Cold Medicines Ineffective and Dangerous for Young Children

The shelves for children's cold medicines at the drug stores are bare. After the drug companies pulled brand after brand of common cold medicines for children off the shelves, parents have been wondering: what do I do now to ease congestion, runny nose fever and coughing in my young child? These common cold remedies once thought of as benign are now causing concern as there have been many deaths and hospitalizations after children were dosed too much of a cold medicine or parents combined cold medicines by accident, to lethal effect. The main culprit seems to be the lack of assurance as to the correct dosage for young children, especially for children under two, whose weight and size vary so enormously, as can their body's tolerance.

I have been there,

when my son has been up all night coughing and crying because his nose is so stuffed up and he's downright miserable. I had previously used plenty of children's decongestants, antihistamines and combined cough/cold medicines hoping to ease my son's discomfort. But every time I would call the pediatrician asking for correct dosages, she would tell me the same thing: those medications don't really do anything anyway. Sure, the decongestant may work for a short time, but they can also have a backlash effect, where the sinuses get overly dried out (especially in wintertime) leading to other problems.

Best Bet For Tackling Children's Colds: Children's Tylenol or Ibuprofen and let the child's immune system work it out. Most colds are just about over in 10 days. Home remedies that can help ease discomfort include: adding eucalyptus oil to a hot steam vaporizer for congestion, encouraging the child to drink plenty of fluid (including breastmilk if nursing), eating brothy soups (yes, chicken soup does work!), and as for cough syrup, if the child is over 2, it has been found that honey does just as good a job, if not better, at soothing a cough and sore throat than OTC medicines. Plenty of hugs and snuggles can't hurt either!

Read the full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/01/16/cold.medicines.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

By Stephanie Lazzara on January 21, 2008 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)