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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

child being sick on the train

61 replies

farewellfigure · 27/01/2014 14:28

We took DS to london on Sunday. There was a family sitting in the next seat, Mum, Dad and 2 DCs aged about 5 and 6. From their conversation we realised they were going to the NH museum... same as us... and we thought it was really funny.

The little girl said she had a tummy ache. The Dad said, 'Oh you'll be fine. I'm sure you won't be sick again' (wishful thinking). Anyway, eventually she started crying so the mum said she'd take her to the loo. We heard a lot more pained crying from the other end of the carriage then they came back and the mum said that the loos were locked. I can only imagine where the poor little girl had been sick. About half an hour later she started crying again so the mum took her back to wherever she'd been sick before. When they came back she was white and shaky and lolling all over the mum. We got to Victoria and off they trotted to the tube station.

AIBU in thinking that if you plan to go somewhere nice and your DD is ill, you postpone? If the mum or dad had woken up and been sick, would they have forced themselves out of bed, into the cold, and trudged round the museum having to stop to be sick every half an hour?

Hoists judgy pants. I know it's none of my business really. I was just a bit shocked.

OP posts:

Dontletthemgetyoudown · 27/01/2014 14:30

If my child had been sick and obviously wasn't well, I would have waited at the train station and caught the first train back home again. However disappointing it might be, the child wouldn't enjoy it and it would be a pretty miserable day.

Lottapianos · 27/01/2014 14:30

That is shocking. I would say it was your business since you were on the train next to them and could have caught whatever bug the little girl had, if it was a bug. Poor little thing should have been in bed by the sounds of things.

MammaTJ · 27/01/2014 14:32

Perhaps she only became sick on the train and maybe, all things considered, she was just travel sick!

I would have hated for my mum to be judged every time she took me anywhere!

Ubik1 · 27/01/2014 14:32

maybe she was travel sick

I have travelled 5 hrs to London with 3 vomiting children. One got a Japanese tourist!

CinnabarRed · 27/01/2014 14:33

Oh, poor little girl. How unfair on the wee thing. Of course they should have postponed, or one parent stayed with her at home while the other took her sibling to the NH Museum.

fatballerina · 27/01/2014 14:33

My DD gets really bad travel sickness-If the family had been in a car/bus before the train that could be the case here?My DD is travel sick every time we go somewhere but she loves it once we are there-the alternative is to keep her home and she would hate that-no car so for us it would be public transport and I would hate to think people were questioning my parenting because my DD would be sick so I think YUBU.

fatballerina · 27/01/2014 14:34

that should of course say 'YABU'!

CinnabarRed · 27/01/2014 14:34

But if she were travel sick, wouldn't the family know to bring bags etc in case of not being able to get to a toilet?

Original poster

farewellfigure · 27/01/2014 14:36

The Dad said 'You won't be sick again'. She's obviously already been sick before they left. I thought it was very sad.

OP posts:

chocladoodle · 27/01/2014 14:40

My first thought was that it was travel sickness. My dc is sick on every mode of transport available. And repeatedly!! If in the car we have a little bucket for her to use. If public transport then we don't take the bucket as it tends to get in the way of the activities that we have planned once we get to our destination.

You have no way of knowing whether the child was sick sick or travel sick. So i probably wouldn't judge the parents in this instance

PandaNot · 27/01/2014 14:40

I would assume she was travel sick. The dad saying you won't be sick again I could interpret as she'd been sick in the past on a train and was maybe worried about it happening again? They should have given her medication if this is the case though.

CoffeeBucks · 27/01/2014 14:42

Ubik I am emetophobic and that exact situation is why public transport gives me panic attacks!

imip · 27/01/2014 14:42

If this happened in my family, it would be because one of my dds was travel sick. They get travel sick anywhere, just as I do.

We keep bags in the car, not always well stocked. Tbh, on a train I might not bring a bag as I would probably forget.

For example, we went to dhs work at Christmas time, and the tube line we usually take was went down. So we took the bus. In all the craziness of 4 dds, we just completely forgot to get a bag (last minute travel plan changes). She was sick in the bus bless her.

I have been car sick in the most weird of places, not always had a bag available.

Ubik1 · 27/01/2014 14:42

FGS sake there are children dying in Syria go and feel sad about that

icingmyback · 27/01/2014 14:42

YABU
you really just saw a snapshot of their lives and know nothing about them. perhaps the little girl has a medical condition that causes her to throw up a lot and if they stayed in every time she was sick they'd never go anywhere.
of course, if she had a stomach bug, they should have kept her home to rest, but you don't know if that was the case do you?

WallyBantersJunkBox · 27/01/2014 14:43

She could have been suck on a different leg of the journey possibly?

If they had driven to the nearest station, or caught a connection I mean.

WallyBantersJunkBox · 27/01/2014 14:43

Sick, not suck.

Original poster

farewellfigure · 27/01/2014 14:44

Hm I suppose it could have been travel sickness and maybe I shouldn't be judgy, but they got on at the same station as us, so it wasn't. Sorry. It just wasn't. From what the Dad said she had been sick in the house before they left. I thought thought it was a bit unfair that's all.

OP posts:

Original poster

farewellfigure · 27/01/2014 14:46

True, she might have had an illness that makes her sick. Surely they would have brought sick bags though? And wipes?

The mum said, 'Don't worry. We'll get some skittles at the station to take away the taste'.

Ew.

OP posts:

Misspixietrix · 27/01/2014 14:46

Poor little one. If she was bug ill then YDNBU. However she might have been travel sick. We organised a lot of trips in the Summer last year for the Children we work with. One was sick with precise timing. 2 x on the way there. 2x on the way back. Said child went on 5 trips and did this on every occasion. But yes you are right. If she was ill ill her parents should have took her home and let her rest.

ginnybag · 27/01/2014 15:01

The thing is, if you know your child is travel sick then you should be planning for it. It's really not nice or fair to expect other passengers to deal with it and the travel company staff to clean it up because you didn't.

No-one's saying don't travel, but you should be responsible for your own child. There's a lot of people don't cope well with other people being sick - there's statistics that show that air-sickness, for example, is next to nothing on any given flight, until the first person is sick, and then the odds of someone else being go up massively.

So, if she was ill before they left, YNBU.

If they knew she was travel sick, YNBU - where was the bag/bucket/wipes/meds/water etc, and why weren't they taking her seriously?

If, and only if, they didn't know she was travel sick are you being unreasonable. And at 5/6 - unless she'd never been on a train before - what are the chances?

Certainly, by the time the kid's thrown up three times, unless you're damn sure it is travel sickness - and see above for that - then you should be going straight home!

RufusTheReindeer · 27/01/2014 15:06

My nine year old was travel sick for the first time last year, I had no bag, wipes etc as he had never been sick before

Now we give him sickness tablets, but until he threw up that time I would have told anyone that my children (luckily) didn't get car sick

CoffeeTea103 · 27/01/2014 15:09

You don't know under what circumstances the child was sick, As many pp pointed out.
I don't see what's the point of you observing what happened and then come on here to create a post about it other than to judge those parents?
And now if people agree with you that it was UR what did you achieve?

Pregnantberry · 27/01/2014 15:09

When I was a kid I couldn't go anywhere without being sick because of my awful travel sickness, I bet it was that rather than a bug.

imip · 27/01/2014 15:12

Ime, travel sickness tablets don't work.... Maybe sometimes, but definately not foolproof!

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