Vomiting Etiquette for Kids

[Paige]

What do you expect from your kids when they are sick? When I was a child, we had a "barf bucket" that we could keep with us when we were sick but the expectation was that it was a last resort and all efforts should be made to reach and vomit in the toilet. I have no idea how my parents enforced this or what they said or did to teach that to us. I just recall that I always tried to make it and usually did. I would have been mortified to throw up anywhere else and would never, ever, ever just sit and feel sick and wait for it because I could use my bucket without getting up.

 

I have tried the same with my kids and it is just not taking. I give them the trash can and tell them to try to get to the toilet but they never do. They don't seem to even make an effort. I may be a little irritable since we have had people sick on and off and one or two at a time since mid-December, but cleaning up vomit is my least favorite parenting duty. I'm sure nobody has it on the top of their list.

 

At what age do you expect kids to make it or at least try to make it to the toilet when sick? I give the 5yr old slack but I think the 8 and 11yr olds should be able to get to the toilet more often than not. Is that unreasonable? I'm starting to think they may need a little motivation. They think throwing up in the toilet is gross (it's clean, not nasty) and I think they just don't want to. Maybe they should be the ones to clean it up if they make a mess? DH thinks that's mean and unfair since they would be sick and not feeling well. I understand his perspective, and maybe I am starting to think crazy because I'm so sick of cleaning up puke. Even a trash bag lined trash can is really grosser than I want to be dealing with over and over. What do you say? Do they need more motivation or is it really too much to expect?

[Acorn]

We use a sick bowl instead of the toilet. We only have one bathroom so it would be terrible if it was in use when someone needed to vomit. Typically, the sick person does not have to rinse the bowl.

[Mama Geek]

Dd is only 2 1/2 and has been sick 2 or 3 times and tried to make it to the toilet. It is what she has seen us do. She also sees us kick the dog outside if he seems like he is going to get sick. We have only given her a bucket if it is at night time and usually one of us will sleep with her if she is sick at night.

[Guest submarines]

Even as an adult, I have extreme difficulty reaching the toilet when I'm sick--I feel dizzy and disoriented. I can't control at what precise moment I vomit (DH can, and he can't understand my issues). If I were to try to reach the toilet, there's a great chance I'd be immobilized somewhere in the hallway, throwing up all over the floor. It is really the worst feeling.

 

I expect my children to vomit in the bucket provided. I wouldn't want the to go through the agony of trying to make it to the toilet (yes, it is agony for me.)

[BigMamaBird]

Last year my son, then 3, was like a lawn sprinkler when he'd barf. I swear he was trying to get it in as big an area as possible. Granted, it was the first time he vomited so I don't think he knew what was going on, but it drove me nuts. This year though, he's 4 and has seemed to develop some "barf sense." He managed to get it in the bucket or toilet ever time but once. I praised him up one side and down the other! You would have thought he'd won the Nobel Prize. He actually started coming to me to show me how well he did. :glare:

 

Dd on the other hand, has always been a very discreet barfer. Without any noise or drama she'd just quietly do her business, you'd never know anything happened even if you were standing right there! So I guess it's different for each kid.

[RoughCollie]

When my kids are nauseated, I give them a large, stainless steel mixing bowl to throw up in, and it goes where they go. Period. No one is allowed to try to make it to the bathroom. The mixing bowl can be sanitized in the dishwasher, followed up by being soaked in a Clorox solution, if you are worried about surviving germs.

[pdalley]

Mine seldom do barf. I think the youngest has twice in almost 11 years. Middle is a very good at getting to the bathroom before he has to - but he dehydrates really quickly. Oldest, on the other hand, just is everywhere. Even at sixteen he takes the larger trashcan to bed if he feels queasy. He's hyposensitve and I'm sure that plays into it.

 

DH has barf duty because he seldom gets sick and just being around it makes me start.

[kitten18]

I hope for my children to vomit in the bucket provided (better than their bed or the floor). I have no expectation that they will make it to the bathroom.

 

When I'm sick I often use a bucket. When I'm achy and cold, sitting on the bathroom floor just makes me feel worse.

[fairfarmhand]

I'm like you. I would make the 9 and 11 yo's clean the bucket/bowl. If my dh could clean a tub that he barfed in (had it coming out both ends and no trash can handy. Tub was the closest thing) when he had severe food poisoning, I think my 9 or 11 yo could rinse out their bucket. (but I don't handle vomit very well at all, so I'm mean like that)

 

If they are that sick, they lay on a sleeping bag in the halway outside the bathroom.

 

I have one kid that knows what's coming and starts screaming (yes, screaming) from the time she is in the bed till she's rinsing her mouth afterward. Even if its the middle of the night. How to you tell a kid "could you please vomit more quietly? People are sleeping" I try not to be too hard on her for the loudness, because she's just doing exactly what I feel like doing when I vomit.

 

I HATE THROWING UP!

[Mommie_Jen]

We have a puke bucket. DH can make it into the bathroom, I don't even expect my kids to try (they are 5/almost 6 and 3). Until this last round of the pukes, DS1 even had trouble hitting the bucket, he would just lay there and puke. At our house, if you puke you are banned to the sheet covered couch, bucket on the floor, and there you stay.

 

ETA: even as an adult, I can rarely hit the toilet. (But, I have a vasovagal reaction to puking and pass out cold.)

[Paige]

Ok. Maybe it is harder for them than I realize. These kids barf all the time, though. 2 of them have reflux and overactive gag reflexes and vomit if they get a hair in their mouth, a bad cough, or even if they laugh too much. I would think they'd learn what it feels like when they are going to be sick by now. I will not try to motivate them. My DS has been making it to the bathroom a few times this last time he was sick, so maybe I will really, really praise him and give him something special for it for positive reinforcement. We have enough toilets that one person sick in one won't be a problem. The cat knocked over a bucket of barf this morning before I knew one of them threw up so I was a little crankier than usual.

[Cosmos]

It's not as easy for everyone. I've seen this topic come up before, and I always like to put a word in for the "lazy" vomiters.

 

I am one of those people who almost never throws up. Perhaps three times in my adult life. A couple of years ago, I did get sick, though. And I threw up all over my living room floor. I could NOT move, I could barely even think. It was miserable and mortifying and I assure you that if I could have gotten to the bathroom I would have.

 

A couple of weeks ago, my ds got a stomach bug. He, too, very rarely throws up. But he threw up all over his bed -- twice! He is twelve years old and was horrified. It was humiliating and disgusting to him. He simply was not capable of getting to the bathroom. He definitely would never have chosen to vomit in bed. (We gave him a bowl after that!)

 

I know some people can get to the bathroom with no trouble. My dh is one of those people. But don't assume that it's as easy for everyone.

 

ETA: I just saw your update. Sounds like a rough morning! I was typing when your reply showed up, so please don't take my post as scolding.

[Julie Smith]

Before I got pregnant I was a sprinkler. I hardly ever vomited so that sort of makes up for it.

 

Once before dc I was sick. I was in the bathroom with dh 'helping' me and I still managed to hit everything in the bathroom except the toilet.

 

But after I got pregnant with Eldest I became an expert. This was because practice makes perfect and because of little baby Eldest inside me I got to practice one to twice a day for 6 months. :glare:

 

Youngest has never vomited. Once when car sick I tired to induce vomiting to calm his stomach. It didn't work. He will get car sick at the drop of a hat. But he just feels unwell and gets really upset.

 

When Eldest was 3, maybe early 4 everyone in the house was sick. We had a family bed going on. He would get out of bed, walk to the bathroom, puke, walk back to bed and go to sleep.

 

Dh is fine with vomit, zero problems with it, he thinks it's funny. I personally don't care where vomit happens since Dh and I made a deal. I will clean the stuff that comes out the back end. (Diapers never bothered me) and he will all the stuff that comes out the front end. So far he has gotten the good end of the deal. :glare: With a few exceptions the only vomit he had to clean up came from the cat.

[Kathryn]

I hope for my children to vomit in the bucket provided (better than their bed or the floor). I have no expectation that they will make it to the bathroom.

 

When I'm sick I often use a bucket. When I'm achy and cold, sitting on the bathroom floor just makes me feel worse.

 

Me too.

[mommaduck]

Bucket or toilet. I'll even accept a sink if that is all one is able to get to (one much clean it out and spray it down with clorox after). Just NEVER, ever just sit there and puke on the bed, floor, or sofa.

[2squared]

I don't expect my kids to puke in the toilet. Yuck. I use a puke bucket too. Sitting on the bathroom floor staring at the toilet waiting for it to come up makes me even more miserable when I'm sick. Rinsing out a puke bucket takes about 5 seconds and is far less disgusting and comfortable over all.

 

I also wouldn't puke in a trash can. Once again the disgusting factor is just too high.

 

Isn't that why ice cream buckets exist - to be puke buckets?

 

To answer your question, I would expect an older kid to rinse out their own puke bucket. I would give a lot of leeway as to how old older is. It only takes me a few seconds to rinse out their puke bucket and return it to them. I don't do any cleaning of the bucket since it stays next to sick kid, away from everyone else, and it is going to get reinfected anyway.

[somo_chickenlady]

DS had Salmonella last year, so we had a week of vomiting. I honestly can't remember any other time he has vomited, he just doesn't get sick (for example, while we were visiting for Christmas, DH, FIL, our nephew...who then passed it on to his sister after we left...and I all got REALLY sick with some horrendous cold, but DS never got it). He was given a bowl to puke in, but he tried his best to make it to the bathroom. When I was younger, I just slept in the bathroom (I liked the feeling of the cold floor, it made me feel better), so there wasn't a worry about making it, but I did keep a puke bucket next to me if I was in bed. lol

 

I got sick once in college, and all I had to puke in was a trash can, and to this day I can't stand the smell of a trash can and CANNOT puke in one.

[SBMama]

We use a sick bowl instead of the toilet. We only have one bathroom so it would be terrible if it was in use when someone needed to vomit. Typically, the sick person does not have to rinse the bowl.

 

This is what we do. We actually just got over a 5 days stomach bug. Yuck! My 6 year old goes to the toilet sometimes, but even the 4 year old knows to use the bowl every time.

[Paige]

I also wouldn't puke in a trash can. Once again the disgusting factor is just too high.

 

 

 

We use small (bedroom type) trash cans that stay pretty clean and have been emptied and freshly lined with a new large trash bag. It doesn't have any trash. There's less splash than with a bowl and we can just pull the drawstrings and get rid of it. The only trick I guess is getting rid of it before the cat decides to investigate. Oh, and they have to try to use the trash can for it to work. I woke last night to puke on the bed and the bucket in her lap. How did she miss? I hate puke. I feel like gagging just walking into the room and smelling it.

[somo_chickenlady]

We have a puke bucket. DH can make it into the bathroom, I don't even expect my kids to try (they are 5/almost 6 and 3). Until this last round of the pukes, DS1 even had trouble hitting the bucket, he would just lay there and puke. At our house, if you puke you are banned to the sheet covered couch, bucket on the floor, and there you stay.

 

ETA: even as an adult, I can rarely hit the toilet. (But, I have a vasovagal reaction to puking and pass out cold.)

 

I have that as well! Every time I puke, I pass out...part of the reason why I just end up sleeping in the bathroom. I found that it works to hit the toilet if I basically lay on it and hug it. Sounds weird, but it is better than waking up with vomit everywhere BUT the toilet. lol

[natalie]

I consider myself somewhat of an expert on this subject. I have a lot of children, several of whom are "pukers". If they don't eat enough they puke; if they eat too much they puke; if they don't chew well enough they puke; if they eat the wrong stuff they puke; if they get hot they puke; if they get dizzy they puke; if they ride in the car they puke.

 

This is exactly what we do:

 

When my kids are nauseated, I give them a large, stainless steel mixing bowl to throw up in, and it goes where they go. Period. No one is allowed to try to make it to the bathroom. The mixing bowl can be sanitized in the dishwasher, followed up by being soaked in a Clorox solution, if you are worried about surviving germs.

 

Given our prolific pukers, we keep several bowls strategically located throughout the house and in the cars for the surprise event. I have one that kept trying to make it and NEVER did. I hate cleaning vomit off the floor and out of carpeting and furniture and whatever else it lands on. No one is allowed to attempt to make it to the bathroom. No one is even allowed to take their own bowl to be cleaned up, I will come get it for them, as we have had spills because they are so weak and unsteady from vomiting. It really is much cleaner and easier and definitely much less disgusting.

[4ofus]

As a child I was a chronic nighttime vomiter :/. I discovered I could get more sleep in between episodes if I quit trying to get to the bathroom. It never occurred to me to get a bucket for my room. I need the vomit to disappear~not be in a bucket next to the bed~the smell, the idea, would not be tolerable. My mother was a sound sleeper & there came a point she told me ~ "Stop waking me up. You can handle this. And don't be unneccessarily loud, your dad has to work." I drug my pillow & sheet into the bathroom & slept on the deliciously cold bathroom floor. All I had to do was lift my head, vomit, flush, return to sleep. Our bathroom was always spotless (thanks mom!) so not an issue. My kids do the same thing now. Both can sleep & rest knowing that they don't really have to move to address the puke. They've been doing it forever, so, I have no idea how to implement a behavior change later :/. BTW, I was/am a quiet sick person. No one in the house would know until wake-up that I'd had a rough night. Generally I'd be discovered asleep on the bathroom floor & left there. No school for the person sleeping in the bathroom :).

[Remudamom]

You miss it, you clean it.

[kwickimom]

My kids all have ice cream buckets in their beds 24/7 cause I hate puke. DD has a loft bed and ds is on the top bunk and they know to use the bowl. Cleaning barf off of a loft bed and the wall is NOT fun :glare: If they do get sick I make them sleep on the floor in their room. They can use the toilet if they can make it but they know to carry the bucket with them everywhere. My kids know I am a paranoid freak about puke and so they do everything they can to make it in the bucket or toilet. They dump in the toilet and rinse the bowls on their own.

[Guest submarines]

You miss it, you clean it.

 

 

Wow.

 

I must have a super strong vomit reflex or something, but cleaning up vomit is a big production, because I invariably get incapacitating dry heaves. I need to cover my nose so I don't smell it, and it takes me several approaches. I can't imagine being forced to do it while actually sick.

 

When I worked in social services cleaning up occasional vomit was one of my responsibilities, and everyone on my team knew that I couldn't do it--I'd be cramping and dry-heaving, immobilized, and if after lunch, adding to the pile. It is awful, and not something I can control.

 

I can't imagine forcing this on a child. I just can't. I also can't imagine anyone missing the bucket / bowl on purpose or because they are "just lazy."

[LisaKinVA]

I have containers that can be rinsed, washed & sanitized for everyone to use when they are sick. Kids in bunk beds could not make it to the toilet in time... kids who awake suddenly cannot make it to the toilet in time...and even I can't make it to the toilet in time (sometimes). I would much rather rinse a bucket than clean vomit off of everything (sometimes, it happens anyway...but I like to minimize those times). Also, stomach bugs can attack different people in different ways. I can have one child who only has run to the toilet bowel movements, another who vomits, and another who must do both at the same time...containers save said individual(s) from having to choose (and me from having to clean).

 

For children too small for a bucket, I have towels on the floor, over their bedding, etc. They throw up on the towel, and in the machine it goes. I also have a portable mat that the younger girls will sleep on in my room when they are ill.

[Joker]

Mine go in a small, bag lined trash can. It's also what we did in our house growing up. We weren't expected to have to get up and run while sick and I don't expect it of my dds. I don't do it either, but mostly because sometimes I can avoid vomitting if I will just be still enough. FTR, though, none of us have had any kind of stomach bug in at least 5 years.

[MiniBlondes]

This thread is making me feel like I need a barf bucket. :ack2:

[Murphy101]

Even puking sick, the idea of putting my face in even my own clean toilets is repulsive to me. I don't do it. Ever.

 

We use a small trash can with a bag in them. Puke in it, remove bag to trash, replace with clean bag, spray with bleach, and its ready for reuse. And a lot more handy than trying to run to the toilet.

 

I have zero desire to clean up puke buckets or puked on toilets.

 

I threw up in a drs office once and I thought I was being considerate by telling the nurse I threw up in the trash can. She was really ticked I didn't puke in the toilet. Um. Put my face into a public toilet?! At a drs office?! Heeeeck no. Ain't gonna happen. Ever. Good grief, I try not to let my bum touch public toilets and I flush by hitting the lever with my shoe!

 

If I have to, I'll use the garbage disposal side of the kitchen sink. Bleach it when done.

 

If it matters, most of my severe puking as been while pregnant and with a very bad back. Getting all the way into the floor and doubled over was a lot to ask of a dehydrated, back back, pregnant woman for me. The kitchen sink or a trash can gripped in my lap was much easier.

[Murphy101]

Oh yeah. Top bunks are awful. So it really deep plush carpet. And carseats. Why do they make those things with so many dang little grooves and holes under the seat?!

 

If we know they are sick, we put thick towels under their head and pillow and down the side of the bed or sofa they are laying on to make clean up easier if they don't quite make it to the trash can when they roll over. I have one son that can firehouse spray vomit in his sleep and then not even wake up. Discovering that was the last time we let him have an upper bunk.

 

 

[kitten18]

I threw up in a drs office once and I thought I was being considerate by telling the nurse I threw up in the trash can. She was really ticked I didn't puke in the toilet. Um. Put my face into a public toilet?! At a drs office?! Heeeeck no. Ain't gonna happen. Ever.

:svengo: I am not easily grossed out AT ALL but the idea of throwing up in a public toilet...shudder.

[maddykate]

We don't do buckets or the toilet. I have the two gallon size zip lock bags kept on hand at all times just for this purpose. If someone is sick, they puke in the bag, zip it up and put it directly in the trash. No rinsing of buckets, potties, Etc. I cannot handle cleaning up the mess from vomit. And so far, (knock on wood), we have never had a miss with the bags. The bags are big enough that a little one can practically put their whole face into the bag so there is no chance of missing.

[AimeeM]

Maybe I'm the odd man out. I have no expectations on "vomiting etiquette" from my children. If they can't make it to the bathroom, they can't make it. Mom will fix it. No big.

My 11 year old always tries to make it to the toilet. My 3 year old vomits anywhere and has no control over it.

 

(we still have the stomach flu here)

[sassenach]

We call ours a barf bucket, too. No, I don't really want them to try to make it to the toilet. Mostly, I'm afraid they won't make it and I'll end up having to clean vomit off of the carpets. Once we have established that they have a stomach bug, they get their place on the couch, barf bucket, and I expect them to pretty much stay in that spot. We establish a sick bathroom and we try to keep the bug contained.

 

Sorry for all you're going through. It's my least favorite thing, too. On one particularly bad 3am clean-up session, after my youngest got out of bed and had an epic vomit session into her dress up bin, bed and carpet, I found myself contemplating why I ever became a parent to begin with.....so I get it. :grouphug: for you!

[mommaduck]

I'll be honest, I prefer stainless steel pots to buckets. Easier to clean and sterilise.

[Parrothead]

Honestly it depends on the house. When we lived in the 2-story with the only bathroom on the first floor one was allowed the bucket at night. Who wants to try to make it downstairs at breakneck speed in the middle of the night to toss cookies? In this 2-story house the only bathroom is upstairs. The bucket is downstairs. And there is always a bedside bucket in the middle of the night even when we lived in the one story house with the only bathroom in the center of the house where it was easily accessible from all points.

 

If your issue with clean up is splatter and back splash, I'd think you'd have that even if the commode was reached in time.

[Parrothead]

I'll be honest, I prefer stainless steel pots to buckets. Easier to clean and sterilise.

 

I like deep lined trash cans. Less back splash. :coolgleamA:

[kewb]

When they were little I gave them a barf bucket (lined with a bag) and told them if they thought they could make it to use the toilet. As they got older the expectation is to make it to the toilet. However, everyone still gets a barf bucket because sometimes in the middle of the night you just know you aren't going to make it.

 

When I was a kid the expectation was you would make it to the toilet. No barf bucket. I ca't tell you how many times my mother had to clean up the doorway to the bathroom because I just couldn't make it. When I was older I cleaned it up myself. She never got mad but you would think she would have thought to give me a barf bucket. I was a married adult before it finally dawned on me to throw up in a bucket.

[dsmith]

We try to use the puke bucket. I know ds won't make it to the bathroom. Ds had his first stomach virus last year. He was so surprised that he was puking that he just stood up and puked all over. He barely even kept his head down, which I would have thought was a natural response. We gave him the bucket after that, but his next vomiting episode was straight from a deep sleep. He's an aspie, and can completely miss various signals from his body. I guess puking is one of them. I had to position the bucket where I thought the puke would hit, lol. He did manage the bucket once. Thankfully he doesn't have this problem when it's coming out the other end. He has a great fear of getting another stomach virus now.

 

The rest of the family keeps a bucket handy, but will generally make it to the bathroom. I rarely puke. I hate it so much, I think it's my own force of will that won't allow me to puke.

[Matryoshka]

I think different people have different abilities to make it to the toilet. I have never not made it, even as a child. One of my dds always makes it, the others mostly but not always. One definitely makes it less than the others.

 

We do have a barf bucket. It does not go with the child; if the child is puking they are on the sofa, which is covered with towels (as is the floor next to it), and they are with the bucket. They may stay there or go to the toilet. They may not move anywhere else in the house for 24 hours. With this setup, I don't care too much if it goes in the bucket or they make it to the toilet. There is a dedicated toilet for them (nearest to the sofa) after which it is bleached. If it hits at night, bed and floor nearby are covered with towels, and bucket is in with them.

 

This has prevented vomiting anywhere except for bucket or toilet, and really keeps transmission down. One puking kid is enough, thankyouverymuch.

[AndyJoy]

My mom had the opposite problem with my sister. My sister insisted on using the toilet rather than the provided barf bowl, but could never make it there in time. Cleaning vomit trails up the hall are a lot worse than dealing with barf buckets. My mom would make a trail of old sheets and towels from her bed to the toilet "just in case" but they almost always were used.

 

My addition to "vomit etiquette" is always make sure the person caring for you knows you've vomited so it can be dealt with immediately. Hypothetically, if your older sister gave you noodle soup for lunch, then came in the room later to check on you and saw you didn't eat it, then you informed her that you had eaten it but it was now back in the bowl, she might be scarred for life. :willy_nilly:

 

Oh yes, and also don't puke in the hair of a random 11-year-girl below you on the Zipper at the fair. :glare:

[lailasmum]

We just use a bucket. I can't see whats wrong with that. I'd rather have them puke in a bucket than attempt to get to the toilet and puke on the floor. My eldest will usually make an attempt to get to the toilet if she thinks she has time. I can't really see how forcing ill people who may be dizzy and struggling to walk, to get to the toilet, just for a bit of convenience on the part of the carer is worth it.

[gardenmom5]

to encourage them to only use the trash can as a last resort do you allow them the joy of cleaning it out?

 

 

I use metal bowls as they don't require the same type of serilization procedures as a rubber/plastic bucket. (the metal can handle the acids - the rubber reacts.)

[AndyJoy]

:svengo: I am not easily grossed out AT ALL but the idea of throwing up in a public toilet...shudder.

 

Ah, what I would give to throw up in a toilet in a dr.'s office that had presumably been cleaned recently. No one should have to see the gas station toilet I once had to use! Let's just say it was so bad that I didn't really feel bad leaving it in the state I did after using it because it was already in need of incineration.

[lynn]

I didn't know there was etiquette?? I prefer to make it to bathroom if possible. I do give them a garbage can but my oldest son camps out in the bathroom when he's really sick. His room is on the other end of the house so he takes no chances.

[Alte Veste Academy]

I considered my kids' ability to throw up in a bucket a bigger, more joyous milestone than potty-training. I am not kidding. Sick people here get a bucket or (more typical now) a small trash can lined with a trash bag for quick, easy clean-up, unscented, of course. If they wish, they may throw up in the toilet but they must take the bucket with them to the toilet in case they don't make it. The bucket needs to be their BFF when they are sick.

 

The best thing ever was when my MIL sent us a big box of ER style emesis bags. Oh my word. LOVE!!! If Costco sold those, I would become a member faster than you could say, "Mom, I don't feel so...BBBLLLWWWWAAAAAaaaahhh." :tongue_smilie: Compact to store but they hold a lot. Hand the kid a fresh one and throw the used one away... As blissful as a mom can get with a house full of flu. :lol: And great for the car! Think I might tell DH to hit her up for some more...

 

ETA: And I agree that throwing up in a toilet (or foul-smelling trash can) is torture. It's gross. Just because what is coming out of me is foul doesn't mean my head and face need to be relegated to the position of my... No.)

[Lolosoli]

We have always used a barf-bucket and until reading this thread I never knew that anyone else did things differently. Personally, I could not imagine my family using the toilet (where people defecate and urinate) to vomit in....only as a last resort! I don't think I have ever been sick in a toilet to be honest. We use a bucket and it is cleaned out after each "session" by myself or another adult.

[NotSoObvious]

Even as an adult, I have extreme difficulty reaching the toilet when I'm sick--I feel dizzy and disoriented. I can't control at what precise moment I vomit (DH can, and he can't understand my issues). If I were to try to reach the toilet, there's a great chance I'd be immobilized somewhere in the hallway, throwing up all over the floor. It is really the worst feeling.

 

I expect my children to vomit in the bucket provided. I wouldn't want the to go through the agony of trying to make it to the toilet (yes, it is agony for me.)

 

 

Ditto.

 

My twins, on the other hand have only not made it to the toilet three times. Two of them were in the middle of the night and one was in the car after her tonsillectomy.

 

I think some people just have an easier time with this than others.

[MFG]

I looked it up in Emily Post and surprisingly there is no entry for vomit etiquette.

[Luanne]

It depended on how sick my daughter was. She really didn't get sick this way very much, but a couple of times she was sick like this, she was vomiting every 30-45 minutes. There was no way she was going to be able to get to the toilet that often. I gave her a trash can by her bed. It was mostly water anyway after a while since she wasn't eating any food.