First Aid at Home - Need advice

[Earlybird]

I've been thinking about putting together a first aid kit for home. What should be in it? Are most things available for purchase at the chemist?

Is there a good book on basic first aid that no home should be without?

Thank goodness we've never had an incident with dd, but I've thought many times how valuable it would be to have resources "on tap" should an emergency arise.

Are there other resources/materials that would be valuable/important to know about?

Would appreciate advice/suggestions.

you could just buy a first aid kit!

I'm going to watch this one, my medical box is crap and after tonight it's even worse!

Somewhere i saw advertised a sheet of emergency first aid advice to stick up in your medicine cupboard which i thought was great idea.

I found out about those little strips to hold a deep cut together only when we needed them but I always have them in now (is it medistrips?)

steristrips

steristrips that's what they're called - very useful for holding a cut together

non-stick dressings are a good idea too...

Something I've always meant to do (and never got round to) is a First Aid course - St. John's Ambulance run them. My friend did one when she began child-minding and it gave her a lot of confidence. I have a First Aid kit with general supplies in - burn stuff, liquid 'skin', bandages, gauze, tweezers, bite and sting stuff, plasters, micropore tape, antiseptic spray, antiseptic/anaesthetic cream (very useful when having to excavate splinters!) and I have a Family Health Encyclopaedia and a book of Children's Symptoms and Illnesses (I sound like a hypochondriac..) but I think I would panic if faced with a real emergency - choking, not breathing etc. My friend who did the course said it gave her the confidence to feel she could tackle a scenario like that - at least until the ambulance got there!

LadyTophamHat - it was your post that prompted me to ask about this, as it's been in my thoughts for ages. I'm not good in crisis situations, so don't want to put added pressure on myself by flapping around in a panic looking for information and materials.

Sounds like you had a terrifying experience - exactly the kind I'm frightened of having. I'm glad everything is better now.

Oh and I re-stocked my First Aid box at Boots recently - when they had three for two on first aid stuff.

Please do a first aid course.

Its really worth it. Check out your local clinic/hv to see if they run any regular ones.

I did a baby first aid one and have needed it on one occasion so far for a choking incident.

Baby first aid is very different to adult first aid as they have different proportioned bodies.

I'm going to go to Boots tomorrow and re-stock my first aid kit with things that are actaully useful.

The only things I had for Ds3 was normal plasters and antiseptic wipes but becuase it was bleeding so much neither of them were any good.

For some reason I have about 3 slings in there but no-one in our house has ever worn one.

ideas here

more info

i did a 1st aid course 3years ago, i think its recommended you re-fresh every 2 years. they made up my hand so it looked like it had a piece of glass sticking out of it. when the man went to remove the glass i actually 'winced' as it was so realistic (btw never removed objects like glass etc unless you know how big the piece is, as it may be a deeper cut than you relaise)

Whizzz - those websites are really useful from a practical standpoint. Thanks for posting them.