Baby Puke
Posted by Laurie
It’s something all parents try to avoid. ”Take that out of your mouth!” we demand of our toddler. Or, if we’re dealing with an infant, we lunge to grab the item away. It’s not a good habit to eat tablecloths and shoes, but the reason why we really care is that we just don’t want our kids to ingest germs and get sick.
My son had a 24-hour bug last week. It wasn’t nearly as bad as prior stomach bugs he’s had, so we were actually quite happy. If you’re a parent, you know what I mean: “He only threw up twice? You’re lucky!” My husband and I took turns cleaning puke and when our son slept through the night despite the illness, we were practically gleeful.
I wonder, is there anything more we can do to prevent illness? My friend has an unusual method to keep her little girl healthy – no playdates, at least not until she is six or seven months old. My friend is happy to meet her friends with their kids in the park, but she is not going to anyone’s home.
Yesterday I met a mom in the park who told me she refuses to let her daughter go in the sandbox. ”That’s how kids get hoof and mouth disease, don’t you know?” I didn’t know. Maybe I hadn’t paid attention to this or maybe it’s not true. Perhaps her daughter doesn’t run for the sandbox the moment she sees it. My son loves the sandbox and keeping him from it would mean frequent tantrums in the park, probably causing me to avoid the three playgrounds with sandboxes near our home.
Any advice? How do you try to prevent your child from getting sick? If you’re expecting, do you plan to make playdates (for your child and yourself), or will you wait on that?
This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Baby Prep, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
I hate to say it, but illnesses among little kids are so common that I no longer flinch if any kids have colds on our play dates. If there is no puking or a very high fever, we allow the contact to continue.
Also, we were sick A LOT during our son’s first year of school that the kids and I now get the flu shot every year. We got both the regular flu shot and H1N1 this year. The kids have had little colds, but none of us have gotten the flu since getting the shots. Also, we have had zero puking. My kids are now 6 and 3, by the way.
Hope your little guy feels better soon!
Thanks for the good wishes. It seems like with every big sickness, our son pukes. It’s nice to know that the puking is less common as a child gets older. We’ll definitely get the flu vaccines next year too.
Related to vaccines, one thing my doctor told me is that the annual flu shot is for influenza, not stomach flu.
It appears there are vaccines for the rotavirus, but it would be something different.
It certainly does hit them less hard the older they get. My four year old threw up for 6 hours and then was fine whereas my two year old ended up in the hospital. The second time we got the stomach flu I spoke with my pharmacist and got a gravol suppository, helped stave off the dehydration by slowing down the vomiting. At the rate she was throwing up and having diarrhea we would have certainly ended up in the hospital again had we not given her something.
Best of luck, hope your little one is feeling better.
I’m expecting now with my first. My comments are based on what I’ve observed, but of course until I’m actually dealing with this – what can I really know,,,
From watching friends and family, I’ve seen a pattern of over the top germ-free diligence with a first child. The baby comes home for the first time and so does the jumbo bottle of Purell. But by the time the second child comes around most of the anxiety goes away as does the extreme levels of protection.
My brother and his wife were like this; baby #1 = totally neurotic (I mean this in the kindest way) followed by baby #2 = anything goes. The funny thing is baby #1 was sick a lot in the first year while baby #2 is turning 1 now and has yet to be sick once. All of the environmental factors were exactly the same for both kids except baby #2 had the benefit of building a hearty immune system thanks to the petri dish provided by an older sibling.
I think my approach will be to take reasonable precautions and not obsess over every possibility. And of course when reality hits, I’ll have my husband in a hazardous suit and the kid wrapped in bubble wrap.
I have two small children under the age of five. We have just endured a very bad season of stomach flu (everyone got it twice) and our youngest ended up in the hospital for 3 days on an IV due to severe dehydration. It was awful and I never want to go through something like that again.
That said, I am still in the camp that believes that it is better to expose your children to some germs and have them build up their own immunity to it. That doesn’t mean we are not careful when in public places like bowling alleys or washrooms, but it does mean that we have lots and lots of play dates, eat lots of dirt, and lick lots of windows, chairs, floors, etc.
A friend of my mother’s was germ-phobic and actually died from a very simply bacterial infection because she had no natural immunity from normal exposure. I think it is important to have a clean (but maybe messy
) house, clean hands when eating, but not to completely cut off your child’s ability to build their own immune system by isolating them and using every anti-bacterial product under the sun (which also kill good bacteria).
I know what it is like to be a new mother, it was hard to shake the neurotic tendencies that reared their head during the first few months. I myself grew up on a farm, lots of dirt, lots of animals, healthy dirty kids, which I think helped temper my own bout with first-time-mother syndrome.
I think it is important to be careful, having a sick child is awful and I would do anything to avoid it. That is why I let my kids eat dirt and play with kids with runny noses.
Hi Theresa,
I’m glad your kids are feeling better. I always fear going to the hospital because germs spread so easily there. Our son has gotten sick twice immediately AFTER doctor/hospital visits. I do agree though that germs can be a good thing. At least that’s my rationalization because there’s no way I can keep dirt out of his mouth all the time!
Laurie