Anyone have experienced this....
Had a toddler wake up from nap very upset, knew he didn't feel good right away. We carry on our schedule and he sits down to eat snack. While eating snack he starts crying again out of the blue. I start asking him questions, he points to his stomach then throat. Tells me they ate hurting. Proceeds to finish muffins and water. Dad comes in and he gets worked up again, gags, and vomits all over my floor. And it kept coming and coming until it was all cleared from his belly.
Mom tells me this morning in a text he was perfectly fine all evening and night afterwards, eating, drinking, sleeping well. The tells me he has had 3 BM's also. In my opinion, not normal. She thinks it is all related to constipation... I'm thinking he may have a touch of what is going around our community. He doesn't usually have BM's on my time, and I'm not there to see these BM's at home our their consistency.

Reply

My "24 hours symptom free" policy would kick in for sure, along with my "$20 per body fluid fee." It's amazing how vomit/underwear accidents/etc are not a big deal as long as it only affects YOU. When parents have to start paying for the clean up, they might be suddenly a little less keen to send a barfy/not ready for underwear kid.

Seems like constipation that caused vomiting would be a bit more serious. But who is to say that it's not a stomach flu?

The only person I know who has had constipation to the point of vomiting is someone who has a bowel obstruction. But maybe I just am not aware of how normal it is to vomit with constipation.

But bottom line...no way would I allow this to continue the way you've described nor would I let parents tell me that a barfing kid is "fine."

Reply

If constipation is serious enough to cause vomiting, then he needs a doctor. That can be very serious and turn bad quickly:
I would insist on a doctors visit

Reply

Is this something you actually charge or is this heavy sarcasm? If they how the heck do you word this? I would’ve made bank the last two weeks. I have a 24 hour exclusion policy in place already.

Reply

I don't play doctor and I don't allow parents to either.

If he threw up, he needs to remain home for whatever period of time your illness policy states.

Whether constipation or a virus caused him to vomit is irrelevant as vomit due to either is a sanitary issue and makes neither more manageable than the other.

Vomiting is a symptom. (of many things)
I exclude for symptoms.

Reply

Vomiting because of constipation is not good...... I'm no doctor that would mean he may end up needing surgery etc... I would exclude and want a Dr visit before I would let him come back.

Reply

It doesn't matter what the cause is; vomit is unsanitary and he cannot be in your care where other children are.

I've dealt with this with a family who insisted their kid's runny blowouts were due to teething. I'm sure they weren't, but regardless, feces are a health hazard. It doesn't matter why the poop is running across my floor; it matters that the poop goes away so I can keep the other kids healthy.

Reply

It's possible dcb has been constipated but also happened to came down with the stomach bug at the same time. One doesn't necessarily cancel the other out. Probably tmi but I know when I'm fighting a stomach bug, my digestive tract seems to slow down - food just sits in my stomach and doesn't digest like it normally would for a day or two before the vomiting hits. Maybe it's the same for this little guy and he was trying to fight it off and lost the battle? I agree with everyone else, though... regardless of the reason, he needs to stay home until he's better and he should be seen by his pediatrician if dcm really thinks the vomiting was caused by constipation.

Reply

I skimmed through this so I apologize if this has already been said.

DD used to get so constipated that she would throw up. Hers would be rapid though. Like if she didn't have a BM within 24 - 48 hours she would throw up. This was while I was trying to tweek her diet to get to regular BM's and find what works. She never had a blockage and was perfectly healthy. She just HAS to have frequent BM's or she vomits.

With DCB, since he is not your own child, I would certainly exclude for 24 hours after vomit. Especially not knowing if it was a tummy bug and constipation at the same time or just constipation. If he vomits frequently from constipation then I would request a doc visit/plan of action.

Reply

It was definitely a bug, dck#2 was down after school yesterday. Mom changed her tune once she knew someone else wasn't feeling well, but still said..."well he only had 3 BM's today". Okay that is not normal for him, he is sick! So they're keeping him home again today so he doesn't get exposed

Reply

Love how mom is just trying to make this YOUR problem. If he is so constipated that the poor thing is throwing up go get him some medical attention! What is wrong with these parents

Reply

No, I really do charge $20 for a significant body fluid accident. It's in my contract under the fees section.

If a child vomited here, I would call for pick up and I would also charge the $20 fee on the invoice. If the parent took longer than 45 minutes to get here, they get charged $20 for late pick up too.

I just have a list of bullets under my fees section and one of them just says that there is a $20 fee for an underwear accident or other significant body fluid accident.

Reply

And ITA with above that severe constipation is still an illness that the parents need to deal with, not the provider. And vomit is unsanitary regardless of the cause.

Reply