Travels with your children
Dr Howard Lee on what to pack in your medicine bag when you go abroad on a family holiday
You certainly can’t prepare for every eventuality, when you take a family holiday abroad, but it’s sensible to take a selection of tried and tested treatments. It can at least save you searching for a chemist, and coping with faltering explanations in a foreign language.
Temperature and headache problems
A syrup containing Paracetamol – Calpol/Medised – is useful for mild to moderate pain (including teething), and to lower a temperature. Medised is particularly useful for mild to moderate pain, headache, toothache, sore throat, influenzal-symptom relief, including earache and minor aches and pains. Nurofen for children – containing Ibuprofen – can also be a fast and effective relief for fever and general pain, including earache and minor aches/pains.
Minor skin problems
Sunburn: Prevention is certainly better than cure, so use a high-factor sun block. Re-apply after swimming. Limit the amount of time children are exposed to the sun, and use sun hats.
To treat sunburn use calamine lotion for cooling. Solarcaine Cream can relieve sunburn pain, minor burns, skin injuries and insect bites. Gel, Lotion, or Spray versions are also available for children over 3 years old.
Wounds & Irritations:
- Take a selection of sticky plasters, some non-adhesive dressings for larger wounds and grazes, together with micropore tape to keep them in place.
- Sterile, pre-packed Steri-strips are also very useful for cuts and breaks in the skin that need to be held together in order to heal.
- An anti-septic spray or lotion (e.g. Savlon) will thoroughly cleanse wounds before you use the dressings.
- Allergic reactions (as a result of insect bites/plant contact) can be treated with skin creams which contain Hydrocortisone 0.1%.
- Wasp-eze Spray is useful for the treatment of all insect bites and stings, nettle & jellyfish stings.
- A small tube of Brolene Eye Ointment is useful for ‘sticky eye’ infections.
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