The U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued a new warning against administering common cough and cold medications to infants and toddlers under two.
Dr. Michael Marcus, director of pediatric pulmonology,
allergy and immunology at Maimonides Infants and Children's Hospital in
New York, said, "The best thing (parents) can do is support with fluids
and lots of kisses and time, because lots of infections are viral and
will pass in a few days. The medications have a greater potential for
harm than the infections you are trying to treat."
Emergency room examinations of infants who had died to due overdoses of over the counter medications, found that some had up to 14 times more than the recommended amount of pseudoephedrine (a nasal decongestant) in their systems. The CDC said it's no known how much cough or cold medicine can cause an adverse reaction in children under two, and that there are no approved dosage recommendations for that age group.
It's particularly scary to be reading this at the height of cold and flu season, I know - I've got a 20-month-old who's prone to picking up every little bug her big sister drags home from preschool. I usually don't bother the doctor with her little week-long colds, since she almost never has a fever - just tons of boogers, a little drip towards the end of the week, and general grumpiness. But I admit, this makes me think twice about the 1/4 doses of Children's Tylenol Cold I give her to ease that yucky cold feeling. To be totally honest - it scares the crap out of me.
