Friday, 27 February 2009
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Giving Medication to Your Infant
My daughter has a cold. Her nose is stuffy and she's coughing. I took her to the doctor and they ran some tests - it's not RSV or the flu. It's just a virus, nothing you can do according to the doctor. I use saline drops, suction out her nose (which she is becoming less and less tolerant of), elevated her mattress, and put the humidifyer in her bedroom.
My mother, on the other hand, keeps saying, "Give her a small dose of Dimetapp or something to help her breathe better. I did it to you kids when you were babies and you were fine."
Of course, according to the FDA, that is not recommended. I started to get a little curious as to why so I did some research. What I found is that FDA advisers voted 13-9 that cold medicine shouldn't be given to children under the age of 6 because of the possibility of serious or potentially life threatening side effects.
One of the spokespersons said, "We felt this was a way to reduce dosing errors and overdosing in children, who we felt were the most vulnerable."
So were the side effects from people overdosing their infants with cold medicine?
Personally, I feel awful that my daughter can't breathe and is hacking and coughing and I can't do anything about it. I think it's to the point of being cruel. Sorry baby, you can't have medicine because other people are too dumb to give their children the correct amount of medicine. Even the nurse at my pediatricians office thinks it's dumb to not be able to give your baby a little medicine to relieve a stuffy nose and cough, but she can't ethically give me a go-ahead.
When I did other searches on the internet, mostly through message boards and stuff, I saw posts of mothers who are completely terrified of even bringing cold medicine into their homes.
How do you feel about giving small doses of medication to your baby? Do your follow your pediatrician's intructions to a T?
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- From: IamKelleyK@xanga
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Comments (21)
When my daughter had strep, they did allow her to have some infant tylenol. They had a whole list of medicine I could give her, but they don't normally tell parents to give their babies medicine because of the issue of over dosing.
Yeah, I thought the whole FDA thing was ridiculous. If medications are given appropriately, they are safe AND effective. My daughter has had a few colds this winter and I don't know how we would have made it through the night without some medications. She'd have violent coughing fits that I couldn't get to stop for ANYTHING. Finally, I gave her small bits (literally 1/4 teaspoon) of children's cough meds and the coughing stopped immediately.
I always use www.askdrsears.com
He has a "medicine cabinet" section that has dosage of almost every medication under the sun for children. It is very helpful and I use it all the time.
No, I do not follow everything the pediatrician tells me. If I did, my kids would be living in a bubble and I would go crazy trying to follow all the "rules." I pick the rules that are most important to me, and follow those ones. The rest I just go by my "mommy instinct."
That being said, I have never given my kids cough medicine. But, they've never really gotten to the point where I needed to. I probably would if I was that desperate. Good luck!
I don't think the medicines themselves are harmful, and I don't understand why a 5 year old's body would react differently than mine to a medication I know works (I'm not sold on cough syrup, but Sudafed and Benadryl work great, and Tylenol should still be OK to give, definitely safer than fever). People were a) not measuring correctly b) administering too many meds with overlapping ingredients or c) ODing their kids on Benadryl so they'd sleep. I really hope I find a pedi who respects me so we can have *honest* discussions about this instead of BS.
The medicine itself isn't harmful its the parents that overdose their children and then try and claim its the medications fault. I have a 5 and a 3 year old, if you follow the instructions and administer correctly over the counter medicines can really help them get over a virus.
I don't give my daughter any pharmacuetical medicine over the counter, not even in small doses b/c she's so small. I do work in a health food store though, so when she has a cough or something similar I give her homeopathic remedies to help her with her symptoms.
Do some research into homeopathic remedies for colds and ect and you may discover a whole new way to help your daughter out with her cold. When my daughter(2) or son(6) has a cough I usually giver them a small dose of homeopathic phosphorous. It helps them a ton and I feel like I'm doing some good, for once lol.
good luck I hope she feels better. if you have any questions i'll be more than happy to help!!
I have gone against 'pediatric recommendations'. My daughter was on many of these meds before they banned them for under 6. So I remember the dosings for my son, and I can pretty well judge when he has reached the point where he needs a medicine intervention.
Being a child protection person, I can tell you how enraged I am that because some people didn't follow directions and made a lot of noise, the FDA thought all parents are idiots. If someone lets their kid ride a bike or skateboard without a helmet, they don't take all our skateboards and bikes away! They don't take our cars away because some parents don't use carseats! More kids are injured or die from those than medications, for sure.
On the homeopathic side, please make sure you know all your kids' allergies, and speak with a long time user or seller of homeopathics. Some things can make some kids really sick.
And, lastly, if your kiddo is sick and over a year, honey is a great cough reliever. It costs less, you give about a tablespoon, and it lasts longer than over the counter meds, per the pediatricians with the AMA. Do not use honey with a child under 1 year old as it can contain a botulism toxic to that age group.
@Alynn820@xanga - A five year old's body will react differently because they metabolize things differently.
That being said, it is ridiculous that you're not supposed to give a kid cold medicine. My parents gave it to me and my siblings, my sister gives it to my nephew, etc... and none of us have suffered any ill effects. As long as you're dosing by weight for a child there shouldn't really be an issue. Some irresponsible people ruined it for the parents who are trying to do right by their children.
I give my son meds when he is sick... well sick enough. I try to let his body fight it off itself, but if that doesn't work, then we will give him some meds, but we give him the childrens version and cut the dose in half. I have never talked to the pedi about it, but it has seemed to work for him. And allows him be more comfortable while his body fights off the cold.
We do stick with giving him the recommended dosage, if it says it for a two-year-old without saying ask your doctor.
I used to (and still do) give my son small doses of children's medicine when he is having symptoms. If it is given by weight, it is not that difficult to figure out how many ml (or total mg) per pound. I only give him the meds when it helps with the symptoms. If it doesn't, I don't bother giving the meds again.
I have found that saline drops and suctioning work better than any OTC decongestant for him. Triaminc makes a nasal spray for children that works OK, but I wouldn't have used it when John was much younger (under 10 months).
I personally try to avoid giving cold medicine, because I feel there are other more natural remedies that are safer to go with, so hopefully I won't ever have to. But, I think it's ok with very small doses if you are desparate to give your baby some relief that way.
Honestly, when I don't even take medicine when I'm sick (prefer more natural remedies), why would I put that kind of stuff into my child's body? I don't disagree with those who do, and I think that the FDA may be acting a tad bit too cautious (but then again, I'd rather err on the side of caution when childrens' lives are at stake), but it's not right for my family.
ask your local pharmacist they would know best for the age. my son is 2 and ive given him childrens diamatapp just way less than the dosage amount for a 6 year old. i spoke to the pharmacist and got told to do half teaspoon every eight hours (box says teaspoon every 4) pharmacists know more about medications on anyone more then anyone.
I take the amount of the meds divide it by the doesage and then times it buy the weight of my child. I don't follow everything the dr. says.
I usually follow what they say. My newest baby has only been sick once but he was so sick he had to go to the ER and get breathing treatments. I think if people would just follow directions this would not be an issue.
My daughter absolutely refuses to take anything liquid, to get her to take a liquid medicine I have to hold her down get a syringe and hope most of it makes it down her throat. Now we have Tylenol meltaways which we can find for her age range. We managed to find cold medicine just out of her age range, the 6+ age range. Though the Triaminic soft chews dosage calls for two at a time, we just give her one. She hasn't had a problem with it yet and it makes her feel better.
I give my kids cold medicine. I think it's ridiculous as well. To eliminate any possible dosage errors (also ridiculous.. who can't read a syringe?) I use the Triaminic Thin Strips. They used to say ages 2+ but now they moved it to 4+, of course. Dumb, because how do you overdose on a strip when there's nothing to measure??
I personally use cold medicine all the time because it is impossible for me to sleep. I know I get over the cold faster (usually just a couple days) because I am able to get the rest I need. Wouldn't that also be true for children?
With my son I wouldn't have cut the dose down at all, and would have listened to the doctors. But since he's 5 and I have my daughter and there are 13 kids total when my friends and I have get togethers, or story is this. I won't make my children suffer because of other parents that aren't responsible enough to know how much and take in consideration what they're giving there kids. I do give my daughter cough syrup and most of the tiem I go by weight, and if that doesn't then I cut it down 1/2 of what I'm suppose to give the littlest and then even cut it down a 1/4 more. I can't see making the kids suffer being sick knowing that if they were older then there is medicine out there to help them. But since they're small there isn't anyhting but to let them suffer. Not me anyways, I just cut the dose down and if it works then I can rest a little better knowing that she/he might be relaxed and not suffereing so much.
I think it comes down to $$. Doctors and med companies are afraid of being sued.
I haven't used any cough meds with my daughter. A humidifier has been enough when she has been sick. I have used Tylenol with high fevers like 103+. Part of the problem with cough suppressants is that the mucous stays in their airway and sometimes leads to bronchitis or pneumonia. I would rather let her cough a little. I'm sure I could dose her properly, but while I know it might make her more comfortable now, cough meds prolong the illness and increase the risk of a secondary infection. I don't use them on myself and I certainly won't give them to my little ones.
I don't follow everything my son's doctor tells me. I don't like giving my son medicine really at all. Even tylenol. I just feel bad about doing it sometimes because he can't tell me if he wants it or not. I usually do though. Unless I feel its not doing anything to help him.