A new wave of illness has children across the county getting sick, but this is different from COVID-19. Symptoms have included sniffles, belly aches, and vomiting.
"I had it first," shares mom, Nadine. "I thought it was actually food poisoning and then two days later everybody else in the house started getting."
If you are a parent like Nadine Baughn, you and your child may have been dealing with a similar situation, "A lot of vomiting, fever chills, just generally not feeling good and no appetite of course."
It is an illness that has been making its rounds.
Dawn Caldwell says that it started with her seven-year-old son, "He was just on and off just didn't feel good."
The mom of two, says then, her five-year-old daughter got it, "I went to hug her and was like baby girl you have a fever, and she's like I'm not sick!"
After two days, it hit her, "I then in the middle of Saturday to Sunday was like hmmm well," she jokes regarding her symptoms.
But what is 'it'?
"Essentially this is something called gastroenteritis or more commonly known as the stomach bug or the stomach flu," shares Dr. Abisola Olulade.
Dr. Olulade says that the biggest reason we are seeing it now is because kids are together again and in large groups.
"There's not a lot of evidence that because they didn't get exposed to these things last year, that it's going to affect them this year," she explains.
She furthers, "So that's not so much of a factor as much as the fact that we are just gathering again in ways we may not have been in the past."
Dr. Olulade says to fight against the easily contagious infection, remind your little ones to wash their hands, and to keep hydrated.
"You should make sure they are drinking adequately and also how many times they go to the bathroom to urinate is an indicator," she states.
Dr. Olulade says that anti-inflammatories and rest can help your child re-coup to get them back to good health in no time.
Dr. Olulade says that the expects other contagious illnesses to spread in the coming months when children return to common activities like summer camp.
