Creation of the Battle Station of “Sick Kit”

Let’s be honest – initial starting care is a rollercoaster for both you and your child. While you are mentally prepared for the stress of separation and the adaptations of the timetable, you also get the additional treatment of the seemingly endless parade of the diseases that come with the care area.

When our son started taking care of the day, I thought I was ready. I wasn’t. Three months in, we had already done five pickups in the middle of the day, suffered countless alert nights with a child with congestion and had become a regular first nominal base in our pediatrician’s office. (I didn’t appreciate how fast I had to get acquainted with the hand and the disease of the mouth – a way to mention something, medical people.)

If this sounds familiar (or sounds like what you are worried about), you are in the right place.

Day and the disease

Infants and toddlers in day care usually fish 10-12 colds per year, but this number falls significantly as children grow up. (Older children and adults usually face only about 4 colds per year.) The winter months are particularly brutal, with RSV, flu and other respiratory diseases that make their rounds through the daily units.

Between job commitments, management of weak days and emotional taxes seeing your child not well, it may feel overwhelming. Nothing like you use all your sick days until mid -February for care diseases.

Create “Sick Kit” of your family

One thing that has saved my logic during weak care periods is a dedicated “sick kit” ready to go. I was forever digging around for locks that I could swear that I bought the last time my kids were sick and having them in a bucket or Caddy was incredibly useful.

Here are some ideas for what you could pack in one.

1. Find the correct container

Start with a special container – a plastic bathtub with a lid or a large basket works well. You want something easily accessible, but this can be stored away from strange small hands. I like a Caddy, but I have seen other parents use a bucket that can double as a barf bin (I don’t know how I feel about it, but do it with this information as you consider appropriate.)

2. Basics of symptoms management

• Thermometer (I prefer a digital but I work with whatever you have)
• Bugz fever stickers (makes a night check Ins less annoying)
• Packages of electrolyte mixture (to maintain hydration)
• The tissues (I like to push for the soft species with lotion when you are dealing with endless nose broom – especially years before.)
• Sniffer Soothers If you are dealing with extra good noses
• Tylenol and Advil – I used to add this to my kit when it was in use, but I stored it somewhere else in the “out -of -season” because I found that I used pain relief in non -suffering times and I liked to keep all the medicines safely at one point.

4. Respiratory support

5.

2. Elements of comfort and care

• Night light (mild enough for midnight check-in without disturbing sleep)
• The comfort game (defined for sick days makes it separate. This small weighted puppy from my little friend is sweet and has this “noun” feeling. In addition, you can heat it.)
• Loutle Loutrou (for soothing baths before beds)
• Magic Bag Kids Compress (can be used hot or cold – it’s good for bonks head too)

6. Cleaning and supplying restriction

If you are building a bucket against a Caddy, I have seen some parents add these items as well.

• Rubbish bags (good for barfs, clean up UPS or even as lining under a custom sheet.)
• Carpet cleaner (for these middle night stomach errors)
• Lysol Wipes (for rapid disinfection of dubs, light switches, etc.)
• Waterproof Bed Pillows (to protect layers)
• Hazmat suits for when they get in your bulb (just laugh … kind)

7.

Include a sheet with this information or place it in a note file on your phone.

• Your pediatrician’s phone number and contact after hours
• Nearby Emergency Care and Hours
• Basic dosage instructions for drugs (based on current weight)
• Insurance information

Hygiene practices that make the difference

Here are some suggestions that I found that they would definitely help, but vary in feasibility depending on how old and/or stubborn your child is.

• Handwashing routines: Make the habit of washing hands immediately after returning home from day care
• Highlight everything: This reduces your child’s chance of using another child’s cup or utensils
• The day care of the day at the door: You have dedicated “Daily Care Clothes” that change as soon as you are home
• Teach the right cough/fold: Daycares are good enough for teaching even the new toddler to cough on their elbow, so it’s a good habit to have at home

Create a backup plan for the sick day

Even with the best preparation, you will still face sick days. Having a fixed background plan makes these disorders more manageable:

1. Determine the Backup Care Network: Grandparents, reliable neighbors or retired friends who may be available in a short time
2. Discuss flexible job options: Before the illness hit, talk to your employer about home -working capabilities during childhood illness
3. Log in with other care parents: Sometimes forming a small “co-op disease” with families you trust can help you spread the weight

Self-care through storm

I know this is easier to say than to do, but you take care of an epidemic monkey right now, so now it’s not the time to be a witness. You should also take care of your health.

• Sleep when possible: When your child NAPS during the illness, try to rest.
• Accepts help: When friends offer to eliminate meals or supplies, say yes.
• Set up expectations: Your home will be messier, your job may fall back, and this is quite normal during this chaos.

Trust your instincts

A final but crucial point: While daily care diseases are common and usually small, they always trust your instincts. You know your child better. If something looks away, even if the symptoms look “typically”, do not hesitate to contact the healthcare provider.

To summarize the preparation for child care disease

Remember that you are not alone on this trip. Every parent who falls into the care of the day faces or faced these same challenges and has or will receive the fear of “Hey, we had a little bit of an incident” a “phone call.

I may be a rash, a bar, fever or a bite incident, but it is the wild lottery we all play as parents, so try to take it in a step as you browse the childhood petri plate.

The only certainty is that you will get down with the same disease exactly as your child recovers, you feel right as rain and full of energy.

Also, check: Packaging baby for day care (free printable checklist)