Every parent knows that cold and flu season is nothing to sneeze at!
Dr. Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency physician and mother of four, has the perfect solution for the fall and winter blues — a sick box filled with fever medicine, vomit bags, a digital thermometer, a pulse oximeter, allergy medicine , electrolyte powder, throat. jumps and nasal fog.
“Now is the time to prepare,” said Martin, who works at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. Petersburg, Florida, told her 1.6 million TikTok followers in a clip this month.
She says the box should contain acetaminophen and ibuprofen for fever and discomfort.
You can buy either in chewable or liquid form – Martin suggests suppositories if your child has hand, foot and mouth disease or refuses to take medicine.
She also approves Zyrtec for allergic reactions or hives. She prefers it over Benadryl because of the latter’s reported side effects, including drowsiness, dry mouth and constipation, and recent research that has linked long-term Benadryl use to an increased risk of dementia.
In addition to medication, Martin recommends getting a pulse oximeter, which measures blood oxygen levels and pulse.
“[It’s] good on medium to normal hands, not so great on small hands, but it gives you an idea of heart rate and what their oxygenation looks like,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Martin advises against inaccurate and expensive forehead and ear thermometers, instead advocating for a Konquest digital thermometer.
Also in the box are Halls Children’s Cough and Sore Throat and Pedialyte electrolyte powder packets.
“Kids need to replace sugar and electrolytes when they’re sick and not eating regular food, and this is a balanced way to do that,” Martin said of the packs.
She also promotes saline over decongestants for children.
For older children, she suggests Arm & Hammer Simply Saline Nasal Mist. For younger children, she recommends the Boogie Micro-Mist Saline Inhaler. And for babies, she advises saline nasal drops to thin the mucus and a bulb syringe to suck up the lump.
Don’t use tap water as a nasal rinse, Martin warned, because it can contain bacteria that cause infections.
And hopefully you won’t need these disposable blue “life saver” vomit bags.
“When I tell you these vomit bags have saved me,” Martin said. “They are available. They just twist and tie, and you can just throw them in the trash.”
Cold season usually runs from late August or early September to March or April, while flu season generally runs from October to May.
Toddlers and preschoolers can have up to 12 colds, respiratory infections, and/or stomach bugs a year.
Some of them become serious. Twenty thousand children under the age of 5 are hospitalized with flu complications on average each year, and about 200 children died in the 2023-2024 flu season, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week.
“Good luck,” Martin captioned her viral TikTok.
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Image Source : nypost.com