Medicine Cabinet: Safety & Stocking

Is your medicine cabinet a mess, like mine? I'm about remedy that, as I do about every six months or so. Think about doing it in your house, too, before the cold and flu season begins. A well stocked medicine cabinet makes illness a tad easier for everyone because there's no rushing to the store at the last minute. And you sure don't want to be scrounging around trying to find a thermometer when your children have a fever. Once you remove everything from the medicine cabinet (a good job for nap time, since it's dangerous for little ones to get their hands on any medications), reorganize according to type. If your medicine cabinet is large enough to accommodate at least narrow plastic bins or baskets, put like items together in those containers. Here's the minimum I recommend having on hand

* A good first aid kit. "Good" depends entirely upon your family's needs, but at the very least the kit should include bandages in large, medium, and small sizes, antibiotic cream, an instant cold pack, tweezers, alcohol pads, and pain relievers. Johnson's All Purpose First Aid Kit is a decent small kit, but a first aid kit in the $30 - $40 range is better. The American Red Cross has information about what's best to include in a first aid kit. * Pain relievers. I like to have Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Aspirin for the adults, as well as Tylenol and Ibuprofen for the babies and children. And while most pain reliever packages won't give you dosage for babies, you can find accurate dosage charts online. I suggest printing these charts and taping them to the inside door of your medicine cabinet for easy reference. They are easier to read in an emergency, or when you're up in the middle of the night, half asleep. Click here for Tylenol and Ibuprofen charts. Keep all pain relievers in one bin, so they are super-easy to find when you're in need. * Benadryl is vital to have on hand in case of serious allergies. Again, babies' dosages aren't given on the packaging, but you can find an online chart for children 17 lbs. and up. Tape it to your medicine cabinet so you can easily refer to it in an emergency. * Thermometer; there are a lot of poor ear thermometers on the market, so I suggest using just an ordinary under the tongue/rectal/under the infant's arm style thermometer. You can use petroleum jelly when you need to use the thermometer rectally, but then I don't recommend using that same thermometer for the mouth, no matter how well you've cleaned it. Some thermometers come with special disposible latex covers, or you can just use a condom. * Scissors. At the very least, have some appropriate bandage cutting scissors; I like to have small all-purpose scissors, too, as well as nail clippers. I keep them all in a small Mason jar, along with my thermometers, so they are easy to find. * Sunscreen and insect repellent. In the same bin, put some Aloe Vera gel in case of sunburns or minor kitchen burns. * Bulb syringes. Have one for each person in the house (although they are mostly used for babies and children, some adults use them, too) and mark one name on each with a permanent marker so everyone knows which is which. It's also a good idea to replace these after each cold. * Saline solution for congestion. You can either buy these as a spray (for either adults or children), or you can buy just the solution and use a bulb syringe. You can also use saline with a neti pot. Keep all these cold-remedies in their own bin. (Incidentally, I don't recommend home made solutions; although they do work in a pinch, they could over-dry the nose.) * Diaper rash cream (for babies), and hydrocortizone cream (for miscellaneous rashes or bug bites). * Pepto Bismol for both adults and kids, and stool softener. I would never tell you to use expired medications, but some believe they may be okay to use after their expiration date. The problem is, you can't know for sure, and medications kept in the humid bathroom are more likely to go bad. Do be sure to keep medications well away from children; in fact, strongly consider buying a medicine cabinet with a lock, if you don't already have one. You can also buy locking containers meant for holding medications. But even if the cabinet or medicine box is locked, be sure to print out this number and tape it, also, to the cabinet door:

Poison control: 1-800-222-1222