Share your tips for preventing cold & flu with Dettol and be in with a chance of winning a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

get the flu' jab ! wash your hand often

A tiny bit of Vaseline into each nostril when leaving the house! The idea is that this works as a preventative to microscopic nasties entering the body. I have no idea if it works (and currently have a cold so, perhaps not!) but it is cheap and easy so I thought it worth a try!!

Additionally, have the 'flu jab as early in the season as is possible

Washing hands, especially when returning to the house - supposedly eradicating more nasties.

You really do not need Dettol for everything. I you are going to get colds and flu it more likely to be from people you walk past.

www.newscientist.com/article/dn18184-friendly-bacteria-keep-your-skins-defences-in-check/

Mr "Reckitt Benckiser" listen! We do not need to flood our homes with your unnecessary antibacterial sprays and wipes and every thing else you are promoting.

You started off this "Soak the world with Dettol" campaign a while ago with adverts such as a mum anxiously grabbing her crawling baby, with a look of horror on her face, after picking the child up off what already looked like a spotless floor.

You are now promoting anti bacterial sprays for any possible part of your house.
Can you convince me that all these sprays are not potentially harmful with regard to our essential "friendly bacteria" and if they are likely to to cause situations of bacterial resistance, like our serious over use of antibiotics has.

It appears to me from your adverts that we must never put our babies onto the floors of our houses at all as there might be some bacteria there.

To build up natural immunity we need to expose our children to these normal bugs. We just need to keep our homes reasonably clean and wash our kitchen tops with hot soapy water to clean up.

I feel your advertisments are irresponsible in that they are quite likely to cause unnecessary anxiety in many people.
As a post war baby we all mangaged "very well thank you" with just the use of good basic hygiene measures. Younger parents seem to be falling for this type of advertising.

Yes to frequent hand washing and covering mouths when coughing and sneezing - even my littlest DGS tries to do this, at 20 months, so I must be a bit of a nag!

DD1 swears by echinachea tablets, which seem to have stopped her frequent colds.

GNHQ. May I assume my comments will exclude me from winning this competion.

Give up working with children?

I was born in 1949 and Dettol was woven into the fabric of my childhood in a comforting way, a few drops in the bath to soothe cuts and bruises, a dab of Dettol on cottonwool to clean a scrape. I Iove the smell of it to this day.

On to my competition entry: I avoid crowded places, don't come too close to someone who's coughing or sneezing, wash hands properly and (I know there's no evidence that you can "catch a chill") I keep my neck warm and my chest covered

I haven't had a cold in a long time, but if I start with one, I'm straight on to Vitamin C and Zinc tablets.

I've always used Dettol, my mom still uses Dettol and my gran used Dettol, they instilled in me the importance of keeping germs at bay in the home, especially the kitchen.
We all take a teaspoon of Manuka honey each day and make sure we wrap up warm when going out .
Apart from the very occasional cold, this seems to work for us.

My Dad always swore by a TCP gargle at the first sign of the sniffles. Disgusting smell & taste but it seemed to do the trick. I am a Vicks up the nose, whisky, lemon and honey in large measure, plus a couple of paracetamol person

zinc tablets at the first sign of anyone close to you has a cold and wash hands +++

I am with Nelliemoser 100%.
There is a lot of scaremongering and nothing can keep colds at bay unless you are a recluse and never venture out.

Not all bacteria are friendly though. Neither are viruses, and certainly not this one I've got at the moment. Sadly viruses can be picked up anywhere these days.

I do use Dettol in areas like the toilet as a final wipe down after a good clean. I also use Dettol laundry when washing sheets or towels, instead of fabric conditioner, so I can use a 40oC wash and save on time and electricity. They do smell nice afterwards too.

A couple of years ago I saw an American video for small children about preventing the spread of cold and flu - among familiar advice they advised children to sneeze into the crook of their elbow! My immediate response was eeeew, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes - in the absence of a tissue which can be immediately binned. If you sneeze into your hand everything and everyone you touch gets their share of viruses. I washed my hands at least every hour when I was teaching and managed to avoid most bugs.

I'm with Nellie. The famous bacteriologist, and discoverer of penicillin, Sir Alexander Fleming once told an audience that included my father that antiseptics like Dettol were no more effective in preventing infection than ordinary soap and water.

So, as they say, 'include me out'.

Nellie I could not have put it better myself. Bacterial resistance is a definite possibility- hot soapy water and frequent hand washing go a long way. We cannot bring up children in a cocoon, they have to be exposed to normal bacteria so that they can build up a resistance, as we did. I do not use anti bacterial liquid or wipes in my house and it saves me money.

I try to stay away from people who have colds, increase my vitamin C by eating more fruit and vegetables and try not to to be in very crowded areas such a tube trains. I always have a decent supply of tissues with me, use once and discard appropriately I was taught.

Now I am no longer working I have far fewer colds as I am no longer exposed to large crowds on a daily basis.

I am with Nellie as well. Too much cleaning means that you do not build up a resistance to bugs.

It doesn't matter how much you wash your own hands, not everyone else does this. So I just try and keep away from people! Keep away from the doctor's waiting room, public transport etc. Other than that I just accept that I will get a cold sometime and deal with it when it comes.

Take multi vitamin tablets daily, and extra vitamin tablets when you feel a cold coming.

When I was teaching I became fairly immune to colds, but if a child sneezed in my face I tended to get an eye infection.
I nag all the DGC to wash their hands and we try to eat healthily.

I am not sure what the purpose of this thread is other than to advertise Dettol products.
I hate the way everyone damps down their immune system with anti bacterial sprays but giving the question some thought I suppose if I drank a whole bottle I wouldn't get any infection ever again! Or anything else for that matter!

I agree with washing hands frequently especially after blowing or wiping my nose.Plenty of vitamin C rich foods. Try and keep healthy with plenty of sleep and daily exercise.

I use Dettol wipes all round the house, but especially on the door handles and always on toilet flush handles.You can't eradicate all germs/bacteria but this will help.I also use them on light switches.

I totally agree about the overuse of anti-bacterial products and the fact that exposing children to a certain degree of bacteria may result in less allergic conditions such as asthma.
As far as colds go it is something you really can't guard against, particularly with young GCs. When I was teaching the first few years were always accompanied by loads of colds. Over the years I developed immunity and hardly ever got one. It's ten years since I retired and this year I've had more colds than ever, courtesy of 2 GCs attending nursery and bringing them back. The virus has changed and I am more susceptible, but I'm building up immunity again.

At this time of year I think it is even more necessary to eat a healthy diet with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts and protein - so easy to eat comfort foods when it is cold and miserable but they don't help the immune system fight the germs. Washing hands often, as well as keeping all surfaces clean, will help reduce the transfer of germs from one person to another. I have a spoon of honey when my throat feels sore and if I think I may be 'going down with a cold' have a paracetamol and plenty of hot fluids and keep warm. If I start sneezing or coughing then I stay away from people as I feel this is the time when I am most likely to spread germs.

When out and about I avoid touching door handles and banisters etc. and if I am forced to do so, I carry a small bottle of anti-bac hand gel around with me and I give my hands a little squirt.