Anonymous wrote:DS (4) woke up last night with a stomach ache. He's not old enough to really know if/when he's going to puke, but I could tell he felt pretty awful.

We were in the bathroom for a while, but he was practically falling asleep in front of the toilet. I ended up making a little bed for him in the bathroom floor. He slept there for maybe 10 min, then woke up and puked. And then fell asleep there again for a while. Later on, he woke up and went to bed.

For some reason, I felt bad that he was sleeping alone on the bathroom floor, and felt like maybe I should have just sat in the bathroom with him instead of going to back to my bed to rest. The bathroom is close and I would have heard him wake up.

Anyway, since I was wide awake and bored in the middle of the night, I wondered what other people do in these situations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let the kids sleep in their beds, but take steps to minimize the collateral damage of puke on things other than PJs and sheets.

When my kids seem off or I know a bug is going around, I remove most or all stuffed animals from their beds. I make sure the room is tidy with a clear path to the bathroom. I also make sure there is mattress protector on the bed. We actually have thick cotton bathmats over the rug next to their beds because of last winter’s 4 rounds of whole family puking. Once one kid pukes, I line their bedrooms from bed to door with beach towels. It’s fast and easy to put the puked on mats and towels in a garbage bag and whip out new ones. I keep trash bags, gloves, and a puke bucket in my upstairs linen closet for middle of the night clean up.

While one parent is cleaning the room for the sick kid, the other parent hangs in the bathroom with them. We make a “nest” with a few towels in the tub and let them sit there and watch the ipad - which we put inside a gallon ziploc bag.

NP I am so sorry that you’ve dealt with so much vomit that you have an elaborate, established protocol, but I do appreciate your sharing these tips. The iPad in the Ziplock bag is genius.

Anonymous wrote:I let the kids sleep in their beds, but take steps to minimize the collateral damage of puke on things other than PJs and sheets.

When my kids seem off or I know a bug is going around, I remove most or all stuffed animals from their beds. I make sure the room is tidy with a clear path to the bathroom. I also make sure there is mattress protector on the bed. We actually have thick cotton bathmats over the rug next to their beds because of last winter’s 4 rounds of whole family puking. Once one kid pukes, I line their bedrooms from bed to door with beach towels. It’s fast and easy to put the puked on mats and towels in a garbage bag and whip out new ones. I keep trash bags, gloves, and a puke bucket in my upstairs linen closet for middle of the night clean up.

While one parent is cleaning the room for the sick kid, the other parent hangs in the bathroom with them. We make a “nest” with a few towels in the tub and let them sit there and watch the ipad - which we put inside a gallon ziploc bag.

Anonymous wrote:Two kids jere. After the initial throw up we usually covered their bed in 2-3 layers of extra blankets (that were washable obviously) as well as the floor next to the bed - where we also put a bucket that they would sometimes use successfully. Generally we would sleep in the room with them if they were that sick simply because you might sense when they sit up that the volcano is about to erupt and grab the bucket in time. It makes for a rough night for sure.

Anonymous wrote:I would have stayed in. DH would have just brought him to our bed if I wasn't home or slept with him in his bed if I was.