23 First Aid Kit Essentials Every Mom Needs To Have
Children are simply unpredictable. I can assure you that as I have two kids of my own and that whole toddler phase for me was insane.
For all the moms out there, here are 23 First Aid Kit Essentials you need to pack for emergency situations, either in your home or in your car.
Whether you’re at home or on the go with your children, it’s always to have a backup.
Now by backup I simply mean to have all the supplies that are essential for sudden incident, that to my knowledge it pretty common for those who have children.
It’s ideal to have some basic First Aid Kit essentials with you when during years when your kids are young.
As a mom, you want to provide the best care for your child during those years, especially when faced with any mild injury like cuts, scrapes or minor bruises. A few properly stocked First Aid Kit essentials are a must for every household.
Children are extremely accident prone and having a stocked medical kit is a key to a prepared home and a prepared mom.
This is why I’m sharing some of these products that are essential to keep in your family’s First Aid Kit. And these are not just for children!
These products are great to have for the whole family.
Note: I’m not a medical doctor. This First Aid Kit should be used as a guide. For more information regarding how to use and store your tools and products, you can always check with your physician.
Where Do I Keep The First Aid Kit Essentials?
Before moving in depth with the essentials, first try to figure out where do you want to keep your First Aid Kit. If you’re able to put together only one First Aid Kit then I recommend keeping it in the car.
This way whether you are home or on the go, you will have all the First Aid Kit essentials with you.
It is better to store all the products in one box to keep all your essentials in one place. Once you have kept all your products in one place you a store it in your car.
This way you don’t have to remember to pack anything before leaving, which is a perk actually.
If you have more than one car, make two of them. It’s also great if you have one for your home too.
When Am I supposed to Restock it?
It’s good to check all your First Aid Kit essentials yearly and restock them if any of them are missing or expired. Make sure you check all the expiry dates and damages in a product.
Also, your First Aid Kit doesn’t have to be expensive at all and you don’t need to buy items all at once.
Try to buy a few times every couple of shopping trips you make. Before you even know it your First Aid Kit essentials will be stocked!
23 First Aid Kit Essentials Every Mom Needs To Have
Here is what you can have in your First Aid Emergency kit that you can store preferably in the car for your family. Create a proper first aid kit with the following essentials:
First Aid Kit Container/Box
The first thing that you need to keep all your First Aid Kit Essentials in one place is aa First Aid Kit Box/container. It can be anything like a bag, a simple box, or a medium sized container.
I personally like this first aid container from Amazon which is perfect and big enough to store all your essentials in one place. Its look also differentiates it from other simple boxes. That way you can easily recognize it.
Adhesive and Ace Bandages
Having bandages are a must in every first aid kit. Also, those bandages that have some cartoon characters on them, like your kid’s favorite cartoon. Having their favorite cartoon on their bandage will make the wound less scary.
I highly recommend getting different sizes of bandages. You may want to consider investing in some square sized and butterfly closures. Have two types of bandages – Adhesive and Ace bandages.
Adhesive bandages can treat scrapes, bumps, and bruises and Ace bandages are good to treat sprains, strains, and bigger wounds.
Other than the bandages make sure to have a scissor in your First Aid kit essentials for cutting dressings to the right size or medical tapes.
Hand Sanitizer
Well, you definitely know by now how important is a Hand sanitizer for all of us. (I think I use more hand sanitizer than I use soap now!)
Anyways, before you clean a wound and treat an injury, make you’re your hands are clean. A hand sanitizer will do a trick here.
After all, you don’t want to make things worse by using any dirty hands with germs on open wounds. So make sure you have this essential item in your first aid kit.
Alcohol Wipes
Well these are optional for a home First Aid kit, simply because if you already use an antibacterial soap, that does the same job. But if you’re packing first aid kit essentials for your car then you must add them.
Alcohol wipes are great for cleaning your kid’s skin before treating a wound or bruise. It’s also great for sterilizing the other first aid kit instruments.
For cleaning a wound all you need is clean water (make sure to keep a pack for your car) or use alcohol wipes. If those are not what you want you can go for alcohol spray as well.
Ibuprofen and Tylenol
It’s a good choice to keep a few medications in your First Aid Kit. You can keep a few pain-relief medications for fever or simple body ache.
As for kids, you will have to add the liquid form of these pain-relief medications.
Sterile Gauze
Sterile gauze is an essential item of every first aid kit. It is actually far more effective than a bandage to stop bleeding.
Gauzes can be easily layered to give more coverage to the world and it is folded in a perfect size.
How do you know it’s sterilized?
You must unwrap it from its package! A wrapper is a proof that is is sterilized. Please don’t use any open gauzes in your house to treat wounds. There can be other infections your child might get after using infected gauze.
Gauzes are super absorbent. To treat a burn, you can use gauze that doesn’t stick directly to the wound like Telfa gauze.
Numbing Spray
If your child has a burn, sunburn or any other cut or painful scrape, numbing spray is something that you can add to your first aid kit essentials to make things better for your child.
This numbing spray can be purchased at any pharmacy and is great pain relief. This can help to ease any suffering for a while, by the time you work out things to relieve the pain.
Adhesive Tape
Adhesive Cloth tapes can come in handy for many different things like adhering gauze on a wound or splinter. These are helpful in holding together the cloth bandages.
You never know when they can come in handy, so having a pair of them is great to have it in your First Aid Kit.
Latex Free Gloves
It is best to play safe by keeping a pack of Latex-free gloves in your First Aid Kit essentials container. If you are treating your child or any other member where you are not sure that may have a specific latex sensitivity or allergy.
It good to have these latex free gloves to avoid spread of diseases and germs.
Sunburn Ointment/Sunscreen
It is ideal to have a sunburn ointment that can be really helpful if your child or any family member gets a severe sunburn.
To avoid this situation is good have a Sunscreen SPF 30 with you as well as sunburn ointment in your First Aid kit box.
Q-tips
If you’re going to invest in any sort of ointments, its good to have a pack of Q-tips with you as well. They can be helpful when any time you want to apply an ointment you can use these q-tips and apply it directly to the wound.
This will also protect you from pathogens and keep the would itself far cleaner than using your own fingertip which has germs and natural oils.
Thermometer
Well, this isn’t something that I should have mentioned here as a First Aid Kit simply can’t go without having a thermometer.
I know you can simply tell if your kid has a fever by just placing the back of your hand on his forehead. However, doctors use thermometers with specific details so having such a thermometer as your first aid kit essential is a must.
Hydrocortisone Ointment
Keeping an inexpensive hydrocortisone ointment can be helpful in treating almost every type of itch – insect bites, rashes, poison ivy, etc.
This is helpful because when you stop the itch, the kids won’t scratch and this reduces the risk of other infections and its transmission through their hands.
Cold Compress Packs
Having a pack of cold compress can be super ideal for your first aid kit box. Applying cold compresses can be helpful for aches and pains. Make sure to keep some reusable cold compresses in the freezer all the time.
Keeping these packs as a first aid kid essential is a good option to give someone else in case of an emergency. This is also way more efficient by having a reusable option.
You can keep a plastic bag full of ice cubes as well to reduce the swelling in your first aid kit.
Disposable CPR Shield
If you’re a certified in CPR, then keeping a CPR shield is perfect in your first aid kit. You never know when this can be helpful.
If you’re interested in more information on how to get trained in CPR or First Aid, you can check this post on infant and child CPR.
Saline Spray/ Nasal Suction Device
Although most of the kids just hate nasal aspirators it’s always good to have one in your first aid kit for your kids.
This is unless your child is old enough to know how to blow his/her nose. Nasal aspirators can be helpful to loosen mucus and help a kid breathe.
For really stuffed noses, NoseFrida nasal aspirator is amazing that lets you suck out mucus and works better than bulb-shaped aspirators and has filters that keep everything sanitized.
Prescription Medication
If you decide to keep this First Aid Kit in your car then you probably should think about keeping any prescription for medication your child uses frequently.
This is necessary if your child has asthma or any allergies. You definitely would hate to run back home for your child’s medication, so it’s better to have them right with you.
Tweezers
Tweezers can be good to remove splinters or pieces of glass from a wound. It can also be great to remove bugs from ears or fishing hooks from fingers.
Tweezers can be kept in the first aid kit for sterility purposes so that you wouldn’t infect the wound. Splinter removal requires tweezers, but you want to make sure they are packed and separated from other tweezers.
Once you use those tweezers make sure you sterilize them again by either dipping them into rubbing alcohol or spraying it onto them. It is better to have disposable tweezers in your first aid kit.
Benadryl
Diphenhydramine, also known as Benadryl, is probably the most important medication you’’ have in your first aid kit. It can be used to treat or minimize allergies, insect bites and hives.
If your child has any of the seasonal allergies then you sure to have this over-the-counter medication in your first aid kit. Some pre-made first aid kits will have Benadryl tablets, but for toddlers, you need a bottle of special children’s Benadryl in a liquid form.
Zip Lock Bag
Different types of injuries can happen when you are outdoors. It’s great to have zip lock bags in your First Aid kit Essentials container to keep a track of them.
Like you might find a bug on your child and you can place it in a zip lock bag to be able to identify later or show it to your health care professional to see if it isn’t dangerous.
Some bugs carry more serious disease than others, so its recommended to have a zip lock bag with you when you’re outdoors.
Baby Wipes
No matter if your child is a toddler or grown-up, having baby wipes around is great especially when you know boo-boos happen any time.
Whether its just to clean your hands, wipes noses or clean your children’s mess, baby wipes are great to have on the go.
Chapstick
You can either have chapsticks in your first aid kit or simply in your bag which you take outside.
Chapsticks or lip balms are great to sooth chapped lips, sun-burned lips, lip injuries or cold sores.
Flashlight and Batteries
A small flashlight and batteries are great to keep in your first aid kit while traveling outdoors. You may use your phone flashlight, but I like to have a LED flashlight in the car.
Its not just for looking at wounds or injuries during night time. You can have a close look at the splinters, or in your kid’s mouth, ears or nose.
Always have extra batteries with them so that they don’t stop working in the middle of the trip.
Additional notes:
- Now that you have fully stocked the First Aid Kit essentials, make sure you’re performing regular maintenance to keep everything in good condition, which includes:
- Checking the item’s expiration dates after every 6 months.
- Making sure items are clean and sanitized
- Any damaged items should be removed immediately
- If the tools like scissor or tweezer are out of their wrapper, make sure sterilize them with alcohol and keep them in a safe container in the box.
- If any disposable tool is used, make sure to discard it immediately
- Carefully inspect all the gloves to make sure none are torn or cracked. If they are, discard them right away
Final thoughts
I really hope you liked these First Aid Kit Essentials that every mom needs to have. If you would like to add anything that I missed, feel free to comment down below and let me know.
What did you stock up in your First Aid Kit? Let us know too!
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23 First Aid Kit Essentials Every Mom Needs To Have
I am the Wife, Mommy, & Blogger behind All Moms Blog learning to run my own home and raise up kids while chasing my dreams. I work to support, inspire, and encourage moms in the journey of motherhood to make their lives easier without losing your sanity.
Great article! I m going to buy same staff to bring around with me. It is good to be safe when you have kids playing outside.