A special thanks to PediaCare® for sponsoring today’s post and for being the prompt to encourage me to clean out my medicine cabinet!
It’s that time of year again: cold and flu season. All of my boys currently have colds. I haven’t had my shirt sleeves covered in this much mucous since March. One thing that I attempt to do every fall is clean out my medicine cabinet and restock it for the winter season. There are few things worse than having sick kids at home and not being prepared. No mom wants to have to load up their sick kids in the car to go to the drugstore or make the phone rounds trying to find someone available to bring medicine to the house. If you haven’t cleaned out your medicine cabinet this year, now is the time to do it! Every time I clean mine out, I’m always amazed at how many things that expired or need throwing away. Of course, this brings up the question of how to properly dispose of medication. Before I started, I checked the FDA website for the latest guidelines, and I’m sharing today how I disposed of all my outdated medication. I’ll also share about the PediaCare® that I used to restock my cabinet!
This is what my cabinet looked like before cleaning out the cabinet. Keep reading to see the “after”, but I will tell you that even I was shocked at how much stuff was in here that didn’t belong! As always, make sure that your medicine cabinet is out of the reach of children and even locked if necessary.
While it may sound obvious, I began by pulling literally everything out of my cabinet. Hold nothing back! Empty the entire cabinet so that everything can be sorted.
Next, I sorted everything that I pulled out. Empty boxes and trash went into one pile, expired medications went into another pile, and good medications went into another. The good medications I divided into adult medications and child medications.
I was disappointed at how much room was being used in the medicine cabinet for just empty boxes that hadn’t been thrown away. I betcha’ I know who the culprit of that is.
The amount of expired medication was even greater. I found some things that had expired two years ago. I would have bet money that I cleaned out the cabinet last year, but I guess with the birth of the triplets I failed to do it. It’s surprising how much time lapses between household tasks that I think I accomplish more often than I really do. To dispose of the medication, I checked out out the FDA guidelines. Medication should not be disposed of in the sink or toilet. There is a chance that the attributes of the medications could make it into the water supply, so trash disposal is the way to go. Check out the following graphic for a pictorial step-by-step on disposing of medication.
After disposing of the medicines, I placed the good medications back into the cabinet. I placed adult medications on one shelf and child medications on another.
Quite a big difference from the “before” photo, huh? I can’t believe how much stuff that I had in my medicine cabinet that didn’t belong!
Now, it’s time to restock my cabinet with needed medications to get us through cold and flu season! PediaCare® has been my go-to brand for my children’s over the counter medications for years. Through their teething, colds, and even infant gas relief, I’ve found PediaCare® products to be reliable and effective. The number one reason that children do not take their medication is taste, and PediaCare® develops their products with this in mind and gears the taste of medication towards the taste buds of children.
Now that my daughter is older, she can take their new PediaCare® Smooth Melts™. This fever reducer/pain reliever is designed as a chewable tablet that are easy for kids to take. Each bottle contains 24 chewable cherry flavored tablets, and the bottle has a dosing chart to make it easy on caregivers. The tablets have a favorable scent, too!
The PediaCare® Smooth Melts™ are available at Rite Aid and on Amazon.com.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a webinar with pediatrician and father, Dr. David Hill, author of Dad to Dad: Parenting like a Pro. Dr. Hill partners with PediaCare® to produce informational videos for parents. He was a wealth of knowledge regarding cold and flu season. He stated that kids actually have different taste buds than adults, and this is why many children “grow into” foods as a teenager that they wouldn’t touch as a kid. This comes into play with medication. My daughter has a terrible gag reflex, and bitter medications only make it worse! The cherry taste of the PediaCare® Smooth Melts™ are much more agreeable for her.
Here is an informational video by Dr. Hill about a child’s sense of taste:
Want a chance to restock your medicine cabinet with products? Fifteen winners will be selected to receive a PediaCare® care package that will include assorted PediaCare® products and a book (ARV $75). Winners will be chosen and notified by PediaCare®. Giveaway is open until Tuesday, October 21. Use the below Rafflecopter form to enter to win. Good luck!
When my kids were little, it was Dimetapp that I we purchased when they didn’t feel well
Ahhhh, easy to forget best ways of disposal. Thanks for the tips, Melanie!
I’ve had good results with Pediacare 🙂
My cabinet looks like your “Before” pic! It’s definitely time to clean it out, toss the expired things, and stock up on what we need like Pediacare.
My daughter had a cold and was coughing so I got her some medicine. She is very picky and did not like the taste of the Bubblegum. She said it tasted like chalk lol. But she loved the taste of the grape so whenever she is sick and needs a flavor I know grape is for her.
I was always a fan of grape, too.
I have the hardest time getting my kids to take medicine because they always taste so bad! More than once I’ve had to clean them and the floor because they just couldn’t swallow it. I hope these taste better.
We are still using the liquids but my son is almost old enough to move up. I had never heard of the smooth melts. What a super idea.