight for an infant... Norovirus infections cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramping, and diarrhea... So you may have to try really hard to get the infant to drink, but if you can't, dehydration from the virus can get pretty hairy... like... hooking up an IV for fluids-hairy.

 

Best thing to do is protect yourself from getting or transmitting the virus. Purell, frequent hand washing, and other good sanitary habits really help and do make all the difference.

 

Embarrassingly, my kids have gone into restrooms and loudly reported who has left the public restroom without washing their hands... seems movies are the worst followed by the town pool.

 

Pedialyte powder packets are good... so is Gatorade... they help the body rehydrate while replacing all the electrolytes the body needs to function properly that is lost with vomiting and diarrhea.

[mjkacmom]

Thanks I did not know that. My child has never had any illness, he is only 9 months old. He will be 11 months when we cruise.

 

Be prepared for your child to someday get the oh-so-dreaded rotavirus someday (although I think they have a vaccine for it now). Similar to the noravirus, but lasts more than a week! All of mine got it, but the worst was when my 1 year old twins had it at the same time - we camped on blankets in the living room for 10 days.