Mom, M.D.
One of my kids’ (and mine, too!) favorite television shows right now is Doc McStuffins on Disney Junior. The kids love Doc because of her cute little personality, but I love the show because it teaches them healthy habits. And goodness knows we need healthy habits around our house! As a working mom with two small children in daycare, I feel like I have earned at LEAST a PhD in pediatrics. Good Lord, my kids bring home all kinds of gunky funk. Over the years, I’ve learned when to call the doctor and when to let things run their course, and I’ve even learned how to tell when one of mine is getting sick before they even show very many signs. One thing that has really cut down on how often our family gets sick has been learning how to prevent germs from spreading from family member to family member. It’s bad enough if one gets sick, but when we all pass something around between us? Well, it’s pretty awful. 
The first thing I’ve learned when one of the kids is sick is to send the other healthy child to daycare. This might seem like a no brainer, but the first few times one of mine was sick I would end up keeping both home from daycare because I thought it was mean to make one go and not the other. But I’ve learned over the past couple years that sending one of them to daycare is a great way to prevent the germs from spreading. Another trick we have started is giving baths right when we get home from school instead of waiting until bedtime when there is an illness going through one of the kids classrooms at school. When I know that someone in one of their classes is sick or something is going through the daycare, we try to keep the germs out of our house by giving the kids baths as soon as we walk in the door from school. When one of the kids is sick, we try to make sure they are limited as to where they play in the house. Unfortunately, if you’re sick at our house, you’re going to be quarantined. You might be restricted to your bedroom and the bathroom, or just the living room during the day while everyone else is at school or work. This helps us manage the germs. If the kids are all over the house, it’s hard to clean up and sanitized after them. But if we know they have only been in a few rooms, then it’s easier to use cleaners to keep their area clean. Lastly, we have learned to bathe the kids separately when one of them is really sick. This keeps the germs contained and prevents them from spreading them to each other through the water of a bath. They really don’t like this part, and usually they end up standing outside the tub waiting for the other to get out with them. But it’s the best thing to keep germs separated from each other. 
These little tips have helped us keep illness to a minimum in our house lately, but what about YOU? What are your “Doc” rules when sickness hits your house? Leave a comment below sharing your “Doc” moments, and be entered to win a $100 Visa gift card!
Be sure to check out the Disney Junior’s “Doc McStuffins” site to explore new episodes that will show every Friday in September starting on 9/6 on Disney Junior. Find out if The Doc Mobile Tour is coming to your city and get healthy tips from Doc here!
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109 Comments
Melissa
We wash hands right when we come home from daycare. And again before dinner. And right after dinner.
Kristi
One of our sick rules is that we switch to paper towels for drying hands to minimize the potential for germs to spread there. And if there is a GI issue, I also start everyone on acidophilous (the good bacteria for our gut). Thanks for the chance to win!
Kristi
I tweeted about it! 🙂
https://twitter.com/pbumcpw/status/373795059172261888
Amy Deschamp
We play time for your checkup around here. It has helped a lot when Elle needs to take medicine, go to the doctor, wash her hands, go to the ER, there are less fears around those things because Doc does them.
Andrea
Luckily I don’t have a whole lot of experience with the kids being sick. Usually when it happens it is quick and fairly low key (i’m waiting for this to blow up in my face one day!) Lots of hand washing, cleaning and disposable paper items. Who ever is sick usually wants to sleep so I don’t have much trouble keeping them apart. They are surprisingly good at understanding when someone is sick and that they need to let that person rest.
Liz Moss
More than anything I have learned to trust my gut with my kids. If I think there is something wrong, then I keep them at home. More often than not, I am right with them running a high fever or getting sick later in the day. So you know your kids better than anyone else.
Liz Moss
I Tweeted it!
https://twitter.com/BandGeekDesigns/status/373819122129190912
Jordan
With no kids when one of us gets sick we just hole up in the bedroom. 🙂
Tiffany
We practice a lot of the same rules as you all do. My 2.5 year old loves Doc. She wants a Doc McStuffins party for her 3rd birthday party.
Kate G.
I don’t have kids, but my mom did a phenomenal job keeping my sisters and me healthy when we were children. The secret she swears by? “Sick” bathrooms and “healthy” bathrooms. With all of the germs that sick kids spread, it’s better to keep the others AWAY from them until the entire thing can be sanitized and bleached.
After 19 cases of strep throat in the family one winter, we also stopped sharing toothpaste and each got our own tube!
Sara
One of the biggest things for me is to let go of our usual routine. I’m a stay at home mom so both kids are home even if just one is sick. I make sure to clear the schedule and relax on the rules – extra cuddles at bedtime, tv time (which is usually really limited here), not pushing food at set mealtimes but whenever they feel up to eating, and sleeping when and where they want if it makes them feel better. Also, if one starts to come down with something I right away go through the house with Lysol and throw all bed linens in the laundry!
Ann @ Such a Mama
I am all about the sanitize cycle on the dishwasher and washing machine! I don’t care what color it is – it is going to get boiled in there! It just kind of dawned on me that I should probably not give the kids baths together when they are sick. It realized that it was just making germ soup when we had an outbreak of some rash at the sitter’s. Yep, I am a slow learner.
Tanya B.
I think being a nurse helps but I also try not to give medication for minor things. The body does a pretty good job of healing itself.
Tawny
I love that show, now I have the song in my head.
Time for your checkup!
Kaitlyn Stratemeier
We have learned when bringing a new baby into our lives, to teach the older one NOT to touch the swing. We use the baby swing as our safe zone for separating the kids. This worked great when said older kid got a really bad case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth when new baby was only a month old! Plan to use this again as we prepare to bring baby 3.0 into our lives!
janis
we try to wash hands more and i let the sick kiddo sleep in the extra bedroom with me-then i pray that i don’t get sick! 🙂
momiss
The biggest thing I ever learned was to let things run their course for a day or two and not put them right on anti-biotics. This is doubly hard when you work. Throw in the fact that kids can’t miss more than 4 days a quarter now without being turned into a juvenile officer and it gets a lot harder. My 16 year old son came home in a panic because he has already missed 2 days and school just started. ( He got his wisdom teeth cut out). I told him 1)I changed the juvenile officer’s diapers, and 2) Any one threatening my authority as his parent would be reduced to ash.
He seemed quite relieved.
My fantasies, these days, turn toward an Amish life. Seriously.
Hope Gracie feels better soon.
Christy
We practice not giving our friends (or little brother) hugs and kisses when we are sick so that we hopefully don’t spread the germs!
Deanna
We pretty much stock hand sanitizer in every room and use it religiously while anyone is sick.
Amy S
Oh the doc rules here at our house………being a ‘momcologist’ (a mom of a child with cancer) makes you a wee bit CRAZY about germs. Everyone must wash their hands and brush their teeth immediately upon entering our home. When dd was really compromised by chemo, this included guests and I provided tooth brushes. Toothbrushes are washed once a week. If we are ever around crowds where known sickness is, we all shower and change clothes when coming home as well. I homeschool; we only go to outside classses once a week. We shower when we come home. Never, ever, ever for any reason share a drink with anyone. I should probably stop now 🙂
Abigail
I make sure to buy Sprite for my boyfriend as soon as I know he’s getting sick! He won’t drink anything else.
Laura
I guess we just try to use a lot of hand sanitizer. Babies aren’t so great at containing their germs, so maybe we’ll get better with this as she gets older!
Laura
https://twitter.com/imprfctbutloved/status/374573844863799296
Amy
My son never went to daycare, but we still ended up with our share if illnesses. I’m big in hand washing and cleaning as soon as symptoms start. I should have stock in Lysol.
Sarah Gamble
We just do our best to lay low & not share germs, oh and pray : )
Nikki
My husband meets with lots of people for work, so he is notorious for bringing stuff home with him. That’s why I frequently wipe door nobs and everything else down with Lysol and my Hubs scrubs his hands right when he gets home and picks up the kiddo.
Jaymie
After a sickness we buy new toothbrushes. It seems to help keep it away!
Leticia
Hand washing is our big rule.
Santina
Wash wash wash your hands!
Leslie
Wash hands often and get lots of sleep. That’s our rules.
Jenn
We had a ton of “doc” moments this summer because my 3 year old had her tonsils and adenoids out. My advice for tonsils is to get the cheap popsicles instead of the all natural all fruit ones. The real fruit juice stings their little throats!
Moneik
We are so lucky to only have the kids sick once together, but I did a lot of cleaning and keeping them apart so they weren’t infecting each other. I also make them get lots of sleep.
Sarah
We do daily vitamins and talk often about making healthy choices when it comes to food, exercise, hygiene, etc. I’m also always prepared with a first aid kit in the car and a small one in my purse. 🙂
Deece
Water, rest, and vitamin C. Even when kids are sick they are still little balls of energy so I do my best to get the kids to rest on the couch or on their bed while watching movies, reading, or doing other calm(ish) activities. I also make sure they are drinking lots of fluids, but mostly water to avoid extra sugar that will make them want to get up and run around. And bedtime is strictly enforced when anyone in the family is sick.
Lindsay McGee
When baby is sick, do everything in your power to keep mama from getting sick and vis versa! Wash hands, be careful as you prepare dinner, and (try to) cover mouths when sneezing.
Christina Dominguez
Clorox wipes to the max! Those things are amazing and are easy to clean up using them.
Jen @ Ginger Guide
My son at daycare is a little carrier monkey. EVERYTHING comes home with him. In our house I’m kinda over zealous about hand washing (comes from working in healthcare I guess). When Sully gets sick Popsicles are common and I give all of his toys a very thorough cleaning.
Chrissy H
We do the same as you when one is sick we try to keep them apart.. And bath time after school is a must.. Mine also always wanna touch my eyes and mouth when they are sick.. So washing hands is really a routine around here.
Mae
When only one of my kids is sick we try to keep them apart and I Clorox wipe EVERYTHING! I also run their air purifier with UV-C constantly in their rooms. For coughing I rub good old Vicks on their chest, back, bottoms of their feet and cover with socks. My mother in law told me about this “trick” and I now swear by this method to help stop coughing.
Casey @ The Baker Bee
We love Doc McStuffins, too! Bug sings the songs all the time 🙂 While we still only have one kid, we have learned that if we overdo the late-night activity with Bug, he’ll likely get sick. We are, like most, a very busy family, but we have learned to limit the later evening stuff. For example, a few weeks ago Hubby took him night fishing on Thursday and we took him to a high school football game Friday and then we let him stay up Saturday to visit with family in town. Three nights in bed after 9:30pm = sick kid by Sunday.
Cindy
When we have sickness going around I use those Multi purpose wipes and wipe down all the knobs and handles in the house. I also make sure to wash my hands and my childrens’ hands more often and have lots of hand sanitizer around!
Lindsay
We clean our hands with hand sanitizer as soon as I put him in his car seat after i pick him up from daycare. We also wash and sanitize our hands as soon as we get home.
Wild Orchid
My biggest doc rule is if you are sick…stay home! I dislike it greatly when sick people are sent to school or go to work to spread germs.
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 at gmail dot com
Wild Orchid
tweet–https://twitter.com/WildOrchid985/status/375678984937152512
Jessie C.
Wash hands frequently and make it a habit for kids.
Jessie C.
-https://twitter.com/tcarolinep/status/375823772516773892
Elena
Wash hands and use hand sanitizer often
Elena
https://twitter.com/ElenaIstomina/status/375828730620301312
Mami2jcn
We do a lot of hand washing and I have to remind the kids to keep their hands away from their faces.
Mami2jcn
tweet–https://twitter.com/mami2jcn/status/375954510918610944
Lisa Brown
I wash my hands often, be sure to clean and sterilize anything I use.
Lisa Brown
https://twitter.com/LuLu_Brown24/status/375965607667064832
jslbrown_03 at yahoo dot com
Tina M
wash hands often and use hand sanitizer if we are outside
Tina M
https://twitter.com/HappyTina0115/status/376026443571945472
Anna Pry
at the first signs of sickness we all increase our water and vitamin intake
pryfamily5@gmail.com
Anna Pry
i tweeted https://twitter.com/pryfamily5/status/376299482716962816 pryfamily5@gmail.com
Cynthia C
I always tried to isolate the sick one as much as possible with games, books and tv in his room. We also did a lot of hand washing and tried to eat nutritious foods to keep the immune system healthy.
Cynthia C
Tweet
https://twitter.com/clc408/status/376374419263737857
Susan Smith
Hand washing is our big rule. If I think my kids are coming down with something I have them stay inside and rest more.
One Frugal Girl
Applesauce is a mainstay in my purse. So are wipes for messy hands.
onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com
Susan Smith
https://twitter.com/susan1215/status/376426397704548352
One Frugal Girl
https://twitter.com/OneFrugalGirl/status/376424526550028289
onefrugalgirl AT gmail DOT com
Kerry
I get the antibacterial wipes out and wipe all the door knobs, toilet handles, and light switches.
Tamar
Lots of tissues, liquids, and soap!!!
D SCHMIDT
We wash everything down with Lysol, read stories and give extra cuddles and love 🙂
D SCHMIDT
Tweeted
https://twitter.com/mummytotwoboys1/status/377129887980474369
steph
our rule is he can have his blanky during the day and popsicles!
steph
https://twitter.com/scg00387/status/377998788662534144
Sonya Morris
I am not sure what we have learned from Doc McStuffins but I have always been a germaphobe! We don’t touch anything out in public unless we have to & put hand sanitizer on constantly. I don’t take my kids to overly crowded places and avoid peak shopping hours at the grocery stores. I will come close to having a panic attack if the person behind me in line is coughing & sniffling, lol! Our shoes go off at the front door and the kids take a bath as soon as possible. My friends and family know not to come over when they are sick and to warn us if they are sick before we visit them.
Sonya Morris
https://twitter.com/catholicfanatic/status/378343379492278272
tweet
amy pugmire
My girls love Doc! So many great lessons! They learned that they bundle up in the winter. They have to rest and take it easy when they are sick and need to keep their hands clean. and they love to help others just like doc!
amy pugmire
tweet
https://twitter.com/1amypugmire/status/378398053998137344
Madeline
We try to have everyone in our house wash their hands often, especially after using a tissue!
Madeline
Tweet link: https://twitter.com/shala_darkstone/status/379411498398793728
kolpin
we hydrate, do lots of laundry and wash dishes on the sanitize cycle of the dishwasher.
kolpin
tweeted
https://twitter.com/kolpin4680/status/379641238149804033
Debbie B
lots of hand washing, sanitizing and lysol…
Debbie B
i tweeted here: https://twitter.com/bellows22/status/380127367131168768
Rebecca Graham
We wash our hands frequently and cover our mouth when we cough.
Erica Best
use only paper towel for head and nose wiping
Erica Best
https://twitter.com/purplelover04/status/381521569714950145
Nicole Larsen
We up our Vitamin C intake and make sure to consistently wash our hands and/or use antibacterial gel!
Nicole Larsen
tweeted https://twitter.com/pittsy82/status/381553445733277696
Norma
I wash all the bedding and wipe down surfaces with Lysol. For food – lots of water and easily digestible foods like soups, oatmeal and applesauce.
LAMusing
Lots of hand washing and separate boxes of kleenex. I also wipe down the phone receiver a lot.
Amy Tong
My Doc rule is wash our hand often! And that really helps. 🙂
amy [at] utry [dot] it
Amy Tong
tweeted:
https://twitter.com/uTry_it/status/382403557695029248
amy [at] utry [dot] it
Betty C
After we follow all the healthy rules and someone still gets sick we go old fashioned and treat with lots of cuddles and chicken soup.
maria cantu
Keep washing hands and use the hand sanitizer.
Whitney
My rule is to drink lots of orange juice!
Whitney
https://twitter.com/electricstar/status/382684350963126272
Ellie W
My little guys both have asthma so we try to avoid sickness every way we can. My youngest spent a week in the hospital with RSV two years ago and since then I’ve been in germ warfare mode. Hand washing, hand wipes, and sanitizer are all used liberally when cold season starts.
Ellie W
tweet
https://twitter.com/eswright18/status/383031722108928001
Carmen
My daughter just came down with a cold today – we’re trying vapor rub to help her sleep tonight
angie lilly
When anyone gets sick in my home, it is all hands off. LOL You don’t drink after, eat after, or snuggle with that sick person. I don’t have any children, so really this is just about my hubby and me. But I think that is good advice for any family member. If you do have to touch something or someone that has been sick, wash your hands!!
angie lilly
I tweeted here: https://twitter.com/MsTofuFairy/status/383237176860749825
Sarah L
No kids, just me. I wash hands often, drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep.
Thanks for the contest.
Sarah L
https://twitter.com/slehan/status/383389527806443521
Betty C
Tweet – https://twitter.com/willitara/status/383473877239611392
Harmony B
Im always reminding the kids to cover when they cough or sneeze & please stop picking you nose. Boys are gross!
Harmony B
tweet tweet https://twitter.com/hburmeister/status/383539924974067712
Melinda
Since my son is 9 months old, right now the only doc moments are rubbing his head when he falls down (trying to walk), or singing to him after he gets his shots; they’re rough.
Melinda
tweeted
https://twitter.com/MelindaJoy926/status/383592464595963905
sean
We used vapomist when our son had a chest cold. I’m not sure it helped, but most people say it does. That’s my tip.
Lisa Garner
My school age children always wash their hands as soon as they get home from school and I use lots of disinfecting spray around the house and busy surfaces.
lisalmg25 at gmail dot com
Lisa Garner
I Tweeted: https://twitter.com/lisalmg/status/383634419879129088
lisalmg25 at gmail dot com
Francine Anchondo
We make sure to wash hands , sanitize everything and stay home if were sick
RebeccaK
We always put a bowl by the bed, just in case of late night pukiness . . . nothing worse than washing vomit out of the carpet at 3 am.
Becca in WA
Movies while cuddling on the couch + chicken soup from a can (you know, with those miniscule bits of chicken) always seems to do the trick!