Medi kits: What you should have in your medi-kit for holidays and more.

I am a little bit obsessive when it comes to medi kits, just a touch of course, but I do tend to pack a rather large one when I go on holiday and I even have a pretty darn decent one in the car! I can’t help it, I like to be prepared for every eventuality.

I do have to make 1 million percent sure though that every single one of you knows that I am not a doctor or health expert of any kind and I am just saying what I have in my medi kits, especially for holiday. Most things in my holiday packs are non-prescription meds and I have specifically left off the specific prescription meds I do take because it isn’t relevant to everyone. What I will say is that you must always read the labels and consult doctors before you or any member of your family take anything at all.

So now I’ve done the tedious disclaimer that you didn’t need here goes:

What I take in my Medi kit on holiday (and it’s also useful to have in the car or on big day trips/weekend trips):

• Pain killers: Paracetamol, ibuprofen (for the grown ups)
• Calpol or paracetamol suspension for children
• Calprofen/Neurofen for children or other ibuprofen suspension for children
• Teething gel/powder
• Thermometer. We use a forehead scan thermometer or an ear thermometer (don’t forget the covers if you use the ear type!)
• Dioralyte or other child friendly diarrhoea and dehydration aids
• Imodium (for the grown ups)
• Anti allergy tablets for adults and anti allergy suspension for the kids
• Nappy cream (my favourites are metanium and bepanthen)
• Insect repellant after sun
• Insect bite sooth cream (nappy cream also works for this)
• Inspect bite relief click it (these can be found in Boots, and they are great for those horrible itchy bites)
• Antiseptic cream such as savlon
• Constipation relief (for grown ups, I believe children have to be prescribed and I find that eating lots of fruit or cereals like weetabix and drinking water is a much better relief than medication for my boys)
• Travel sickness sweets
• Earplugs for the boys while swimming
• Cold and cough medicine for adults and for kids
• Cold relief vapour (I prefer Karvol or Olbas oil but something that provides a vapour – though remember this isn’t suitable for all ages)
• Indigestion relief (this is so important while I’m pregnant! I prefer Gaviscon)
• Plasters
• Bandages with tape
• Cotton wool
• Bump soother pad
• Any prescription medication (Toby has an inhaler so this kind of thing can’t be forgotten, even though he only needs it during bouts of severe chesty coughs)
• Relief for UTI’s (which are commonly caught in pools) – again for the grown ups.
• Tweezers for splinters
• My EHIC cards – though these are only for european citizens and are proving to be less than useful on holiday in some areas they are still good to have with you.
• A copy of my travel insurance. I know, neurotic. I keep a copy of travel insurance in my in flight hand luggage and one with my passports locked away too…

Enough to make the average pharmacist jealous right? I haven’t included sun cream as I don’t count it as part of my medi kit but as a totally separate and extremely important part to our holiday list. As I said before, this is just what we take but you may have other things that you use, or you may have had a problem with a certain type of product – for example, though I take ibuprofen based products for the boys, Toby has a much more sensitive stomach than Reuben and ibuprofen isn’t a great drug, it does cause stomach upset, so unless he had such an extreme temperature that he required dual use, I wouldn’t give him that he would have paracetamol. If you are ever unsure then you really should talk to your doctor about what to take, or the local nurses office where they offer vaccines.

I hope this helps you keep prepared for every eventuality, I have to say I have never really needed to use anything other than a bump pad and calpol for the boys, however just knowing that I am prepared makes me feel so much happier.

Harriet x

P.s – MASSIVELY IMPORTANT REMINDER: NEVER be afraid to call for the doctor. Ever. Doctors, no matter where you are are vitally important if you or your children are unwell. Yes you can deal with the majority of incidents yourself with medication that you use at home, but for anything more severe, do call for a doctor or visit the hospital