Does your vomit bowl have an alternative use?

[Waveacrossabay]

I'm clearing out my mums house, and I've found the glow in the dark Halloween pumpkin bowl that was dragged out every bug to be used as a vom bowl.

I always thought at Halloween the sweets that went in the big glow in the dark pumpkin bowl went into another one that we just didn't see?

Nope. I asked my dad. They just disinfected the vomit bowl a few times and stuck halloween sweets in it. I've eaten popcorn from that bowl!!

What the fuck? I feel so violated!!

Weirdly, he can't catch a ball at all. But give him a viscose liquid and a small aperture in a moving vehicle and he's suddenly Brian Lara!

I'm not sure if it counts as a stealth boast but all my hurls are very gentle and easily contained by any reasonable size bowl. The sounds I (involuntarily, honest!) make though are a different story, I think all the vom energy goes into the soundtrack!

As a child I seem to remember it was a washing-up bowl (hopefully an old one just for that purpose but I don't remember TBH)

Nowadays, in cases where something is needed by a bed "just in case" (looking at you 18yo DS after a night out with your mates!) , we use the plastic bin (waste paper bin size) from the utility room, lined with a plastic bag if we get chance/time. It's disinfected afterwards obviously.

I don't understand how anyone with kids has never had to use a vomit bucket of some sort. Surely all toddlers get a sick bug at some point and surely they wouldn't get enough warning and have the understanding to go a puke in the toilet!?

DD had three bugs between the ages of around 1-3 years old where she vomited multiple times and I put her in bed with me surrounded by towels and spent hours catch her vomit in our old washing up bowl.

She was 4 by the time she learned to run to the bathroom to be sick.

Thankfully it's not something I use frequently, but I have used various bowls over the years, and they have been returned to their usual use afterwards. Washed, disinfected etc. I also re use the kids clothing /bedlinen that has been vommed on.
Body fluids don't stress me too much.

We use the old potty.

We use an old celebrations chocolate tub, they’re quite large so more likely to catch all. I’ve sharpied “not for food” over it so it’s only used as a vomit catching receptacle.

I don't own one, usually manage to vomit straight to the toilet, but in my parents' house sick bowl was used for taking the laundry off the line or soaking some washing before putting it to the machine. Oh, and to soak your feet before pedicure. If I had to vomit to the bowl, I'd use one I use for cleaning. This thread made me laugh. Eating popcorn out of vomit bowl is a winner of the day 😂

Btw. it only reminded me that we have a plate that my cat pooped on when he was sick and didn't want to use litter box. He went to the kitchen sink and pooped there. Every time we serve something to our guests, we think who gets the poop plate 😂

As an aside, why is it that the only vomming sessions in this house seem to occur after eating spag bol or tomato based sauce? Anyone who hasn't got a sick bowl / bucket / bin can never have had a child sit up in bed and projectile vomit red, slightly oily, grossness flecked with half chewed pasta onto a cream carpet (very expensive carpet cleaning required) and / or bed linen.

I also wonder if anyone else has had a helpful DH put spaghetti vom covered bedding straight into the washing machine at 2am?

Any signs of feeling ill now and the bathroom bin is immediately repurposed into the vom bowl and placed by the bedside along with strict instructions to hold it in front of their face immediately they feel anything like puking & keep it there on the way to the bathroom!

#goals

I've caught vom from a small child on the bus, in my gloves. Small amount thankfully but still even though I have a multi use vom bowl, the gloves went in the bin. I think I didnt want to carry them any further and had no plastic bag to put them in.

The last time I was sick, I felt it long before I was. Yes, I could run to the toilet, but being a horizontal yoyo was not an option because I had a headache with it. Therefore, bowl beside/on the bed ready for when I actually did throw up was better. Plus my bathroom is inconveniently above a pub.

Good point about bed linen/towels etc. If you would wash that and then use it again what is wrong with washing a bowl and reusing it? Arguably, reusing the bowl is less grotty as sealed metal/plastic surfaces are less likely to retain anything than sheets and towels. Both can be boil washed.

....awaits someone who will come on to say that they bin and replace all puked/shit on bed linen and towels......

Although I must hold my hand up and say that I did bin one duvet cover once but it was one that, every time I used it, I would think "I really should replace this" as it was getting thinner and thinner and I knew it was one long toenail away from a big tear! But it was one of those I never got around to until and Olympic standard chunder from then toddler DD1. I looked at it and I wasnt confident it would make a boil wash in one piece and at 4am (why is it ALWAYS 4am when a bug hits?!) i couldnt be arsed so I chucked it. If memory serves I think the duvet went aswell but that was also due to be replaced as most of the stuffing had shifted so you had boiling hot feet and a freezing cold arse!

We use the old OLD DEFINITELY NOT IN USE Milton sterilising bucket. The kids grew out of needing things sterilising. It comes with a handle a lid and is the perfect shape for limiting splash back. We have two loos in this house and 4 kids. The kids take it to bed or sofa with them if they feel ill. When I went to hospital with sickness the trusted bucket came too.

We use the loo here. Once every few years perhaps a bowl is needed. Although more to have by the side of the bed just in case. Don’t believe it’s ever actually been used in the last 5 years at least. No way am I wasting space on a special vom bowl. Pyrex dish it is, and goes back in the kitchen cupboard in between times.

When I was a child we used an orange Tupperware bowl that I’m pretty sure DM used for other things. I always thought it smelt funny even after being disinfected. Now I use DDs old top and tail bowl, which is only used as a sick bowl and lives (after disinfecting) under her bed for easy access.

I have several buckets to choose from. I couldn’t use anything that would subsequently have food in it. 🤮I’d find that disgusting. The buckets are outside, they are used to clean dog paws if they step in shit.

So you'd rather put your head in a bucket that has held animal shit than one that has had food in it?

Or I’d rather not have food in a container that has had vomit in it. Dunno, I very easily get the ick, very strong gag reflex so yes, I would.

Ours is the other way round. A prime example of reduce, reuse, recycle, our vomit bowl is a Christmas pudding bowl from one year.

I repurposed our cold Milton steriliser bowl from when I was sterilising bottles when she was a baby. It’s now the vomit bowl. When she’s sick I give it a rinse out, fill it with the Milton tablets and water and hey presto perfectly sterile again.

Saves us getting rid of something we weren’t going to use again and makes me feel better it’s sterile when I put it away

We don't have a vomit bowl. I have three DC and they all have strong stomachs - I can count the total number of vomiting incidents on the fingers of one hand. And now they're old enough to get to the toilet in time!

We have a specific silver bucket that says ‘DES’ on the side in huge black marker letters, actually I have two, des is short for ‘DESignated Sick Bucket’

We have plastic bins in each room that are alway lined with a plastic bag. If someone is going to be sick they can grab that and lift the bag of rubbish out quickly