Spit up vs. Vomit

Yea, so not the title you were looking for, but a harsh reality. When your baby is young and maybe has a bubble of gas caught between chugs of milk and you give them a pat pat, they may spit up a bit. Totally normal. It's never overwhelming though my friends tell me bottle fed babies spit up has a distinct smell that is not so pleasant. Viv was breastfed so we never really had that smell associated with spit up. Anyway, Viv has been a very healthy baby, she has only been sick 4 times since birth. The other 3 times she had a cold - congestion, slight fever, more spitting up, once a sore throat and always accompanied with a bit of fussiness. I always know something is up with her if she is fussy as she is normally so happy. When I would call the Dr./nurse to see what kind of things I should do for her when she was sick, they would ask if she was vomiting, I always said I was not sure because she was spitting up more. The nurses would say, you will know when it is vomit. Fast forward to our trip to Florida last week and while she was happy to see her Aunt, Uncle and cousins, there was just something slightly off, she was fussy. I thought it came with the fact that she has been cutting teeth at an alarming rate and she just had a sore mouth. But when we packed up into the minivan to head out to lunch Vivian gave a cough cough and out of her mouth came VOMIT. I mean lots of vomit. I was saying oh my gosh and a bunch of stuff, but was frozen like an idiot. I got a clothe from Gerry and the second wave came both out of her mouth and her nose. Ughh! I am not one of those take your sick friend to the bathroom and hold their hair, I just don't deal well with vomit. It really turns my stomach and makes me either vomit myself of just feel like it. So here I am holding a cloth that is saturated with vomit looking at my sweet baby with vomit all down the front of her and wanting to spew the contents of my belly across the minivan floor. Lucky for me, David and Gerry are experienced parents - having two kids helps, they have been through all this before. They pretty much walked me through what to do and Gerry (bless her heart) took care of the carseat and David the car. So I am the Mom that calls the Dr. for every little thing - she is not a sickly child so I often fear the worst. There is nothing wrong with this approach unless your the unlucky nurse that has to calm me down and talk me through it. I seriously remember two occasions that I was actually crying on the phone thinking Viv would die in her sleep because she was so stuffed up. I have learned a lot from those nurses: did you know that a fever is actually good. It is your bodies way of killing the bacteria/virus that is making you ill. As long as the temp is under 102 you should just let it work off the infection. That is unless your child is suffering, then you treat the symptoms. Good to know eh! So to put it mildly, you will know the difference between vomit and spit up. It pretty much is just like ours which comes with all the things that make it so gross to us; smell, texture, force and yes even consistency. I don't have experience with vomit before your solids, but I would imagine it would come with great force and smell like spoiled milk - ughhh, just typing it is making me turn my mouth up and wince my eyes. Well anyway, I think my stomach can not bare anymore of this chatter, but hopefully this will help some of you down the road. Viv is better now, but when we returned home her Daddy got sick. I am pretty much over taking care of sick people. He is on the mend and went back to work today. I feel like I deserve some sort of medal for all this yucky work I have done this week, but I guess just the sweet look of thanks in both their eyes will do just fine!