Our new reality: Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome | By Natasha Ashfield

May 25, 2017

When my youngest daughter was about a year old, we noticed that she was getting sick more than our older two daughters. At first, we thought she was just more prone to getting stomach bugs, but after a few bad bouts of being sick, we started to noticed a pattern to her vomiting. It always happened in the middle of the night, lasted a few hours, occurred every 15-30 minutes within those few hours and then it would be over.

We went to our family doctor who had us try removing a number of different foods from her diet and keep a log of her symptoms and foods, etc. After a few months of doing this, we weren’t noticing a change. She was still violently sick about once or twice a month, every month.

This is when we started to worry.

She was sent for a number of tests and was referred to a pediatrician. By this time, she was about 18 months old. After all the tests came back normal and the pediatrician asked us a number of questions, he diagnosed her with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS).

The good news was they didn’t find something more serious, the bad news was we were told that there wasn’t a cure and although there are meds that sometimes help, chronic vomiting was something she was going to have to live with for potentially the rest of her life.

I wasn’t sure how to feel after she was diagnosed with CVS. I was relieved because your mind can go to some dark places when your child is going through medical testing. But I was also very upset and worried. How will this impact her when she’s in school? Will she be able to have sleepovers with friends? Will she be able to hold down a job? Not to mention, the many sleepless nights of continuous vomiting, pain, crying, hair-holding, bathing and laundry. My heart ached for her and yet I selfishly didn’t know if I could handle our new reality, either.

There have been some bad months — she had an episode at a friend’s cottage and vomited on every single piece of linen they owned. She’s also missed out on birthday parties, visits to Nana’s and a number of other things, but there have also been some good months since her diagnosis. In fact, before her most recent episode, she had gone a few months without one, so we’re grateful for that.

I’ve joined a few online CVS groups for support and advice and being a member of these groups has made me realize how lucky we are. Many people with this syndrome end up in hospital because of dehydration every time an episode hits. Some have had to drop out of school, are not able to hold down jobs or suffer with depression as a result of their illness.

All things considered, we’re pretty lucky.

Emily will soon be four and sometimes I even forget that she has CVS. Although I usually jump out of bed reaching for the barf bucket each time I hear her cough, I don’t lay awake at night worrying about whether she’s going to be sick, like I used to.

My reason for writing this post was not only to tell my story and to invite anyone else suffering with CVS or caring for young ones with CVS to reach out, but I thought I could offer a little advice to all parents. Since we have children who vomit at some point in their little lives and I’m a self-declared expert in the area of caring for vomiting children, I thought I could share some tips with you as to how you can cope when your babies are sick.

Develop a system:

If you’re fortunate to have help (husband, roommate, etc.), designate roles quickly. In my house, I usually get in bed with Emily and my husband tackles laundry, gets us whatever is needed, etc. Single parents, I tip my hat to you because I don’t know how you do non-sick kids, let alone vomiting ones. I did once have to do it alone with two vomiting babies and I threw all the vomit-filled blankets, etc. on the deck until the morning. If you are alone, I suggest you prioritize (as you already always do). Laundry can wait. If you run out of sheets, who cares. Grab something to lay on and focus on getting everyone better.

Room prep:

Know where the closest barf buckets are! And have one in each of your kids’ rooms. One thing you can do is ensure you have plastic garbage bins in each room, so they can double as a barf bucket. We also have waterproof pillow and mattress covers on each of our kids’ beds. I bought them at Home Sense and they’re great! If they get puked on, I usually take them off and cover the pillows and the top of the mattress with towels instead of remaking the bed. Chances are, they’ll be sick again and it’s much easier to remove a few towels than a full set of sheets.

The essentials:

When we know Emily is having an episode, we automatically get the following things within arm’s length.
- Barf bucket
- Wet facecloth
- Towels
- Water
- Hair elastics or headband

It’s never easy seeing our little ones sick. They’re sick and crying for help. We feel helpless and guilty and tired and helpless again. We just want to pull the sickness out of them and put it in ourselves. It can certainly get overwhelming at times, but a little preparation and listening to our instinctive mama voice can go a long way in helping everyone get through it.

No one knows what they’re doing the first time their babies get sick, but as Moms, we figure it out and survive. That’s what we do every day.

Natasha

Meet Natasha!

My name is Natasha Ashfield and I am one of those insane moms who had three babies in three years (and no twins)! I grew up in Hampton, N.B., but I’ve made a second home for myself in Fredericton with my husband and three girls who are now six, five and three. My husband and I both work fulltime and enjoy our jobs, but we live by the ‘work to play’ motto. We will probably never be a wealthy family, but we’re rich with many of the things money can’t buy. As all moms know, motherhood is not all sunshine and roses though. Life has certainly been a rollercoaster since I’ve become a mama, but there’s been more ups than downs and I look forward to sharing some of those experiences with you and hearing about other parents’ experiences. We’re undertaking the hardest, most important job we’ll ever have, so having a network of others to share information with, vent to, laugh with and learn from makes the rollercoaster that much more exciting.