Pain, colds or allergies at home? Help your child through with these 12 tips
It is ZERO fun when kids get sick. Everyone loses sleep and your parent empathy goes through the roof. Besides leaning on your family and friends for meal-time support and other help, here are 10 tips to keep in mind when treating your little one’s pain and allergies.
1. Where does it hurt?
It’s difficult for small children to explain how much or where it hurts. Colouring in can help! Ask them to colour in where they feel pain and point to the frowning face that matches their sensation. Download your colouring-in chart here.
2. Know your options
Over-the-counter options for cold and flu, pain and inflammation are all must-haves in your first aid kit for treating discomfort, headaches and other symptoms.
3. Dose correctly
Dosage is based on age and weight and varies between manufacturers. Tip: Write the dosage clearly on the outside of the package, to make it easy to see at a glance! Make sure to write a separate dose for each child taking the medication and update as they grow.
4. Keep track
When giving multiple medications and running on low sleep, it’s very easy to become confused. Record the active ingredient, time and dose of each as you give it on a piece of paper or in a phone note app.
5. Mix it up
Kids are motivated by novelty! Consider swapping between textures, such as syrups and chewables. Even changing flavours can help and make medicine time much less of a chore.
6. Hug power
Sometimes, a long snuggle helps more than we imagine. For babies or infants, chewing something to relieve teething pain or breastfeeding while receiving a vaccination or as a way to provide a moment of closeness and calm can also be helpful.
7. Keep calm and carry on
First breathe. It’s easy to work ourselves into a spin and catastrophise about upcoming lack of sleep and tears. However, kids can feed off our emotions as parents. Keeping a calm atmosphere helps children regulate their emotions.
8. Double down
Got a kid with hay fever? Get in before it evolves into a sinus infection. Ask your Pharmacist to recommend two or more complimentary treatments to relieve multiple symptoms, such as antihistamine eye drops, saline sprays or syrups.
9. Check their ears
Fluid accumulation or inflammation of the ear canal caused by allergies should be treated quickly to avoid chronic ear infection and other complications.
10. Breathe well
Untreated mouth-breathing due to a nasal congestion can cause poor sleep. Your Pharmacist can recommend treatments for nasal congestion to help both you and your little one get some much-needed rest.
11. Give me fever
A fever is a temperature higher than 38°C. If your child is not otherwise uncomfortable, keep up their fluids, dress them in light clothing and follow your doctor’s advice for medications.
12. Can I combine?
When in doubt, always ask your Pharmacist for advice with combining multiple over-the-counter medications.