If your child threw up on the carpet in the middle of the night...

[TheBrilloPad]

Do you;

a) throw a towel over the pile of sick and deal with it at a reasonable hour

Or

B) get cleaning equipment up and clean up sick there and then?

For honesty's sake - I did A. 4yr old DD threw up in her bed at 2am last night, got out of bed to get me and threw up on the carpet, and then threw up again on the hallway carpet. I changed her bedding and put her back to bed, and put towels over the two vomit piles in her bedroom and the hallway, to deal with in the morning. She shares a bedroom with her 3yr old brother who was asleep and cleaning it all up at 2am, therefore keeping them awake longer, seemed like an insane idea.

We all woke at 8am, I text ExH to keep him in the loop that DD was unwell and I took them downstairs. Gave 3yr old breakfast, and fed 4month old baby. Had to do three loads of washing (she was sick again on the new fresh bedding at 4am too), and then ExH turned up at 10am with a load of toys from the toy shop (Disney dad), as I was coming downstairs with the carpet cleaner and bucket of zoflora etc etc. I answered the door and said "sorry - was just cleaning all the sick off the carpets", and he said "oh, has she just been sick again then ?" And I said "no, from last night". And he was DISGUSTED that I left the vomit there overnight. (From a man who has never cleaned/cooked/used a washing machine in his life ).

So my instinct was that he's just being a dick. I'm a single parent of 3 kids under 5, none of who slept well last night, I dealt with it as best I could. But now I'm doubting myself - would you/should I have cleaned it up there and then? FWIW it took me over 30mins this morning to do, that seems insane to do at 2am!

This was us, last week. I wiped up as much as physically possible then poured bicarb onto it. The longer it's left, the harder it is to get the smell out (and who wants half digested chips drying into the carpet? Ugh)

I can understand not wanting to make too much of a commotion when you don't want to disturb little ones, though.

I would have done a partial cleanup with the expectation that I would need to do it again in daylight and when I was awake.

OP, you need a Labrador dog

I could say what I would have done in your place, but to be honest it doesn't mean anything, because the reality is you do whatever gets you through it. Maybe I'd have felt able to leave the sick child and clean it up, maybe not. If the child was howling, or the other children were waking or also sick, I'd have been in survival mode only!

Normally I'd scrape the worst off if it was on carpet, then chuck a towel over and clean in the morning. However, most of our bedrooms have lino flooring and I have a husband to help. And so much depends on what the previous day had been like, how much sleep I'd had, if I was also coming down with a bug, and a million other things. You coped, you got through it and no harm was done. Well done dealing with sick kids is really tough!

I'd have cleaned it up in the night but because my middle child is sick at the smell of sick so it would have ended up a bigger job in the morning! After a horrible lingering sick smell on my carpets I do recommend strongly bicarb - it got rid of the smell better than anything branded. Hope you all feel better now!

I would have cleaned it at 2am But as a PP noted I have a supportive partner. Plus I only have one child. In your situation I might have done a quick scrape of the solid bits but depends how knackered I was.

As it happens DD was sick on my office carpet yesterday. Cant get rid of the smell and trying to work from home.

In the past I've used a towel to quickly scrape up excess vomit, chucked it in the laundry, quickly sprayed floor with diluted vinegar, then thrown a clean towel on top of vomit patch to clean it properly in the morning.

I'm a single mum too TheBrilloPad. It's exhausting. Sometimes you've got to let some things slide otherwise you'll burn out. I remember one time I was so exhausted, burnt out, run down that I looked at the dirty dishes I was supposed to be washing and threw them out instead. Lol it felt so good. Had to replace them of course. But just couldn't face standing at the sink washing them (no dishwasher, how I dream of owning one) and as I had let them pile up a bit I couldn't stand the sight of them. Now I only did this once because who can afford to replace cups, bowls, plates, baking dishes etc on a regular basis.

Your ex is showing you exactly why you probably left him in the first place. Next time just lie and say you wanted to give it a second wash to get rid of the smell. Then remind yourself how nice it is that he doesn't live with you.

Hope Dd gets well soon and the rest of you don't get sick.

He was out of order to judge you like that.

I would have cleaned it for the following reasons;

1. when ever I am sick, the smell of sick makes me feel even more sick! So in order to settle back off to sleep I would want it to be cleaned up first.
2. the smell would be harder to remove if left
3. vomit usually contains bugs which are airborne and I would want to clean the contaminated area to help prevent spreading it to the rest of the household as much as possible. Probably already too late, you might say, but its a bit like not closing the lid when you flush diarrhoea away, every little helps and all that.
4. Someone would likely trip over random towels and fall into it overnight (probably me)!
5. Its nice to start the day as fresh as you can. Just a thing I follow if I can. I don't think I'd sleep all that well knowing what is waiting to greet me before I've cleaned my teeth or had breakfast. And it would likely put me off my breakfast tbh!
6. I think the kids would prefer it. Just imagining all the times I was sick how I'd have felt if Mum left it hanging round in my room. It was always a comfort that she put everything right and then we all went back off to sleep peacefully (til the next vomiting sessions).

I'd have sorted child out and got them settled then scraped up the worst and scrubbed it properly in the morning, ill children are more important than carpets.

Is the baby his too? If all 3 are his, I’d say ‘Yes, you’re right, it is disgusting. Thank you for your offer, next time I will call you so you can come to clean it up while I look after our THREE children in the middle of the night’

Does this twat have them overnight at all?

It’s irrelevant, but to answer your question, I’d have cleaned it up because I need to do it ‘in the moment’ as there’s slightly less chance of me adding to it and the smell is harder to get out the longer it’s left. I do think it’s a bit grim to throw a towel over it and leave it, but ‍🤷🏻‍♀️ your house, your choice and it’s NONE of Disney Dad’s business. None what so ever. Twat.

Hmmmmm ok, mixed bag of opinions, but does seem most would clean. It definitely does just feel like "survival mode" at 2am, particularly because the only reason I didn't hear her call out to me was because I was blasting the white noise in my bedroom trying to get baby off to sleep (bloody 4month sleep regression), and I was bone achingly tired. My priority felt like keeping the 3yr old asleep, because he's a nightmare at going back to sleep once he's awake, and the idea of switching the bedroom light on and dealing with it properly felt horrific.

I had some involvement recently with Social services (children witnessed Ex's domestic violence) and lots of involvement with health visitor (poorly baby), so I feel like I need to be more conscious of what is "acceptable" and what isn't, which is why I asked. I'll keep a small basket of cleaning stuff upstairs somewhere to be a bit more prepared if this happens again. DD is totally fine today - bouncing off the walls. So no quiet duvet day sadly. Gahhhh!

And I only told ExH about it as I was due to see his mum to take her somewhere, so had to tell her DD was sick, and I knew he'd get angry if I hadn't told him. Will keep it (and any questionable hygiene practices) to myself if possible next time.

We have quite new carpets so would have cleaned it there and then. There are 2 of us though so DH would be sent to clean it and put the washer on while I cuddle and change DS. He’s generally more awake in the middle of the night and does any night time wake ups unless DS is upset and needs me.
If I were on my own I’m sure I might have done the same.

I'd of cleaned up there and then too. Why do kids only sick during the night 😩

‘Survival mode’ is a good way of putting it. You must be exhausted. Do what you need to do to get maximum sleep for you and DC.

Much sympathies on what must seem like a very tough gig at the moment

OP - you asked what is acceptable.
At 8 am you were scrubbing the floor with disinfectant.

That means you were on top of it and what you did at 2am is really fine.

So more people woudl clean than leave it, but then factoring in 4 month old awake in other room, 3 year old sharing and trying to keep them alseep, you made your call.

Don;t beat yourself up.

(and either way, ex was out of order)

This was us a few weeks ago and we did B but we didn't do it well enough and so, even though a more thorough clean up scrub was done early in the morning, it made the room smell wretched for the entire day.

There was a collosal exorcist-worthy amount of vom though.

Survival mode here - scrape the worst of it off the floor, then cover with a towel ready for thorough cleaning in the morning.

Would have cleaned it there and then, but honestly can't say what I would do if there wasn't another adult around to pitch in.

Tell him to bugger off!

Definitely would have cleaned it up there and then. Can't imagine leaving it stinking and soaking in to the carpet. Sounds grim to me.

I've done both but usually a mixture of the two - scoop solids up 🤢 and bung a towel over the rest until morning.

I also don't give a shit about my carpet, which may have affected my decision 😂 It was a crappy old carpet when we moved here 5 years ago (rented house), then last year when ExH moved out, I spent all my birthday money getting the carpets professionally cleaned to try and show what a capable adult I am on my own..... then potty training DS did a huge poo all over he carpet the next day and trod it through (vom). So now my carpet has no emotional attachment to me whatsoever, and a bit of vomit doesn't phase me. It actually cleaned up perfectly without any staining, and there is no lingering vomit smell either, so all in all, a result.

I would have done B because it would stink all night then be harder to clean. I wouldn’t judge you for A though. Your ex is acting like you made your dd sleep in a vomitty bed.

The choice would also depend on if renting etc, bevause i would feel wrong to not protect someone else's carpets as much as possible. Surely there is a lot of stomach acid.

I would have to clean up as much as possible anyway because as per pp it gets airborne and everyone would catch the bug.
Hope the others are ok and i agree dealing with sick dc is exhausting

When with my ex, he cleaned the sick whilst I sorted DDs.

As a single parent I’ve done A.

A few weeks ago I had to throw a pleated blind out as DD vomited all over it and was I fuck cleaning it. I also had to pull the bed out, clean and paint the wall the next day too.

All 4 of us had norovirus last year and I taught the kids to puke into bin liners to minimise the mess It was not fun dealing with 2 school aged DDs, myself and a crawling baby who were all vomiting for 5 days straight.