18 month old was sick in the night and I didn’t know until the morning !

[Runnersknee]

I feel so awful - my little one (18 months old) was sick at some point last night and didn’t cry so I only found out when I saw sick all over the cot this morning 😭 I feel so awful !

I always assumed that a sick toddler would cry if they weren’t feeling well and want their mum.

is it normal for them to not cry?!?

Same happened to me when dd was similar age. Didn't know til the morning when I walked passed her room and I could smell it 😱. She was happy as Larry, actually playing with it!!! A fact she can't get her head round as, sadly, now she's a raging emetaphobe 😕. I too felt awful, but not your fault if there was no cry to alert you - don't beat yourself up over it

Oh that is sad, OP. But what could you do if you didn’t know? Presumably you have a monitor or she’s close by so you can hear? I’d feel terrible too as a mum of a toddler so I totally get how awful you probably feel but my first thought is that presumably if she had been upset she would have cried, so I can’t help thinking she actually wasn’t upset and just went back to sleep. Seems a bit dangerous in case of choking but I’m not sure what you can really do about that. Maybe someone else will come on with some thoughts. I just didn’t want to leave you alone with the guilt! (Which you don’t need to feel btw, just to reiterate! I really do think she is unlikely to have been distressed or she would have cried out)

My son did the same when he was 2. We do have a camera in his room. Apparently that night he woke up, sat up, vomited, then fell back asleep. No crying, no shouting. Must've been a relief for his little tummy that he didn't fully wake up.

Aww. Don't beat yourself about it OP .

Did you sleep train them? If babies have been sleep trained sometimes this happens as they assume no one will come if they cry 😭

Ds1 did that when he was a similar age! Not only that but i went to work before he got up so i wasn’t the one to get him up.

@chateauneufdupapa what a load of codswallop, please link to the science to explain this phenomenon

Unless you are going to stand there watching them all night there is nothing you can do so don’t feel guilty . Sometimes things like this happen and if she had been distressed she would have cried for sure.

That's ridiculous, inaccurate and insensitive to OP who already feels bad. Sometimes children don't fully wake up when they vomit so they don't cry as they are unaware of what is happening.

It’s true though that some children don’t wake you up when there’s a problem because they’ve been told not to wake you.
we didn’t sleep train ours but spent about 6 months during cot/toddler bed transition taking him back to his room and firmly saying don’t wake us up to go on the potty, then age 5 he once wet the bed and didn’t wake us up as he thought he wasn’t allowed to. Now we’ve taught him he can wake us up for

• needing a poo
• wetting bed
• bad dream
• feelikg really sad, doesn’t need to be a reason

luckily he only wakes us up for these reasons about once every two months, otherwise I can see this would backfire!

Same happened with DS. Felt bad the time but reasoned he probably had a sore tummy puked it up and went back to sleep (head and hair in it obviously 🤮) but he was a happy wee chap the next day and had been grumpy before bed! You couldn’t have done anything about it so give him a big cuddle and move on.

That happened to me with one of mine around that age. I felt awful, he was fine. Don't beat yourself up, OP, as you can see from this thread it happens sometimes.

They do this to keep you on your toes. “ What can I do to upset Mum just as she’s feeling confident with this parenting lark? 😆

Mine did this a few times op, although around that age he started to become a bit more vocal and upset about it which was obviously really helpful for identifying something was wrong. If they're really exhausted they've probably fallen straight back asleep so while I too felt so guilty, there was no way to know and you can't beat yourself up over it.

Mine did this too, twice. Shocking each time. But he had no problems crying out for help when he did need it, so I just assumed he figured he had the situation under control and didn't need my help 😅 seriously though, it really shook me because I was worried about him choking on it, but I guess he woke up enough to get it out and move himself away. As you can see from the thread, it happens! And it's not at all to do with sleep training so ignore that bullshit post.

DD2 did this once. Utterly silently, went straight back to sleep. We had a motion activated camera that recorded any movement and that didn’t even pick it up. Went in in the morning to the smell of sick and a totally happy DD2 with dried sick in her hair 🤷‍♀️

Mine did this a couple of times. We were right through the wall and I could hear everything (and am a very light sleeper) - can only presume he didn't really wake up or otherwise wasn't upset by it. He's always been a heavy sleeper when unwell so that may have been a factor. He definitely wasn't afraid to let us know if he was upset otherwise!

I remember doing this when I was young, it was the only time I was sick without any warning or feeling ill, my mum only found out because she heard an odd cough as she passed my room. I wish it was always like that!

I think for small kids, being sick is sometimes not as physically traumatic as it is for adults. I watched my 1yo be sick in their car seat. They just opened their mouth and the sick just poured out. He was totally unbothered.

Ah op it's a horrible feeling but you didn't know. My DD done that when she was the same age and I got the fright of my life when it was all purple red (straight to the Drs. Apparently it was just mushed blueberries she has the night before🤦🏼‍♀️).
I didn't know she was sick during the night. It's scary thought but if your LO is alright then that's the main thing.

These things happen, don’t feel bad, it was out of your control.

Unscientific nonsense which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how sleep training works.

What a sleep trained baby won't do is "protest" cry at sleep, because they have nothing to protest about as they can self soothe. But they'll absolutely still cry for help if they need it.

As for why a baby wouldn't cry when they vomit, well, the answer is pretty straightforward. Your body tells you to vomit whenever it wants to expel the contents of your stomach. Sometimes this can actually provide a real sense of relief for babies (or indeed adults). If something has been making them feel uncomfortable and vomiting gets rid of that, and it's late at night, then it's not unusual for them to just go straight back asleep. We don't do this as adults because we have developed associations of vomiting with sickness, hygiene, danger etc, none of which a baby has the cultural competence to understand. It's just "my body did something. Now I feel better."

This is just ridiculous (and I didn't sleep train)

Bullshit.....

I sleep trained mine but if they actually needed me for sickness etc they would cry and I went to them.

Okay I’m feeling slightly reassured that it seems to be quite common at this age - thank you everyone.

Now it’s the waiting game to see if I get it lol - toddler hasn’t been sick again but been wayyy more cuddley than usual so definitely thinking it’s a bug 😫quiet few days for us ahead