What is the best way to hold a vomiting toddler?
Our child has been sick the past couple of days. The first time she vomited she was standing up and we were outside and it was fine. I picked her up thinking she would want to be comforted and she continued to vomit over my shoulder. It seemed to work pretty well - no risk of aspirating, and I think I supported her pretty well.
Today, she vomited twice while I was holding her and I kind of rushed to the bathroom and leaned her over the sink. I think it was a lot harder on her, plus it was an awkward position for me since she didn't really know to support herself on by leaning on the sink.
My wife suggested just picking her up, facing her over the shoulder, and pointing her in the direction we wanted her to vomit. It was hard for me to think about in the moment because I would be facing the opposite direction.
Do you have any tips or tricks for dealing with this situation? Now that we know she's sick, we're keeping a plastic tub handy.
Thanks and sorry I can't come up with a nicer way to ask this.
1 Answers
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I never really had any luck with the holding any of my kids over my shuolder when they were throwing up -- can't really see them all that well, couldn't control their aim and I seemed to get covered. Same with rushing to the bathroom. I kept a basin near by, including in their room. We have had instance where my daughter wanter to tell us she wasn't feel but wanted to ask where she should throw up and so came looking for us. She ended up leaving a 25 ft "trail" for me to clean up during the middle of the night on her journey to find us. Glad I had one of those portable rug cleaning machines.
I usually ended up holding them from behind and rubbing their back/shoulder. Sometimes things happen quicking and wilth little/mo warning to the kid or parent. So if they were hanging around watching TV or playing quietly on the floor, we set them up on the floor on a old large comforter with a basin. One of those non-plasticy bed liners would work too -- the ones with the soft woven tops but still waterproof. If they made to the basin, fine. If not, there was the large comforter to catch things and they didn't need to worry about finding the basin, having to hit a tiny target (i.e., the basin), missing furniture, etc when they were in duress. Sometimes I would just sit with them on my lap on the floor with the basin in front ouf us and comfort them from that position. I could still hold them securely and comfort them while staying out of the way.
