It's a great idea to have some medicines and treatments at home so that no matter the time or day you can reach for what you need. But what are the essentials?
Thermometer
It's a really good idea to have a thermometer at home. This was recommended to me by one of the special care nurses when our daughter was in their care. She said that doctors / nurses / doctors receptionists will take you much more seriously if you phone up saying "my child has a temperature of 38" rather than "my child feels hot". It's also useful at home as a guide to when they need some medicine.
We have this summer thermometer at home which is great and really simple. Green is the temperature is ok, red and beeping if it's high. It's worth taking the temperature when your child is well first so you know whether it usually tracks low or high, as for a normal temperature our thermometer reads around 35 which is a bit below what it should be (37)
Nurofen / Calpol
It's worth having both a children's ibuprofen and paracetamol treatment at home as you can alternate them every 4 hours if your child has a really bad fever (but please read the label and don't exceed the dose!!). Nurofen ibuprofen is usually my first port of call to bring down a temperature and seems to work better on my toddler but every child will be different. As well as for fevers you might need to turn to pain relief when your child is teething depending on how well they cope with the pain.
Calpol can be taken from 2 months (first jabs) but nurofen babies need to be 3 months before they can have any.
You can buy them at any pharmacy.
Dioralyte
Sickness and / or diarrhoea is horrible to deal with even for adults but with children you really do need to make sure that they don't get dehydrated which can happen really quickly. When our child has a sickness bug we usually give dioralyte to replace the lost electrolytes and salts as well as to hydrate. We always have a few packets of this in the house just in case. You can buy these at any pharmacy.
Arnica Gel
When your child starts moving around there is going to be plenty of bumps and bruises. In my experience this especially seems to happen when 3 certain toddlers I know spend their time running and chasing each other in a corridor! Cue Arnica gel! If you get this on quickly sometimes you can avoid a bruise or it can reduce how long you have a bruise for. This cooling version will also help with any swelling.
nurofen image source Calpol image source
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