Help for Sick Days: The Medicine Box

Am I the only one whose dresser seems to get cluttered with medicine droppers, medicine bottles, and other sick gear every time a kid gets ill?

I finally got smart during our last round of illness and came up with a solution for keeping up with all the stuff that's needed when a little one is sick. 

The contents of the medicine box will vary from illness to illness, but here's what was in our box last time:

• All medications:  In this case, we had to rotate ibuprofen and Tylenol every three hours to reduce and prevent fever, so both of those were in the box, along with Izzy's antibiotic
  
  
• Medicine droppers:  We marked the droppers with a Sharpie to keep up with the proper dosage.  We have about ten medicine droppers, so we didn't mind when my mom came up with the smart idea to mark them permanently.
  
  
• Dosage Log:  At the top, I wrote out the medicine dosages along with the proper intervals.  We wrote down every time we gave her medication.  This makes it easier to remember medicine times and it also helps when there are multiple people giving medication.  There are also great apps that can help with this too.  
  
  
• Small candies:  Damian came up with this reward system during one illness.  Every time Izzy gets medicine, she gets to have a treat.  There's not a lot of sugar in one M&M, and to me, it's well worth it to keep from having battles every time she needs medicine, especially when it must be given 8 times a day.  Eventually, we stopped having to do this and now all of my kids take medicine happily.
  
  
• Thermometer(s):  We love both the ear and temporal scan (forehead) thermometers, so we put each of them in the medicine box. 
  
  
• Wash cloth:  It can be helpful to have one handy for drips, so sometimes we had one in the box.

When the illness is over, everything goes back to the medicine cabinet, nursery, or wherever it belongs.  I found it much easier to keep everything together and tote it to Isabelle.  No more searching for clean medicine droppers at 5 am!  And it also kept everything from being scattered around the house.  We enjoyed not having to hunt down thermometers.  I also worry about my toddler getting to the medicine, so I felt like it was easier to keep things high and put away by using a box. 

What tips do you have for surviving with sick little ones?

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