Babies and Mothers on Cough Nights

When a young child has a cough, say goodbye to peaceful nights. *all mothers are nodding in unison*

Enemy to most parents, is the itchy-throat cough. I had it and it is worst cough. I coughed till my ribs ached in pain for 2 weeks.
But for young children, the itchy-throat cough means you may never sleep tonight. And the next. And the next.

First, the poor baby coughs and coughs. And then comes pukefest. ON the bed. Milk, stomach juice and mucus have a party together on the bed sheet but you'll have no time to clean it immediately. You have to scoop your child up and wash him up, change his clothes, comfort him if he's crying while you are glaring at the puke party seeping deeper and deeper into the unwashable part of the mattress, then you grab a towel labelled 'Puke Towel' and try to clean up the mess, then you change the sheets.

Now, the mess is different from any other mess you've handled. Milk curdles, acidic gastric juice and mucus are the nastiest mess. OH GLORY. It's slimy, sticky and feels oily even after you wipe 10 times. It never seem to go away. You will need industrial strength detergent, the hardcore ones. You either soak the soiled towel, sheets and his clothes in a pail of water and handle the stinky water tomorrow, or you rub off the mess first to make things easier tomorrow. I can spend the whole night rinsing a puke towel.

And then guess what. This repeats at an ungodly hour. I became smarter the second time. I placed him to sleep under a big towel so that if he puked, it'll be on the towel and not the bed sheet. Clever right? No, Murphy outsmarted me and tells him to puke OUTSIDE the towel, onto the bed sheet. I now know why mothers have 50 bedsheets and towels.

So, I get a puke bucket, strategically placed within reach so that when I hear the first sign of cough, I can grab the bucket and hold it under his chin at the speed of light. Does this work? Not always. The law of physics clearly states that no puke shall land safely on towels. Sigh, rinse and repeat.

Goodnight.