November 8, 2013
Simplify the Season : Put Together a Sick Kit
If you have little ones, there’s a pretty good chance that at some point in the next few months someone’s going to get sick. And for whatever reason it seems to always comes at the busiest most inopportune time. Am I right? I always put together a little sick kit in the fall just in case. (For the record, I am ALL about prevention: vitamins, eating lots of fruits and veggies, hand washing, frequent cleaning….but we still get sick.)
Some things you might include (these are all items that are readily available at most stores – I didn’t include other natural items (like probiotics and essential oils) that we have in our medicine cabinet):
- soup
- ginger ale/ gatorade/
- crackers
- tylenol/motrin
- cough syrup/cough drops/cold tablets
- jell-0
- applesauce
- charcoal tablets
- activity books
What would you add to the kit? Do you plan ahead for illness to strike or just wait and see?
This post is part of a series designed to help you Simplify the Season. You can see all the posts here.
julie Says
What do you use the charcoal tablets for?
Mary Beth Says
This is also a great idea for those of us with kids in college. Send it as a “just-in-case” care package or have it ready for them to take back to school with them after the Thanksgiving break.
Evelina Snell Says
Becky – I do this too, but I also add adult medicines (kept in our Master Bathroom linen closet): adult cough medicine, Nyquil – day and night, Mucinex, Advil, Vicks – I also have the baby one for my kids even though they are all much older. I know I never have time to get sick! But it helps to be prepared too 🙂 Thanks for the reminder to get these things together!
Cindy Says
I have 1 thing I read about online that I’m doing this year. Zip Lock bags in each kids’ room in case they get a stomach bug (usually in the middle of the night). Typically they can’t seem to make it to the bathroom. 🙁
My Daddy would say the bag will be like a talisman to keep the tummy bug away. 🙂
Kristen Says
What is the activated charcoal for?
Becky Says
Post authorI have the activated charcoal for a stomach bug – if you feel like something’s coming on you can take the charcoal hourly. Once the stomach bug has started it isn’t as useful. It pulls the toxins out of the stomach and keeps the virus from taking full effect. (I’m not a doctor or medical professional, do your research and ask your doctor)
xo, Becky
elaine Says
Yeah, I’ve never heard that from a real doctor.
Clara Says
Well, of course you haven’t. They won’t tell you how to avoid their hefty bills and pharmaceuticals, they’d lose money!
Katy Says
I am 33 and grew up in a household that relied on Natural healthcare. We always used charcoal capsules to prevent the spread of a stomach bug…..it worked! Our entire family never passed things like is common & now I use them with my own family of 5 with great success.
Tasi Livermont Says
Great for heartburn too. I will have to try it. Just got through a stomach bug with only part of the problems by downing copious amounts of probiotixs and magnesium.
Grimm Says
I have a storage tote with our cold/flu medications as well. I have also included boxes of tissues, cough drops for the adults and honey lollies for the kids. Hand sanitizer too for when my husband gets sick. He brings home some nasty bugs!
elaine Says
Gotta be the fancy tissues with lotion. They make all the difference in the world. I always keep a box of them in reserve.
Jen Says
I’m curious why you add charcoal tablets? I know they are for poisoning, but I have never heard of a use for them while sick.
Becky Says
Post authorI have the activated charcoal for a stomach bug – if you feel like something’s coming on you can take the charcoal hourly. Once the stomach bug has started it isn’t as useful. It pulls the toxins out of the stomach and keeps the virus from taking full effect. (I’m not a doctor or medical professional, do your research and ask your doctor)
xo, Becky
Polly Says
Activity books are a great idea – We have a box of rainy day activities and one of extra special sickly day activities too – with extra sparkles and a lot of stickers.
The only extra thing we have in our medicine cabinet is rehydration salts.
I also keep a box in the bathroom with old towels and bed mats in – really handy to put under the kiddiwinks emergency potty!
Cindy – Zip-lock bags? Genius yet very grim all rolled into one!
Gurvy Green Says
This is such a fantastic idea to have all of this handy in one tote! Thanks for sharing, I’m going to work in building my own sick tote.
lorrie Says
Great idea! I am a huge advocate of unpasteurized honey when not feeling well. We make hot drinks of fresh squeezed lemon and fresh grated ginger with honey and put it in a caraf beside the couch.the lemon and ginger would not survive the storage time though. They would have to be bought fresh. The other thing we use is Popsicles for sore throats. And HALLS cough drops. Thanks!!
Cera Says
You can freeze lemongrass and ginger, just so you know. And I keep a variety of cough drops on hand, because there was an extremely bad bug one year and I had to switch across several brands to keep my cough away. I found ricola to help the most, but the herbs burnt my mouth after awhile. And capsasin is very good at clearing out viruses, too. I eat the spices food I can stomach and it shortens my sick time by a lot.
Sheila @ Pennies of Time Says
This is the perfect idea to help out another family that seems to always get a bug. A friend of mine has a cold right now. Thanks for this. I will be sharing!
Amy Says
I love the idea of having this all in one place. My son has a chronic disease so we often have a sick kit. But it is stored with all our items in the pantry. Gatorade or Powerade is magic for him when he gets sick. I also like to have any medical instruments nearby like a thermometer.
Stacy Says
Love this idea! I’m going to make one for my son who’s away at college. Hopefully he won’t break into the soup just because he’s hungry late at night. 🙂
Amy Says
I have tried the 1 tablespoon water and 1 tablespoon medicated rub in a wax warmer. I would keep the medicated rub in the kit even though it’s more for colds. Tis the season!
Niki Says
This is a great idea for giving to my friends with multiple school-aged children. It’s almost like a back-to-school survival box, especially of you add in tissues, hand sanitizer and maybe a kid friendly movie (say from Walmarts $5 bin).. I may start working on this this summer and hand them out right before school starts. I wonder who decided that school needed to start right before cold & flu season?
Alice @ Mums Make Lists Says
Bags of plain or lightly salted chips always great when kids have been sick and nothing else will stay down.
galloping-granny Says
I also keep otter pops in the kit. They freeze
fast. You can also tuck a couple into the freezer for immediate use. (I don’t freeze a lot because the kiddos will expect them as regular treats.) You can also purchase the empty pop tubes and fill with juice, pedialite or gatoraide. (Ebay or other sites).
Kelsey Says
What a spectacular idea. When the flu hit our family a few days ago, I had most of these on hand around the house, but some of them I definitely missed!
I would add push pops (or popsicles) to the list, as well as those Emergen-C packets from Wal-Mart. Spectacular immune system boost! The popsicles were the only ‘fluids’ my toddlers could keep down, since they paced themselves better and didn’t gulp it like the soda.
Mildred Rivera Says
I do put together a sick kit, I have kids in college, so it is good to have one ready, I also include some Echinacea, and we all take it year round, it is a booster for your inmunologic system! I will add some of your suggestions to it, thanks!
Mindy Says
Where do you find the charcoal tablets?
Becky Says
Post authorAmazon or a health food store 🙂
Tali Says
This is a very cute idea, and great for when unexpected illness strikes! I wanted to throw in some useful information about activated charcoal for those of you who are interested in using it for the first time.
While activated charcoal can work well for treating occasional upset stomach (especially if due to something iffy you ate, and if taken within an hour of eating said food), it WILL absorb ALL other medications your child takes (since it’s used to bind certain ingested poisons or impurities), so if you give your child medication AND activated charcoal, the medication WILL NOT work! I learned this the hard way! I was hoping I could use it to help naturally control my IBS, but instead it just rendered all other medications and supplements useless. I use ginger chews now instead and they work wonderfully. You can get caramel-flavored ginger chews if your children are picky eaters! I also like Reeds Ginger Ale – their apple cider and raspberry flavors are good for kids who don’t like the strong ginger flavor, though Canada Dry works well, too!
A few of the reasons your doctor might not tell you about activated charcoal may be because:
1. Some irresponsible parents use them in place of calling the Poison Control Center (which is absolutely vital in saving a child’s life in cases of swallowing poison or toxic materials).
2. Parents will use them in place of a doctor’s visit to save money (risking a child’s health is never worth saving money over!)
3. Other medications will give more reliable results (charcoal doesn’t work for chronic conditions).
4. When the patient is currently taking other medications (as stated above, activated charcoal absorbs other medications in the GI tract).
Feel free to ask your doctor about activated charcoal during your next doctor’s visit if you have questions or would like to start using it as a supplement, or if you’d like to know why they’ve never mentioned it before. Doctors are there to help you – if you feel your doctor is interested in your money over your health, it’s time to find a new doctor!!! If you suspect your doctor is being paid or encouraged to prescribe you certain medications, you can go to https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov and see if they are being paid by any pharmaceutical companies. There are also several doctor rating websites you can google around for if you’re interested in what other patients’ experiences were with a certain doctor.
Possible side effects of taking activated charcoal include vomiting, diarrhea/constipation, chest pain, and hives, so if you see your child exhibiting any of these, stop giving it to them right away! Taking too much will result in gastrointestinal blockage.
Do NOT let your child take it with milk, or it won’t work. Make sure they drink plenty of water, because the charcoal is extremely absorbent in the stomach.
Tali Says
Oh my goodness, I apologize for that monster wall of text!!!
Torri Says
What is jello for? I think I would be too worried to try charcoal!
Becky Says
Post authorSometimes it’s all that my kids will eat if they have a tummy bug 🙁
Jennifer Says
Jello in it’s liquid form is also good to give to someone that is starting to dehydrate from vomiting and diarrhea … a spoonful every few minutes helps keep them hydrated, they are less likely to throw it back up.
Gini Says
I keep cloth diapers around instead of tissue for runny noses…You don’t get redness like you do with tissues!
SuAnn Says
Lysol brand makes a laundry sanitizer that you put in the rinse cycle. It’s a little hard to find. I keep some around to wash bedding and towels during and after sicknesses. I would also add a jar of Vick’s VapoRub or generic equivalent. I love that stuff for head and chest congestion!
Traci Says
I always have ice pops & a cold pack in the freezer for fevers and o keep a supply of applesauce as well.
Perris Wallace Says
Thank you for this idea! I’m thinking of gifting a “sick kit” to friends. The contents of the kit could make it to pricey (the more you include) but I could make ones with ‘basic’ contents for some friends and include more for my “besties”.