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Cyndi Sarnoff-Ross is a licensed psychotherapist with almost twenty years of clinical experience in the fields of clinical psychology and organizational management br br She has worked extensively with a wide variety of…
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Running On Empty – Exhausting (and Gross) Mommy Moments
Since our wonderful Docs here at DS have provided us with some funny albeit gross anecdotes in their recent blogs, I thought I'd get in on the action. As I write this blog, I am profoundly sleep deprived due to the fact that my 7 month old daughter has some type of stomach virus that kept all of us up last night. I recently read a parenting article that discussed a mother's innate ability not be grossed out by her own baby's vomit. In fact, according to the study reported in this article mothers will willingly provide a surface for their baby to vomit on if it means deflecting the vomit from other - less cleanable surfaces. All of this acceptance of one of life's more disgusting occurrences is born out of the bond between mother and child. Incidentally, fathers are also more tolerant of, and less grossed out by, their own child's bodily emissions then those of others but in general in a household where there is a mother and a father, typically it is the mom getting puked on.
Most people couldn't fathom getting into the direct path of anything disgusting let alone vomit. You certainly wouldn't hold out your hands or put your body in the path of a stranger's, a friend's, or even your mate's throw up. Granted baby vomit is a different creature altogether than big kid or adult vomit but most people wouldn't even provide a surface to someone else's kid if they were heaving, even if it meant some intense clean up afterwards.
Interestingly, this phenomenon of acceptance is not just due to a sense of duty but also to the so called love hormone, Oxytocin, produced when a mother or primary caregiver is in the presence of his or her child. It is the hormone that increases when a woman breastfeeds and is said to be produced naturally when adoptive parents hold their children as well. It is a sort of evolutionary safeguard that seems to exist in the service of getting parents to care for their children.
So as I stood there in my daughter's room last night as the willing receptacle for my sweet baby's stomach contents I thought, "how can I make sure this stuff only gets on me and not on the carpet, chair, crib or anything that would require a major overhaul to clean." With that thought in mind I quickly moved into the bathroom and stepped into the bathtub and proceeded to be literally showered in vomit. (Take note - a great place to be if you ever find yourself in this situation - easy cleanup). While I was sad for my daughter's discomfort and worried, as any parent would be, I wasn't the least bit grossed out as I held her tightly in my arms to comfort her.
On a final note, my daughter is asleep as I write this blog and her fever is down, which is good news. This of course does not mean that the virus has passed but at least for the moment she seems peaceful and my clothes are clean.
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Anyhoo..AND HOW ARE YOU?? Chapter 2 is usually when mom and dad get the flu...
Good luck and lots and lots of hugs!!!
I trained my young ones to vomit on the comforter if they didn't think they would make it. Quick and easy clean up and had several in the closet that cost me at most $9.99. So worth it in the grand scheme of things. If I couldn't handle it, it was tossed.