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Maybe it’s that we travel a lot or maybe it’s because we have a little one who puts everything in his mouth, but we’ve been hit with things going around more the last few months than we have the last few years! I love being super organized, and I tackle our medicine cabinet with the same enthusiasm.

As we get closer to fall and cold season, I’m taking another look at where our medicine cabinet is. Here are some of the things we keep on hand to make our lives easier when we’re down for the count. Of course, you should always, always consult with your pediatrician and/or doctor before using any of this. I’m not a medical expert – this is just what works for us!

  1. Stocked medicine cabinet for us and baby – I go through this a few times a year to check for expired meds. This stocked cabinet, for us, includes: Tylenol, Advil, Aleve, Tums, Pepto, Sudafed, Theraflu (day and night – the powder kind you mix in with your herbal tea), Dayquil and Nyquil, throat and cough drops.

    For baby, we typically keep: infants’ Tylenol, Gripewater (we use for upset tummies), baby Vicks Vapor Rub, Fridababy eucalyptus oil for the humidifier, Fridababy vapor rub stick, Fridababy vapor bath drops (new to me and much easier than sitting in a DIY steamroom to release congestion), and Little Remedies Gas Relief drops. This is also such a good starter kit for littles.
  2. Plenty of tissues. Travel-size and regular. Also, spring for the good stuff. Being sick is not a time to cut corners. Kleenex’s cooling tissues might be the best stuff that’s ever been invented. For baby, we keep Boogie Wipes saline wipes and Fridababy vapor wipes well-stocked.
  3. Electrolyte-enhanced and tummy-friendly bevs. This means Gatorade or vitaminwater and ginger ale. Sometimes water straight up is just too harsh. I discovered Reed’s when I was pregnant and dealing with morning sickness and I haven’t turned back since. You can see the flakes of ginger in it and it’s very low sugar – both super rare things with ginger ale I’ve found. I’ve gotten it at Whole Foods, but you can find it at several other grocery stores.
  4. Pantry staples. I need to be better at this since this is always what my sick day order is, but some of the things we stock when we’re sick are mostly along the B.R.A.T. diet (bread, rice, applesauce, toast). That means bread to toast (I always try to get a whole wheat with lots of seeds so I know we’re at least not consuming worthless calories even if our whole diet is beige), applesauce (jar of organic, unsweetened from Whole Foods), loads of Yogi tea, oyster crackers or saltines (because there’s just some comfort food you can’t health up), bananas, and cardboard containers of organic, low sodium chicken noodle soup (even these I don’t love though – I usually opt for Whole Foods’ fresh chicken noodle soup).

My emergency MVPs:

There are tons of delivery/subscription services out there, but these 2 are the ones I rely on most when we’re all sick and no one wants to brave it to the grocery store.

  1. Whole Foods. Two-hour delivery windows. Fresh food, good selection. Worth the delivery fee every time, especially when you’re sick, your spouse is sick, and baby is sick. Anything that will make your life easier, do it.
  2. Target via Shipt. This fills the gap Whole Foods isn’t always able to. I order over-the-counter meds, Gatorade, even a new bedtime book or toiletry item I’m out of. I can also schedule this in two-hour delivery windows and I’m texting with the actual shopper. Downside? It’s got to be $35 worth of things for Shipt shopping/delivery. It’s a new service to me, but, like I said, for all the things you can’t grab at Whole Foods or your grocery store of choice, this is gold. The texting is tops. I literally texted back and forth with a Shipt shopper (real person) about toddlers’ toothpaste and onesies when all of our things were in one state and we were stuck in another sick. They were epic! Well worth the subscription.

Also, be sure and check out my DIY medicine ball recipe because no one wants a cold delivery or to have to go out on their own when they’re sick.