How do you deal with vomitting in a little one? The specifics.

[northerngirl]

Dd2 just turned one and has yet to get a stomach virus. I am dreading the first one with her. Anyway, how do others deal with a little one who is sick, specifically with the cleanup and "catching" if you will. With dd1 we just tried to catch in a towel, but then we had smelly towels for a while. Is there a better way? What do others do? Please help so I have a plan. (yes, this mama needs a plan, of attack). Thanks.

[crunchy_mommy]

Wow I can't imagine going through a whole year without vomiting! (DS was a huge spitter as an infant and often gets carsick etc. so we are always dealing with vomit!!)

We do the towel thing (and make sure to put those towels in the next load of laundry!) Sometimes if I can tell he's gonna puke I bring him to the toilet. Often he does it in the middle of the night so if he seems at all likely to spit up or vomit, we sleep on a towel just to have it ready.

When I was a kid, we had a bucket (it was an old ice cream bucket) and we'd keep that beside our sick bed and my mom would empty it any time we vomited...

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

Wow I can't imagine going through a whole year without vomiting! (DS was a huge spitter as an infant and often gets carsick etc. so we are always dealing with vomit!!)

We do the towel thing (and make sure to put those towels in the next load of laundry!) Sometimes if I can tell he's gonna puke I bring him to the toilet. Often he does it in the middle of the night so if he seems at all likely to spit up or vomit, we sleep on a towel just to have it ready.

When I was a kid, we had a bucket (it was an old ice cream bucket) and we'd keep that beside our sick bed and my mom would empty it any time we vomited...

Thanks. Well for dd1 I *think* it has been almost 2 years. She's now just turned 5. Dd2 did spit up as a young baby, but has not actually had a stomach virus. She's eating solids now, quite a bit, so it wouldn't be just milk to clean up.

Dd1 said the other day that someone at her small school has a tummy bug. So I am mentally preparing myself.

[atlantafemme]

We catch with a towel too (when we know it's coming, otherwise it hits me or the floor) and have not had any problems with smelly towels. Maybe you could designate a few towels as the vomit towels and then at least you wouldn't worry about ruining your regular bath towels?

[lifeguard]

Ds refuses to be anywhere but on top of me when he is sick so I fold a towel up between us. Each time he vomits I fold the towel again until that one becomes too gross & then I replace it. Generally when he is vomiting he's also not really eating so there aren't really solids in it (except perhaps the first one or two times) so the towels just get tossed in the next load of laundry.

[tzs]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy 

Wow I can't imagine going through a whole year without vomiting! (DS was a huge spitter as an infant and often gets carsick etc. so we are always dealing with vomit!!)

We do the towel thing (and make sure to put those towels in the next load of laundry!) Sometimes if I can tell he's gonna puke I bring him to the toilet. Often he does it in the middle of the night so if he seems at all likely to spit up or vomit, we sleep on a towel just to have it ready.

When I was a kid, we had a bucket (it was an old ice cream bucket) and we'd keep that beside our sick bed and my mom would empty it any time we vomited...

oh my gosh...we had "the bucket" too and it was also an old ice cream bucket at our house!

i think sometimes just the mention of getting "the bucket" out would make me more ill....something about the smell of that plastic...eww........

with dd we only had a stomach illness once a few months ago and since i knew she was puking all day i just kept a tub next to us while we lay on the couch (she was also sick enough that she was not going anywhere) and would hold her over it when she needed it. or in a pinch would just let her go on the floor and clean it up (hardwood).

[ecoteat]

I remember once when dd was a baby and was throwing up. She had been nursing, so we were on my bed and she was asleep on my lap. She woke up and started vomiting, and my reaction was to point her face toward my chest. I realized after I was covered in puke that my logic must have been that I'm easier to clean than the whole bed. Once I got my clothes changed I didn't have to strip the bed, so I guess my instinct was on to something! :) I think the goal is always to dirty as few things as possible--or as few things that are difficult to throw in the wash. So a supply of towels at the ready is a good thing.

DD is 4.5 now, and just had a puking thing this weekend. Not a drop didn't land in the toilet or the puke bucket, and as miserable as it was, I was SO glad that we are past the phase where she can't control where it goes or feel it coming on! It is so much easier once they learn how to aim for a receptacle! With babies, I think you just have to accept the fact that vomiting equals lots of laundry.

[4Marmalade]

Another vote for towels when they're young.  I have to laugh because I have a memory from about 6 months ago when my youngest dd was sick.  I was holding her on the couch and I could tell she was going to throw up.  I yelled to dh to get a towel.  He ran around the house and ended up bringing me a paper towel....A PAPER TOWEL!!!  Seriously, what is that going to do?  He did see his bath towel in the bathroom but didn't want to get it dirty .  So, I got dirty along with the couch and floor.  With my older kids we have been pretty successful in them being able to throw up in the toilet or a large metal bowl.    

[northerngirl]

THANK YOU all so much. It makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.

4Marmalade: Paper towel, that's so funny. Sounds like something my husband would do.

[JudiAU]

Most kids stick like glue to their caregivers so I try and get it all on me and her. When done, I can take her to the bathroom strip her and me and throw directly into a sink with water for a rinse and then into oxiclean or bac-out. No problems with stink.

LO sometimes throws up when she is upset and can't be comforted, usually at the first sign of cold or other illness.

[Ldavis24]

DD will be 2 soon and hasn't had a bug where she has vomited yet, or an ear infection or diarrhea for that matter so I am feeling super uneducated about this whole general topic. I would NEVER have thought of using a towel! I never thought about DD not being able to just puke into a metal bowl...All my memories of being sick are of puking into the giant metal salad bowl...I don't remember if we used it for salad..

Taking notes for future reference!

[Addie]

DS has only had one virus with vomiting, around 14 months. It wasn't until about the third time he puked that it occured to me to carry around a towel. That worked much better than catching it on my shirt/lap and changing both of us each time.

[Leisha]

The paper towel thing made me almost pee my pants laughing because it is just too recognisable. I can just imagine him running around the whole house and then presenting a paper towel. My DF does/has done the exact same thing. Why are men so weird? (also, if a glass is knocked over, my DF will get the roll of paper towel, then tear them off one by one and lay them neatly on the spilled liquid. I, OTOH, would take a dishcloth or rag or if necessary a wad of paper towels and actually, you know, wipe/clean up the spill...but whatever, lol)

Anyway, my dd hasn't had many vomiting ilnesses recently... when she was about 9months, maybe a year, she had this spell where she vomited every night, at about the same time, for weeks. (i think i had oversupply or something). It was always around midnight, so in bed, and we co-slept so it was in the big bed. We slept on some big folded up towels for a while, made cleanup a lot easier (i hate changing the sheets...).

Other times when dd has been sick, I also used some old(ish) towels; or an old blanket - well, i always have one or more blankets with me on the couch, and if she was sick, she would usually be in my arms (yes clingy) so her, me + the blanket i was sitting on would be the first things to get hit anyway. Or if there's nothing else around, i hold up my shirt to catch the vomit, just a reflex i think..

[CookAMH]

Originally Posted by Ldavis24 

DD will be 2 soon and hasn't had a bug where she has vomited yet, or an ear infection or diarrhea for that matter so I am feeling super uneducated about this whole general topic. I would NEVER have thought of using a towel! I never thought about DD not being able to just puke into a metal bowl...All my memories of being sick are of puking into the giant metal salad bowl...I don't remember if we used it for salad..

Taking notes for future reference!

Same here, this is helpful info to store away :)

[northerngirl]

Wow you are very lucky. Dd1 has only had 3-4 illnesses with vomit and she's now 5. I guess I'm lucky too? (I hate vomit/vomiting)

Originally Posted by Ldavis24 

DD will be 2 soon and hasn't had a bug where she has vomited yet, or an ear infection or diarrhea for that matter so I am feeling super uneducated about this whole general topic. I would NEVER have thought of using a towel! I never thought about DD not being able to just puke into a metal bowl...All my memories of being sick are of puking into the giant metal salad bowl...I don't remember if we used it for salad..

Taking notes for future reference!

[CherryBombMama]

another towel vote for us, although truthfully even though its there, i just point and aim my childs vomit at the space that is least occupied by blankets, stuffies or people.

[New_Natural_Mom]

Another vote for towels.  We just got over a stomach virus (then strep, then the flu...but who's counting?)  Anyway, the 2 or 3 times in his life DS had the pukes, I just keep a stack of bath towels handy.  At night (since we co-sleep) I would put one towel down on the bed and another over me so I could reach it easily and have him lay on my arm so I could quickly propel him to a sitting position.  Towards the end we were both trained.  He would cough or get that look on his face and I would grab a towel and hover.  He would shake his head at me and tell me, "it's just a cough." 

[Zimbah]

We've got lot of really old tatty towels that are hand-me-downs that I keep for this sort of thing.  Thankfully have only had to use them a couple of times since DD was a baby, but on the two occasions she's had a bug we've brought her into the bed, covered the bed with towels and had a waterproof between the towel she's actually lying on and the bed (happened at night both times).  On both occasions we've got through an awful lot of towels if she's puking say 5 times in the night that uses up a lot more than 5 towels somehow., and we've moved on to our normal towels and tea-towels.  All of them get rinsed off then put in a hot wash (60) as soon as we've got more than a couple used up, then straight into the tumble dryer in case we need them again later that day.  Bleugh.  If possible DH rinses off the towels and puts them in the machine, and I hold DD while she's puking - for some reason he doesn't seem to understand that when she's sick like that she can't support her head and will end up covered in sick rather than just aiming her for a towel.  The most recent time was a couple of months ago when she was 2.4, and she was just starting to get the idea of doing it in a bowl.

When I was a child we had old ice cream containers for sick too.  They still make me feel a bit queasy