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October 30, 2007
What is a mother to do?
It looks like we have the first cold of the season. My kids are all snotty and not sleeping well at night.
With the recent news of the recall on children's cold medicines I'm not sure what to do for my kids.
I'm asking the same questions Dr. Vincent Iannelli is asking.
Now what will mothers do?
* simply stop giving their young children any cough and cold medicines, which is the goal of the FDA?
* give cough and cold medicines marketed for older kids and adults and simply try to guess at a dose, leading to more overdoses and side effects?
* be more likely to rush to their pediatrician and ask for an antibiotic every time their child gets a cold because they have no over-the-counter medicine to give their child?
You can no longer buy Infant cold medicine over the counter and the children's cold medicine has the following dosage:
So what am I supposed to do for my four 2-6 year olds? I know if I call my pediatrician he will tell me the same things the FDA says about cold medicine. Including:
Cough and cold medicines only treat the symptoms of the common cold such as runny nose, congestion, fever, aches, and irritability. They do not cure the common cold. Children get better with time.
He never really liked us using it anyways. My husband always asks me - When was the last time he had kids keeping him up all night because they can't breathe and sleep at the same time?
So...... What is a mother to do? Humidifiers, saline spray, etc... will only do so much. Can we survive a cold going through five kids without medication? How many sleepless nights are ahead while we wait for this "common" cold to "get better with time"?
Family | By Sara | 09:15 AM
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Comments
While I haven't been following the whole cold medicine thing closely I thought it was a problem mostly with misuse and parents giving more than one med and doubling up on ingredients. I also thought I heard that suppressing coughs was leading to pnuemonia. Julia has had a cough for over a week now and we are still medicating at night so she sleeps well but are letting her get it out during the day. It's true we know its not a fix, but she needs rest and so do we!
Posted by: jenn at October 30, 2007 09:53 AM