I love that ad for a children’s fever reducer, where the kid comes to her mom with a fever, as they are packing for a trip. With their vacay hanging in the balance, a dose of fever reducer saves the day, and we are to assume the rest of their vacation goes swimmingly.

Most parents I know have a similar story to tell, only their child (or the rest of the family) spent the entire vacation in darkened rooms wrapped in sweat-soaked sheets, marking the days until they would be home again. Travelling with sick kids is tricky, and it’s important to have a strategy up your sleeve (and maybe a barf bag or two) before you decide to hit the airport.

The Barf Factor

A friend of mine was moving to Calgary from Vancouver, and she and her one-year-old both caught the stomach flu the day before. While he had been up all night heaving, she reached the pinnacle of multi-tasking glory when she held her one-year-old at a safe distance and vomited into the garbage bin right beside the check-in counter. My sister puked all over a woman’s fur coat on a plane when she was six months old.

A good rule of thumb is: if your child is actively emptying the contents of his or her stomach (from either end) as a result of the flu, then it’s best to wait until things are under control. You want to reduce the risk of infecting everyone else on the plane, especially if you are all going to the same resort or on a tour together. Most good airlines allow you to cancel your flight up to two hours in advance, with a nominal rebooking fee.

That being said, if your kid is prone to motion sickness, you have already learned to pack an extra outfit (for both of you), extra barf bags, and load them up with Gravol (Dramamine) before heading out.

But what if you have booked an all-inclusive resort, and you know the flu will be short-lived (because you just had it), and your kid generally recovers quickly? It’s your kid – and your call. I’d sooner try to work out something with the tour company, eat a few hundred bucks and stay at home, while my husband cleans up, only because I happen to have a huge vomit phobia.

Scope out Healthcare at your Destinations

My youngest child has inherited our “lame lungs” and was very seriously ill when she was nine months old. So when we were about to board a plane just before her first birthday to fly across the country, I made a list of all the nearest hospital emergency rooms, and directions from where we were staying, and packed her file from the hospital. This might seem like overkill, but it gave me enough peace of mind so when she did develop “just a cold” during that trip, I could sit and hover over her and listen to her breathing like a normal anxious mom, without also wondering “Where the heck can we take her if things go sideways?"

Flu Déjà Vu?

One of my kids always get sick when my husband and I go away for a romantic vacation, it’s just a given. I also have one kid who is more of a “stomach” kid awhile the other is more of a “lung” kid. If your child’s’ illness seems to be following a pretty predictable pattern, and you’re confident their illness will be short-lived, then some parents might tend to load ‘em up with the aforementioned fever reducer and head out. If the medication makes them drowsy, I say all the better.

However, anyone who has ever traveled with blocked sinuses knows the excruciating pain that pressure changes can cause in your ears, so talk to your doctor or pharmacist about medication to drain sinuses well before take-offs and landings. If you haven’t experienced this, think “driving an ice-pick into your ear with a rubber mallet.”

Also consider the length or the trip. A quick two-hour flight? No problem. A 23-hour ordeal with four connections? I’d pass. You can always joke with your kid in years to come about how their 24-hour stomach flu cost your family your vacation of a lifetime. No really, it will seem funny one day.

Photo: Alan/Kaptain Kobold