Drug companies: No cold meds for kids under 4
I read this on the MSN.NEWS today. I wanted to pass it on to everyone on here. My children are much older than this, but I know there are a lot of mothers on here with young children!
WASHINGTON - Children under 4 should not be given over-the-counter cough and cold remedies, drug companies said Tuesday in a concession to pediatricians who doubt the drugs work in kids and worry about their safety.
The voluntary changes came less than a week after federal health officials said they also saw little evidence that the drugs work, but feared that parents would give kids adult medicines if the products were taken off store shelves.
In addition, the drug makers said they will add a warning to their products that parents should not give children antihistamines to make them sleepy. These are allergy-relief medications often found in medicines that combine several ingredients to treat a variety of symptoms.
TO READ MORE CLICK ON THIS LINK: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27067405
thanks
for posting this! My kids are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. I just gave my son ( 3 1/2) some cold medicine this a.m. ! Oops!
Patty
Meds
Wasn't this primarily started with children under 2 not getting cold meds? Our pediatrician told us years ago that over the counter meds don't really do anything for the kids. Children just need to run the colds/coughs out of their systems naturally. This makes more sense now than pumping our kiddo's full of med's/. The duration of antibiotics typically run 10 days anyway, why add more meds to that? Thanks for sharing this info. It is very scary when you think of little ones being overdosed!
You are right.
You are right about the medicines don't really do anything for them. So... I tell everyone ask the questions you want to ask of your doctor. You pay him/her to answer them. I use to give the kids over the counter stuff when they were younger due to the doctor told us we could. A big OOPS!
meds
Yes I would give my children adult cold medicine if I have to it is not their choice whether or not I do I would just give them a real small dose.
delsym (sp)
I am not a big fan on cold meds anyways for kids or us adults. Most colds run there course and you are just find without meds. I do however give my now 5 year delsym. He has what the doctor call Seasonal asthma. Between about OCt-March when he is outside playing or just running around in the house he coughs very bad and at night and first thing in the morning its bad. Anyways he does do a breathing treatment with Pulmicort but its a once a day med so we give it to him at night so he sleeps better but if he is still coughing really bad in the morning I will give him Delsym. Its not jsut a little cough its like he is coughing his lung out its horrible. Once we get through the first part of the fall its normally under control and we dont need to use the delsym. but other then that we dont give out cold meds.
I agree
I too continue to give my 2 1/2 year old twins adult cold medicine if necessary. Their father is a physician, carefully calculates the doses and we see good results. What kills me is these very same people who think cold medicines and vaccines are harmful have no problem smoking around their children, drinking with them in the car and pumping them full of unneccessary antibiotics......even when it is viral related.
Dimetapp
My daughter has terrible allergies and it seems that whenever she gets a small head cold we're at the doctors within a couple days with an ear infection. Because of this, she's been on Children's Dimetapp since about March. She gets 1/2 Teaspoon before bed and when it's really bad she gets it in the morning too. This is what our doctor told us to do to make things a little easier for all of us. I don't see a problem with that.
Doctor's advice
My doctor said, if it is helping my children give it to them. I guess she trusts that I won't overdose them d/t the fact that I am a nurse...