If you have a sick child, chances are good that you want them to get well as soon as possible. Your child might not be able to adequately express what doesn't feel good or realize that he or she is going to throw up until he or she has already done it, resulting in you having to clean up a mess that could be avoided by an older child. To make matters worse, your child's primary care doctor is likely not open on the weekends and in the evenings, which means that in order to get your child looked at, you will have to go to urgent care.

Urgent care is a great resource for families that want to help their sick children outside of normal business hours. However, there are usually a lot of parents with sick children, as well as sick adults, who will need to use the services of the urgent care. This can result in you having to deal with a longer wait. Here are some tips for taking your child to urgent care so that the experience can be as effective as possible for both your child's comfort and long term health.

1. Bring Things to Do

The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you bring things for your child to do. Anticipate a wait at the urgent care, especially if there is only one in your area. Many people are going to be using it, and although the urgent care will see everyone as quickly as possible, a large number of people means a wait for you and your child. Bringing a tablet or phone that your child can use to play games or watch movies on is a great way to make sure that he or she can tolerate the wait even when he or she is not feeling good. Make sure that you bring headphones so that your child can enjoy the sound without bothering the other people who are waiting.

2. Get the Symptoms from Your Child

Talk to your child and see if you can figure out his or her exact symptoms. First, ask where it hurts or what doesn't feel good. Your child might not know the words for his or her body parts but he or she can definitely point to them. Describe them in terms your child can understand. For example, to tell if your child feels nauseous when his or her stomach feels bad or is simply experiencing pain in his or her stomach, compare the way that your child feels now to how he or she feels when he or she has to poop. Simple pain is going to be more in terms of feeling as though he or she has to poop, but pooping didn't make it better. Nausea is going to be something different in many cases.

For more information, contact local professionals like Meadowbrook Urgent Care. They might have more ways to talk to your child. 

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