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Encouraging Heroes. You can be one too.

Okay, so you’ve got a sick kid and you’re concerned he may throw up in the night. Ever tried to clean a mattress after a kid’s been sick on it? Ewwww. What about the dangers of running from his bed to the bathroom in the night? How do you keep him safe and minimize the cleanup you’ll have to do?

Simple!

You need the following ingredients for this recipe:

    2 sleeping bags, thick blankets or comforters
    2 waterproof mattress pads
    whatever blankets your child requires

Take the sleeping bags/blankets/comforters and lay them on the floor, all in one stack. Use a waterproof mattress pad to encase your stack and voila! Instant bed. You can cover the pad with a fitted sheet if you like to get all fancy. Lay your kid on the stack, cover him up and he’s got a soft bed on the floor that’s easy to clean because it all goes into the washing machine.

You can set up the bed wherever is convenient, like on the floor near the door so he has a straight shot to the bathroom. If he does happen to throw up or otherwise have an accident in the night, all you have to do is replace the mattress pad and any blankets as necessary. Throw the soiled linens in the washer so you’ve got them ready for the next round.

So there you have it. AmyL’s nonpatented surefire soft-washable-safe sickbed for kids.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on The Manager. He’s sleeping on one tonight, poor thing.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents of sick kids.