can someone help me here?

hi
its been a while since i have posted. my girls have been great sleepers until recently - teething - so i havent felt the need to post. but this one takes the cake! how on earth do you deal with vomiting in a 16 month old. i mean logistically- so you aren't constantly washing and changing clothes and sheets. one of my girls has been puking all night -so far. and we are on the 3rd set of pjs and have run out of sheets. i wish she was old enough to put on the bathroom floor. i feel so bad because she is puking in her crib then wailing then i come in clean her up change her sheets - repeat. it seems soooo in efficient. then her poor sister who was sleeping soundly woke up and is screaming bloody murder. do any of you more experienced moms have a vomit routine that you would like to share? she soaked through the mattress pad and is now probably soaking through her mattress. but where else do i put her?? the floor? on the carpet? then she's roaming around the room puking on the carpet - doesnt seem any easier. any advice would be welcomed.
i just hope her sister doesnt get it - and we dont get it......
thanks!

 

Yikes sorry sounds so difficult. I have heard of people who have 2 mattress protectors and layer mattress protector, then a fitted sheet then a mattress protector, then a fitted sheet. This way when they puke you just remove the top layer. You likely have everything in the wash by now. Sounds like it will be a long night for you.

I'm guessing you might need to consider a doctor/ER visit if things don't let up. Start packing for that just incase with several spare clothes, wash cloths /soap, etc for you as well if you need to wait in the ER. Of course the usual try to keep her hydrated with Pedilyte or water whatever she will drink. Keep away from the milk products since this makes them puke.

A garbage bag on the floor with a blanket on top and lie with her wherever you have a baby proof area ???

I have a nice big laundry room sink (new and clean) and I just kept a towel, wash cloth, etc. ready and just had to fill it up with water to give them a quick bath after each episode. If she is little you might still be able to do a quick clean in the kitchen sink.

Tylenol ??

Ok that's all I can think of. Sorry for the rough night, I hate when my girls are sick like that.

heather

 

Ugh, so sorry. We had a bad episode a couple months ago. I basically slept on the floor with Kevan on the carpet, on top of a bunch of beach towels. He was so exhausted from the throwing up that he'd pass out inbetween episodes, wake up and puke, and then pass out again....so he wasn't roaming around. Still, it was pretty miserable -- I feel for you!

When Nadia was 15 months and had rotavirus, I kept her in the bathtub for a good portion of the night -- I didn't know what else to do.

 

I totally could have used this post about 2 weeks ago! LOL
both my girlies and their 2 year old brother all had the rotavirus and were throwing up for 13 days straight! we went through sooooooooo much laundry and clothes (and like you) I didn't have a good routine at night... so would take all the puked on bedding down to the laundry and put another blanket down (normally I wouldn't do the whole sheets thing becuase I knew they'd get puked on within a matter of hours...

hugs to you and I hope the germs flee your home soon!

 

Haven't dealt with this but wanted to send you lots of hugs. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

Dianna

 

:hug: to you and your little one! I agree with heathertwins that if things don't let up to definitely call your doctor and if you haven't yet, to start using either Pedialyte or Gatorade to keep the little one hydrated. You've gotten some good advice in here, I think the bathtub is a good idea. I hope no else gets sick and your little one feels better soon!

 

:hug: Knocking loudly on wood, I haven't dealt with this yet, but when the girls were tiny and my super spitter was at the height of spitty-ness, I layered her crib. Waterproof matress cover, sheet, waterproof cover, sheet, waterproof cover. Maybe you can try this so at least you are only peeling layers so its a little quicker. :hug: I hope she feels better soon.

 

I personally put the sick child on a pad of blankets on the floor. I will put down a comforter or another thick blanket, so it would be somewhat soft for them. Then I layer with smaller blankets so I can throw them in the wash as they throw up on them. I have kept several receiving blankets just for this reason. I may also put the child in the bathroom on towels, moreso just to keep them away from the other children.
I also dont sleep when the kids are sick overnight. . unless I happen to doze off. . but Im really paranoid about vomit, so Im usually sitting there watching them, waiting for the next 'episode' and I have a small trash can or bucket ready to put under their mouth to limit the mess.

 

I am so sorry you are dealing with this. Fortunately, we've only had one episode of the stomach flu and it struck during the day. I about had a breakdown that day. Addison was puking every 15-30 minutes or so. As soon as I had her cleaned up, she'd puke again. I took her into the pediatrician after a few hours of continuous puking, and she was put in the hospital overnight as she was dehydrated and not keeping down any fluids. If she's still puking a lot and you can't get her to keep down any water or pedialyte, I'd definitely call the doctor ASAP.

Logistically when there is puking during the day time, I scoop the puker up and call to the non-puker to follow mommy. We go upstairs and take a bath. (A lot of times me included as I always seem to get puked on.) Then we get a fresh set of clothes. I gate them in or out of wherever the puke happened and clean it up. The day Addison was puking all the time, I gave up on cleaning the puke up as I couldn't keep on top of it. I figured DH could do it when he got home or we could do it once she was sleeping. I kept her in just a diaper and I laid her on my chest with a towel between me and her. I could hear her start to wimper before she would puke, and I'd rush her to the sink or hold a bowl up to her mouth to catch the puke. It was awful, but after a few hours, she had nothing left in her stomach (not even bile or stomach acid), so she was dry heaving rather than puking.

For sleeping, I would probably cover myself in a towel or washable blanket and lay the sick one on my chest. With puking like you're describing, I'd want to be near them in case they took a turn for the worse.

If you want to read a recap of our stomach flu experience, here is the blog post. It's pretty funny. http://mckinneytwins.blogspot.com/2009/02/monday.html

 

Do you have 2 pack n plays? My mom used to keep me 24/7 in the playpen when I had stomach viruses as a baby. You could have her in a separate room in the pack n play with the 2nd PNP all made up to put her in that if she messes the first. You could then hose out the PNP's outside if they get bad. Baking soda in the laundry or scrubbing an object helps get the smell out.

 

We had a 24 hour bug here a few weeks ago and it was insane!! Lucas puked right as we were putting them down to sleep at 8pm in his crib. We got that cleaned up and big suprize he did it again 2 minutes later in his crib! We took him in our room so Logan could sleep. After I changed our sheets twice and they got puked on AGAIN I just put a blanket over top of it :blush: (it was around 10pm! and I was tired) :lol: . Not 2 minutes after that Logan started screaming and puking...

Long story short we were lucky that we have hard wood floors in our livingroom/dinningroom! We rolled up the area rug turned on blues clues and when they puked my husband did the wipping and swiffering while I cleaned them and me up. We started doing laundry as soon as we figured out how much laundry we would be using, and we had a good system going by the end.

Hope everyone is feeling better soon

 

thanks for all the stories and advice. seems that sophia is on the upswing. riley has been ok - which makes me wonder when the other shoe is going to drop. unfortunately i have to still keep her home tomorrow since she isnt back on solids yet. hopefully riley gets through this with out getting the bug.

 

Towels. Lots and lots of towels. I'm pretty good at catching puke in my shirt, also. Stomach bugs around here are likely to look like this:

Nurse. Fall asleep. Wake up puking 10 minutes later but mom is prepared with a towel on her chest. Used towels go into laundry basket by the bed. Grab a new t-shirt for mom and new onsie for baby. Baby/toddler passes out for another 10-15 minutes before we repeat. Laundry is done in the morning while the baby/toddler sleeps on my back.

It stinks but doesn't feel undoable. What stinks the most is when the healthy baby wants to nurse in the middle of the whole thing and I know she is just being exposed to all the lovely pukiness.

Someday in about 4 years I should get to sleep for more than 40 minutes at a time. :lazy: