to still not know how to do this when my oldest DC is 7.5 years old ... (sorry disgusting)

[LeepyTime]

Sorry, don't read this if you are about to have your dinner, but I have 3 DC and last night my middle one was sick all over his bed and I STILL do not know how to manage the removal and cleaning of the sheets properly. Do you wipe off the lumps before putting it into the washing machine, and if so, how do you actually do it, what with and how do you do it without being sick on top of it also ... ? I now have a washing machine full of lumps of sick and they are dripping down and off the sheets as I am hanging them up. Ps I need instructions for a one-man version of this as am a single mother. Luckily the other two didn't start being sick also or that would have been the end of me, but any advice would be greatly appreciated in case Round 2 kicks off tonight? Thanks.

I use kitchen roll to scrape the bigger lumps off and put it all in a carrier bag. Wash bedding in the machine with some zoflora in with the fabric softener.

Add to the Dealing With Sick box some lavender oil to rid your brain of the smell, and Sodium Bicarb to rid your sheets of the smell. If you are unlucky enough to get it on the mattress or other unwashable surface, sponging with Bicarb in water sorts the smell out. Napisan gets the smell off in a wash too.

Also those plastic bendy buckets things (trugs) are great for sick/sicky clothes transportation and soaking as you can bend them closed to pour out the excess water if yous oaked them in Dettol.

I'm not good with sick, I have since trained DS to efficiently run and puke in the toilet/sink/bowl/other easy cleanable thing. But embarrassingly when he was little, I'm afraid I scooped up the sheets in a bin bag and in the bin. Wasteful I know, but I'm not a coper of sick!

Do you have a cat? For vomit on the floor, throw cat litter over it, go have a cup of tea, come back and sweep the stuff up. Sorted.

It's grim isn't it?

When my children have had tummy woes I put one of those hospital type bed pads (
I originally bought a pack of for puppy training ) on their beds . Useful for soaking up mass floor voms too .

My DM couldn't cope with vomit at all. Luckily myself and DB always made it to the toilet and were rarely sick. The one time my 8 year old cousin stayed the night and was sick in bed she threw the lot away including the mattress as she wouldn't have it in the house!

I don't know how I'd cope either as I'm almost as bad as she is. I think the sheets would end up in the bin although I don't think I could justify binning a mattress.

Yes I have a cat and cat litter, great idea! I was looking for bicarb for the mattress but only had baking powder so it just had to air-dry. Poor boy.

That's really useful, poltergoose - thank you.

I too cannot deal with sick bleurgh, I'm also the shove it in a bin bag and dump person, luckily the DCs have accumulated quite a few sets of duvet covers etc over the years!

Another tip is to put towels on the child's pillow and tuck one in on the top of the covers, to catch the sick.

oh and provide a bowl oe large ice cream tub. It prevents the panicky feeling of not being able to get to the loo in time.

I always do the kitchen roll method. You need a carrier bag and an entire roll, first get about 4 or 5 sheets and soak/fold/scrape as much as possible, then get a thick layer (so you don't feel it too much) and pick up most of the lumps left behind, lastly thick layer again to pick up individual lumps and then the last stage is to dry/scrape/soak as much as possible of the wet residue. Straight into carrier bag, all of them, without re-using or looking. Tie carrier bag up, roll bedding so that you can hold it by a clean part, dump entire lot into laundry basket. To the washing machine, carrier bag in bin, sheets in the wash, wash on at least 60 if it's a bug to kill nasties. Bedding can usually cope with this. Then wash hands thoroughly!

And I always had to do it alone too, as was a lone parent from when DS was 1 until he was 2 and then DH lived abroad for a year!

My first choice is to get DH to do it. I do poo he, does sick, we were made for each other!
If I am on my own, hold your breath.

Shove it in a bucket fill the bucket with water then either leave it to soak or smush it around with or without rubber gloves to get the sick off.

Pour the sick soup down the toilet and put the sheets in the wash.

Then breathe again.

ah, yes - always put a towel over the pillow just in case it happens again and give them a bowl lined with kitchen roll to prevent splashes.

I always feel guilty using so much kitchen roll, so when DS was last sick I nominated a kitchen spoon to scrape it all off with and now keep in the 'dealing with sick' stuff.

we have a 'magic sick bowl' that is an ordinary mixing bowl. We call it magic as no-one has ever actually been sick in it yet so it still gets used as a mixing bowl too (is a plastic one)

You are not alone, my oldest is similar age and I wouldn't know what to do either.

Thankfully it's never come up (groan!)

I do not. Kitchen roll in my mind is for disgusting stuff that I don't want to touch or think about, which definitely includes disasters such as kid and or animal sick and I will happily use half a roll for this purpose.

Put the bedding in a bucket, pour napisan or similar & cover with water. Leave until morning. Pour the water from the bucket down outside drain, check bedding for lumps to chuck in bin & then wash normally. Smells less, you're not dealing with it in the middle of the night and no chance of lumps in the bath. Then use towels until vomiting stops. Good luck!

I hate cleaning up sick, the smell makes me throw up.

I have waterproof sheets on the DCs beds in winter just incase they get a vomiting bug. I also have dettol spray, rubber gloves, scrubbing brush, carpet cleaner and bin liners in a spare washing up bowl under the sink ready to grab.

Lumps go down the toilet and bedding wrapped in bin liners until it gets washed. I wash any bedding / towels that get sick on through a 90 degree super wash.

I also get dd1 settled on the floor instead of the top bunk so its easier for her to get to the toilet and easier for me to check on her.

Wow this thread is helpful for future reference! DD is only 1 and has only had one stomach bug- all she would eat was soup and jelly so no bits and it was dealt with easily via kitchen towel, baby wipes, and a hot wash.

I do have a question though- what about carpet? My mum always used to Hoover the bits up (and presumably throw the bag out once we were better), but we have a dyson and I can't imagine then having to clean the inside of it!

I think I've just binned them in the past... Only buy cheapest sheets and kids have only been sick a couple of times.

I use kitchen roll to pick up bits off the carpet/soak up the worst of the liquid. I then use a zoflora solution in warm water and a cloth to clean over the carpet. Zoflora will disinfect and has an odour neutraliser.

I'm clearly not good for the environment. Anything with sick on is BINNED. Bleurrrggghhhhh