To take a range or medicine on holiday?

[itsascottishbaby]

Had a mega argument discussion with DH before leaving for holiday. Going to Southern Europe with 1 year old DS. I'd packed Calpol, baby Neurofen, saline solution + snot sucker and a thermometer. DH insisted we should only take the Calpol (at a push) as everything else is completely OTT. My point is that I don't want to be looking for suitable baby medicines in a foreign country, I don't speak the language/English is not very common there. I should add for fairness that DS is very rarely poorly.

AIBU to pack medicines just in case? What do you pack when you go abroad with babies?

Id listen to dh

Your husband is ridiculous. All of the things you want to bring are sensible and easy to pack. Is he always so unreasonable and controlling?

I'd have just packed calpol to be honest. Saline solutions are available everywhere and overkill to me.

I only take calpol for the dc and ibuprofen for me & dh, nothing else.

I'm curious as to What the hell is a snot sucker? Is it as gross as it sounds? 😷 I've never heard of or used such a thing

From my experience travelling with small children, on holiday is when things always pop up. It's good to be prepared within reason.

I have a box packed with a normal household selection of medicines and 1st aid bits: paracetamol, ibuprofen, anti-histamine, anti-diarrhoeals, etc.

Nothing wrong with what you want to take, it won't take up much room and is practical. I always have a travel sachet of calpol in my changing bag even in the uk. Infact I'd add to it and take some antihistamine too. Just decant a bit into a small bottle. My son had an out of the blue allergic reaction at a kids party and I was glad I had it with me.

@PinkHeart5911 Yep! You can use it when DC has a cold. Spray saline up his nose first, then suck it with the little tube thing. It doesn't go in your mouth BTW!! I only used it twice when DS was much smaller, but if they get a bad cold it's very useful. And I guess they're more likely to get something with the heat/air conditioning etc.

I always take a medical kit on holiday. Thought everyone did.

Ime pharmacists in Southern Europe
Rely a fair amount on herbal remedies for very young children so may as well take your own good stuff

Mine are older but I travel with Pirton, anthisan cream, germoline, plasters and an antibac hand gel.

We seem to get a lot of bites, stings, mystery rashes and blisters.

We used to take calpol only when tiny.

The saline spray and snot sucker seem a bit ott but they hardly take up a lot of space so no harm in taking them.

Calpol, nurofen and thermometer when they were that age. 0-6 yrs ish.
Now I just do calpol and piriton on every holiday.

When we went on holiday recently DD2 broke out in chickenpox two days in. I was very glad we'd packed some basic bits to keep us going until we could get to a pharmacy for more. I'd take them.

I holiday with my sister / friends.
I take my own meds plus paracetamol, ibuprofen (for hangovers, period pain, aches & pains), anti sickness pills (for d&v), Imodium (for d&v), piriton & antihistamine cream for bites, and senna pills for constipation (which you can get when out of your usual routine).

They laugh at me but have needed these things & it saves money / hassle when abroad

all of those things you can buy abroad, most pharmacist speak English and also the calpol medicine is easy identifiable

Haud I have just paid €18 for insect repellent in Portugal (I forgot it) so I may as well bring from home. If it's not used it's just taken back and used at home, no biggie

you are sensible.
I would always also take an antihistamine too (piriton probably best for that age) and a steroid sting cream.

Just come back from southern France - I'm quite relaxed but still took a couple of calpol sachets, antisan (my eldest is always bitten / stung), savlon, a few plasters, anti-histamine (for me) and sudocream. I know I can get them there but it's easier to just get them out of my bag if I need them than faff about looking for a pharmacy (although it being France there seemed to be one on every corner), kids bound to be ill in the middle of the night anyway.
They take up very little space and actually I quite often have them in the changing bag for when we are out and about at home anyway. Just make sure if they are in your hand-luggage / changing bag & you are flying that they are little ones and you pop them in a resealable plastic bag

I wouldn't bother with snot sucker beyond very newborn (in fact might not bother with that at all) but agree with everything else plus like others, I'd add piriton as antihistamine seems to often come in handy when abroad!

Yanbu

If you have to buy it overseas in a place where you don't speak the language and others may not speak English, the chances of getting the wrong medicine or the wrong dose are higher than if you take it with you

Plus you then have the cost and hassle of tracking down medicine, on top of an ill child

I always take anti-diarrhoea medication as well, but that's often not suitable for under 12s so may not be any use to you

I'd take them (maybe not the snot sucker of thermometer) just to save having to traipse round foreign shops looking at unfamiliar packaging whilst on holiday. Don't know about other countries, but the doses for the French equivalent of Calpol are given by the child's weight, and I have no idea what mine weigh these days.

I don't have a baby and I always take a range of medications. It can be incredibly hard to find an equivalent of something familiar in the UK, and stressful if you are not sure quite what you are being offered because of a language barrier. Even something as simple as analgesics can be complicated!

I always take tons with me, painkillers, sore throat tabs, antihistamines, antiseptic cream, plasters, Imodium etc mainly because I cba with the faff of getting to a chemist abroad if someone was poorly, both dd and me are allergic to plasters and react badly to bites, so I'm always prepared. It helps me to relax when I'm there. One time I didn't take everything- you guessed it - sliced my finger randomly on a razor in the wash bag, got a plaster from reception to keep me going till I found a chemist selling the hypoallergenic ones, took us ages wandering around Rome on a boiling hot day.

Take it!! I've just had to spend over €20 for stuff for insect bites!

Ikeadyounot you have just reminded me of the time we tried to get my dad painkillers for toothache in southern Spain. He ended up with some crazy horse pills and came back slightly addicted

Maybe that's why I always take my kit!