Sick Bucket – Prep for Gastro, Flu and Viruses with this ready to grab Sick Bucket.

What’s inside your kids sick bucket (before the vomit)?

Do you have one? Are you prepared or are you more of an in-the-middle-of-the-night-scrambler type of parent?

As soon as I think my kids are getting sick, I go around my house gathering items for the impending sick bucket/sick child scenario.

The suggestions from the above article “Sick bucket”, are great but I would make a few changes of my own.

1. I don’t see any need for snacks. Chances are my kids are going to be vomiting more than once and trying to get “food” into them is not a requirement at day 1 level.

I always have dehydration icypoles or popsicles in the freezer, so re-hydration is crucial and my kids seem to like these overpriced but justifiable things.

2. I like to have a clean stash of towels ready and a pile of clean pyjamas ready to grab in the bathroom. We are lucky that our children’s bedrooms have their own bathrooms so we only have about 1-2 yards to get them to a tiled shower cubicle for cleanup. If they are vomiting continuously I leave them in the shower until it settles.

3. The above article suggests using a plastic tablecloth for the child to sleep on. We have protectors on the bed, but this is a great idea for on the floor, around the bed as I usually just pop towels down around their bed for catching vomit over-spray (totally gross). Plastic tablecloths could at least be thrown out rather than cleaned, you can get bulk packs too.

4. I like to include a water bottle for myself, hair bands to get my hair out the way and antibacterial soap in the bathroom and in my pocket for quick cleanups. I also include a change or two of clothes in their bathrooms for myself. No guessing why that might be. If it’s night time – I put on clothes that I can rush out the door in if it escalates and I need to drive to a hospital or medical centre. I make sure I know where my purse is, my phone is charged and my shoes are ready.

What else do you need? Plastic bags, buckets and loads of them: perfect for clean up, vomit and whatever else is coming your way.

Oh and if you think they are getting sick and you have a “window of opportunity” then make sure you clear out all those cute fluffy pillows and bed toys because it will make cleanup so much easier if they are up and out the way.  My kids don’t need their toys to sleep with so they happily move them out of the “vomit” way.

Updated to add: I have since learnt a few new tricks along the way, lining the vomit bucket with plastic bin liners is great for cleanup, especially if vomit is coming hard and fast.  I add 3-4 bin liners to the waste paper bucket and remove the dirty one to reveal the clean one underneath.  I also place a plastic bucket in the bedrooms for dirty and soiled washing, to throw the clothes in quickly so I can get back to my child.

Bleach for the showers, a few times accidents have happened in the shower, so once I grab the child out, I spray bleach everywhere I can for quick cleanup in between.  We also allocate one bathroom for those that are sick and no one is to share.

Good luck!