DS was sent home from school today as he'd thrown up twice, anybody know any remedies to help him feel better or good things to use to get rid of sick smell or any general tips for when your child is throwing up?

[ScrewballMuppet]

When sickness goes through our house the washing is endless, the house smells terrible so pleaseee any helpful tips or advice?

take all his clothes off and let him wear pjs, they are easier to wash and dry

Peel a few oranges and leave the peel in the living room (or smelliest room)

send someone out for babywipes if you don't already have them in the house

let him watch cbeebies (ahhhhh)

Dettol aerosol to spray everywhere possible.

Tea tree oil - flick it round rooms, and on mattress. It makes it all smell fresh, and kills germs. Might be good to flick some lavender too to make the smell slightly less sterile.

We've just gone through this - the whole household

My standard procedure is:

• first 2 hours afterwards sips ONLY of water.
• for 8 hours after that water only (this is usually overnight thankfully and when they don't feel like eating anyway.
• for 24 hrs after that the BRAT diet: Bananas, Rice (plain boiled white), Apples and Toast (dry white). This is about as bland as it gets and all of them help a recovering tummy without feeding the bug.
• for 24 hrs after that then a "normal" diet but without too much strong flavour stuff (no tomatoey cooked sauces or spicey things ... give tummy a rest basically) and NO dairy.
• next day back to normal and reintroduce dairy as long as they say they're happy.

Even this last bug which seems pretty nasty, symptoms pretty much stopped within that 10 hours and the timing of different food introductions felt right for me when I was feeling grotty with it, and the boys seem to have done well on it too.

No medications I've ever found to help - most only seem to prolong with no real benefit, imo.

In terms of household stuff, to minimize spread keep that washing going, keep the bathrooms clean even though it drives you mental constantly doing it. When the explosions are all over beg borrow or steal a carpet cleaner from anyone you know who has one

I borrowed NomDePlume's washing machine this morning, so am fully sympathetic!!!

Trad treatment from my childhood included ginger ale (helps with nausea, rehydration plus a bit of energy from the sugar) as well as the rice, toast options (also marmite toast allowed)..

flat coca cola is meant to be good for upset stomachs. might be an old wives tale but it once worked with an ex of mine.

I feel for you and youe ds but reading this thread has helped me tremendously. For about 14 years now I have a terrible phobia about throwing up. I only confronted it and started to get help last year. It had got so bad that it was ruling my life. If I heard someone at a bus stop say that their brothers son had been sick the night before I would all of a sudden start to sweat and fell sick and from then on I would be convinced that I was going to catch thie bug abd so were my children. I would stop eating (sometimes for a week or more) and avoid going out. I would be constantly on the verge of a panic attack and always trying to stop it.It would last for anything from a wekk to two weeks, I would lose weight and wear myself out with the panic. Last year I was diagnosed with a panic disoder and a chronic phobia. I have been seeing a psychologist ever since and he is helping LOTS. The funny thing is that I seem to have the constitution of an ox and hardly ever get tummy bugs. The psychologist thinks that maybe this has fuelled the problem to a certain extent in as much as I have never been able to just get used to fact that sometimes you get sick and throw up. I had made it into a HUGE thing to be avoided at all costs. I would cancel apps or going to friends houses if someone there had even felt sick in the week or so before. To make it worse I hid all of this from my friends and family. I began to live inside myself and noone knew what was going on inside my head. The releif to finally tell someone the extent of my madness was liberating and to read this thread and hear people talking about throwing up calmly and matter of factly is another thing that is helping me to retrain my thinking towards the matter. I'm sooooo sorry to hijack this thread but THANKYOU soooooooooooooooooooooo much for this thread. You will never know quite how much it's cintributing to making me better. I have a long way to go but now at least when my dd's are sick I can be there for them. I am ashamed to say that in the past I have been in a seperate room having a huge panic attack, crying and urging and thinking I was dying whilst my 4 yr old was being sick on her iwn. I don't think the guilt from that will ever go away but I am making myself better for me and my children.

I'm sorry again for this ramble but I am now crying and I feel that typing this and knowing people are going to read it will just help me more.This has been very therapeutic THANKS

Oh trinity you poor thing. I have a bit of a phobia about throwing up (myself or anyone else, doesn't matter) - have to leave the room and scream for dh if one of the kids looks like they're going to puke and avoid doing it myself at all costs. I can only imagine what it's been like for you, I'm so glad to hear you're getting help and trying to overcome it.

But not to hijack the thread completely - screwball - try a homeopathic remedy called Nux Vom or Arsen Alb if there is sickness and diarhhoea together. 30c potency, two tablets every half an hour up to six doses, then three times a day until the symptoms subside. Seriously - there are some things that homeopathy helps more than others and this is one of those things that it works like magic every time! I can't gaurantee they won't be sick at all after taking it but I'm pretty sure you'll see an improvement. You should be able to get either one of these remedies from Boots, if not I can recommend a place that will ship them 1st class to anywhere in the country. Trust me - try it!!

Bit late for now but I find the magic out and about spray excellent for taking away smells of sick and nappy changes.