What do you do when your baby spikes a fever of 102 degrees and you're at a cottage that has a good 45-minute highway drive to any medical help? I just went through this last week and learned three things to always take on a family vacation.
Always take infant/child pain/fever reliever. Ever since my middle daughter broke her arm in France (and the hospital offered a pain reliever in the form of a suppository) I pack our trusted brand of (oral) kids' medicine.
When we were in Spain, and my eldest received a 2nd degree skin burn - we had our pain medication.
When I was at the cottage last week, I, of course, had infant fever meds on hand. And when the fever hit - I thought the pain reliever would do its job and our vacation would be fine. However, I had forgotten about my post on How Innovative Technology Can Save Kids From Danger.
Pack important phone numbers. I called Telehealth Ontario (free access to a registered nurse) and found out I was under-dosing my baby. He's a big boy and needed his dosage based on weight rather than age. I should have thought of that! And the nurse disagreed with my parental diagnosis of teething...she thought his symptoms were something more.
Pack your common sense. After over 24 hours of a really high fever, I decided we needed to get him to a doctor. Wait, I did 2nd guess myself - thinking - he can tough it out...the bigger kids were having such a good time. That's when my common sense kicked in...take that baby to a doctor!
When traveling with sick kids - go with your gut. It was sad to call off our vacation, but I will never regret putting my kids' health before fun.
Post script: baby is on antibiotics, drinking lots and is on the road to wellness.
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