Thanks, Jes, for the heads-up on this article.

According to WebMD, American Association of Pediatrics, and the Center for Disease Control, cough and cold medications should not be administered to children under the age of two! If you read the back of the bottle, it says to ask a pediatrician for dosage.

However, it also says that on the back of a baby Tylenol bottle. So it’s easy to assume that if it is safe to halve a Tylenol dosage, it’s safe to prescribe your infant half a cough/cold medication dosage as well. And, really, when you have a fussy infant, who has time to call a doctor?

Well, don’t assume when it comes to medicating your child. From the article:

The Food and Drug Administration has no approved dosing recommendations [for these medicines] for children under age 2.”

Hear that? There are no approved dosing recommendations. So don’t give them any.

Why? Again, from the article:

Three infants, all aged 6 months or younger, died in the U.S. in 2005 after receiving cough and cold medicines, according to the report, published in the Jan. 12 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

All three had what appeared to be high levels of a nasal decongestant in their bloodstream.

In addition, 1,519 children 2 years old and under were taken to U.S. emergency departments during 2004-2005 for side effects associated with cough and cold medications, including overdoses.

…

Part of the problem with adverse effects, he says, is that “many of these medicines have multiple ingredients. It’s difficult for parents to realize they may be giving their child the same ingredient from two different medicines. If you give your child a cough medicine and a cold medicine, you may be doubling up on an ingredient.”

And for all the risk involved, isn’t it nice to know that:

…the cough suppressants dextromethorphan and codeine have not been proven effective in young children…

So what do you do with a sickly infant who can’t stop coughing and can’t breath through his poor little stuffed-up nose? Why, give them a natural remedy:

Paul tells parents of young children to administer “comfort measures” when their child has a cough or cold, such as giving them plenty of fluids so they will stay hydrated.

…

Saline nose drops can also help, he says. “Increasingly, pediatricians are recognizing that this is the right advice to give,” he says.

This article has really gotten me thinking seriously about vaccinations again.

To update you on what we’ve done since I last posted my worries on this subject: I was 30 minutes late for Benjamin’s 6 month appointment and they could not fit us in (I had been grocery shopping and lost track of time!). They rescheduled him for December. Then we received a postcard telling us it had been pushed back to February. He will be ten months old by the time he arrives for his 6 month check-up!

I can’t get rid of the suspicion that this may be God providing me with the time I need to research the matter thoroughly (which I admit I have yet to do!).

And after reading this article, I just keep thinking, if it is not safe to administer baby cough/cold medication, why is it assumed safe to administer dangerous diseases (multiple ones all at once!) into the same child?

Again, I have more to research in this area. And luckily, I have the time to do so.