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Medical stuff-

-cold medicine for parents (non-drowsy)
-Immodium AD (for traveler’s problems!)
-Excedrin/Tylenol/Ibuprophen
-Tums or Pepto tablets
-travel sized first aid kit (band-aids, Neosporin, gauze, tweezers, thermometer, medical tape, etc.)
-anti-fungal cream (for ring worm and other rashes)
-Nix or other Lice treatment (can leave at orphanage if unneeded)
-Elimite for scabies (can leave at orphanage if unneeded)
-lice comb
-hydrocortisone
-child’s cold medicine
-children’s Benadryl
-children’s Tylenol/advil for pain and fever
-any prescription medicines parents take
-any prescription meds doc prescribes for parents and child for trip
-thermometer
-rubber gloves (good for handling blood if child has any infectious diseases…also smart for changing diapers since children adopted internationally often have parasites, giardia and other icky things).
-multivitamins (if you take them)
-gas drops (if adopting a baby)
-teething gel (for babies)
-bulb aspirator (for babies)
-Q-tips (for lots of things)
-insect repellant (if you will have the need)
-motion sickness meds (if needed)
-any other meds you regularly take and/or might need

Notes on medical stuff- Have a well stocked first aid kid. We ordered a “Pedia Pak” International Adoption Medical Kit and it was well worth the money to us. We only had to add a few items that we wanted to bring along and it was very convenient. Now we keep it in the car for a first aid kit.

Talk to your doctor about prescription antibiotics for you and your child, and if that is something you should bring. We didn’t bring any for Belane, but were able to get some in Addis for a whopping $6.

Anything you bring over and don’t use can be donated to the orphanage and will likely be much appreciated. We have left quite a bit of medical stuff behind on all of our adoption trips.

Be careful with Benadryl…a lot of parents use this to “calm” their children and help make them drowsy before/during travel. While Benadryl definitely has that affect on some children, it also has quite the opposite affect on some children. I would definitely try giving this to your child before you travel if it is something you want to try. A child that is hyper-active because of a medication is not going to be fun to travel with.

The same goes with sleep aids and anti-anxiety meds for parents... I know several adoptive parents who decided to take these for the first time on their adoption trips with mixed results. In general, I would try anything like that at least once or twice before your adoption trip so you know how it will affect you.

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