ChiKat

Today I put my son down for his morning nap. Half an hour later, he started to fuss. He does that sometimes, but it was much too early for him to be awake, so I ignored his fussing. He stopped fussing, only to start again 15 minutes later. I ignored him again, and again he stopped fussing, only to start again. This time I went into his room to try to convince him to take a nap.

He was covered in vomit. The floor had puddles of vomit. The entire crib mattress was drenched. He was miserable, shaking and sobbing.

I immediately began drowning in guilt, but before I could thoroughly self-flagellate, he started vomiting again. What do you DO with a baby who is vomiting, who is covered in vomit, who is sitting in a pool of vomit? My immediate reaction was to scoop him up and hug him, but he was puking – would he really want me picking him up, moving him around, when the entire contents of his stomach were being projected out of his body? This is something I had not read about in my parenting books.

He soon stopped throwing up, and I was able to strip off his clothes and get him into the bathtub. Then I realized that, while the bathtub was easy to clean, it was also cold. The last thing I wanted was to give him a cold on top of his stomach bug. I couldn't leave him alone in the tub to get clothing, because it was too easy for him to slip and fall. So we went back to his room and I toweled him off and put dry clothes on him. Which he puked all over.

Five outfits later, I am starting to figure this out. When he starts to gag, I grab a dish towel and hold it under his chin, so when he starts to throw up, I can minimize the amount that is spewed across the floor. I don't move him, but I keep my arm around him so he doesn't get scared.

These are valuable parenting skills that I have earned today. I would like my Mommy Scout badge, the one for "how to handle vomit".

While I am waiting for my badge, I am also trying to move past the guilt of leaving him in the crib this morning. Having my mom tell me that she did that to me helped a lot. I don't even remember that! And I still love her! I think my son will be ok. More importantly, long-term memory doesn't develop until after three years of age.