Taking sick child on train?

[SleepyHollowed84]

On a train this morning. Small regional service only going about 1 hour between cities.

A parent has just ushered a child onto the train at the same time as me holding a metal sick bucket with a towel around his neck. Child is green. They’ve taken up camp by the toilet as presumably imminent incident is coming.

AIBU to argue that this is incredibly unreasonable on all other passengers?! I know and appreciate accidents happen (been there myself) but I would think if you’re bringing a sick bucket onto the train you’re probably not well enough to travel?

I should add context that I am mildly emetophobic so this is not an ideal situation for me but I doubt other passengers want to be subject to this?

What's your Plan B if you have a child who takes ill on holiday?

Nobody would go for a day out with a puking child. Mum's probably desperate just to get home without incident.

Not always true. On my local FB group about 6 months ago, a mum specifically posted saying both her kids caught a sickness bug and they were due to visit grandparents that afternoon. They had no car so train was the only option and it was a fairly long and expensive journey (4hrs+) so she didn't want to lose the booking. Her plan was to take both kids on the train with sick bags and her post was actually more of a moan about how inconvenient the situation was, rather than the potential biohazard and danger of infecting other people or their grandparents. Some people are selfish and simply have zero self-awareness beyond their own wants and needs.

What about the wellbeing of the child? The last thing I would be concerned about would not be emetiphobes, the child was green so they would have been feeling pretty bad and probably needed to sleep.

Nothing against the parent, as the circumstances as to why they were travelling at that time is unknown.

Depends why they we're travelling, maybe they had been out when the puking started and they were trying to get home. No one wants that on a train but sometimes there's no other option.

If it’s illness then it’s selfish to inflict contamination on others. Basic hygiene needs to be followed by people to avoid spreading illnesses but I would say that the majority don’t care about others.

There could be any number of reasons. On their way to or from hospital, child on chemotherapy, child has become ill on a journey and they have turned back...

No body plans to be in that situation. I've travelled to and from chemotherapy by train and carried sick bowls on trains and buses many times. Unfortunately there is no other option for transport to treatment.

When dd2 was about 2yo we got on the train in London. She was absolutely fine, no signs of illness at all. She was then sick every 5 minutes from Coventry to Leeds.
I had a choice: stay on, or get off and go back on another train. I had no other way of getting there or back.
We were going for a funeral of a baby, and the parents had asked me especially to come, so I continued. The other passengers and staff were lovely, bringing water, biscuits for her to nibble, even offered me towels. Someone even offered to stay with her If I wanted to go and clean up.

Maybe they are in a similar position of having to continue (or are going back) having been fine at the start of the journey.

@sweeneytoddsrazor @Needanewname42 @user7784
Id wait until they were no longer upchucking. And then ideally get a taxi or beg a friend/relative to come fetch us (having also waited until the poor kid was no longer upchucking)
My dd is 20 and regularly has episodes of upchucking. No way would I take her on a train (going out or going home). We would wait until she was feeling better.

It’s really selfish, but there are a lot of parents about like this.

I wouldn't be thrilled about this but I'd give the benefit of the doubt that they didn't have a better option.

He was having an asthma attack that needed urgent oxygen but I should have just waited apparently 🙄

To add in the middle of Venice. But in a number of busy city's public transport can be the quickest way to get to a hospital in traffic.

There have been a couple of threads in the last few weeks that have been along the lines of "DC has a sickness bug but we're due to fly/get the train on holiday, should we still go?"
And a lot of people have said yes, I'd still go.

@user7784 sorry I was referring specifically to the ops scenario in my reply and tbh didnt take in the details of your comment to me.
I hope your child got the help he needed and wasnt too horrendous an experience for him or you x

But this is assuming any sick person is on their way somewhere.. rather then on their way back home.. maybe something has happened middle of day and someone makes their way back home.. where else would a sick person go or stand of they ill and no where to go.. they obviously make their way home...

If a whole family has tickets booked to go to or from somewhere, train, bus, flight it can be really difficult to change travel arrangements at the last minute, including accommodation and time off work.
Train possibly means they don't even have travel insurance as a backup plan.
Then take into account it's a bug so they are likely to be over it in a day.

So I can totally see the dilemma for a family travelling if someone is unwell.

Booked and paid for ticket in advance, and have to get home I guess.

I had to get the train home from work with a sickness bug. It was a forty mile journey, but I'm not sure what my other choice was other than take to the sick bed in the first aid room at work for a few days! I didn't realise I was ill until I got to work and threw up.

It's not at all ideal but if they were already on part of a train journey when the kid started vomiting I am not really sure what they are meant to do other then finish their journey and get home.

Thanks for all your responses.

Just to add it was 8am in the morning so I would assume they hadn’t been caught out anywhere in the middle of the day, but I appreciate the unexpected happens!

8am - it's definitely not a day trip, but it's something that has been pre-planned maybe been the only option.

Maybe mum was going to work and dropping kids at Grannies.

We don't know but you can guarantee it wasn't done for giggles.

My child has bad reflux and vomits daily. We’ve had to take the train on the way to hospital appointments, complete with sick bowl. You don’t know their story. Nobody is going to travel on a train with a sick child unless they really have to.