FDA Issues Medicine Warning on cough and cold meds
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The FDA issued a warning today advising parents to not give over the counter cough and cold medicines to infants and toddlers because of the risk of “serious and life threatening side effects that can occur”.
In October of last year, drug companies stopped selling certain versions of baby medicines. Later that same month, FDA advisors voted that the drugs didn’t work in infants and suggested that such drugs not even be used for pre-schoolers–meaning children up to age 6. Expect a formal ruling on the use of such medications in preschoolers and elementary school children to be publicized some time in spring.
Why issue a warning now? The FDA is concerned that parents have not gotten the message and that they may currently have such medicines at home, or that they may use other medicines designed for older children to medicate their infants. Also, decades ago, when these medications were first developed, scientists thought that what worked in an adult automatically would work in an infant.
Right now, specialists are advising parents who have infants with colds and coughs to rely on old fashioned remedies which include–plenty of love, rest, and liquids.
Jessdel27 says...
Guess this is something we should all be paying attention to as parents. Thanks for posting.
Theda K. says...
I read the FDA warning, and it seems rather vague. They don’t mention exactly which medicines are supposedly unsafe, and instead seem to be concerned with the amount of medicine given, not the type. They mention that parents should read the labels, not give medications that have the same active ingredient, and not to give medication to prevent or cure illnesses. So it really seems like the FDA is aiming the warning at parents who don’t understand how to read labels and directions, and who don’t understand the causes and (lack of) cures for colds. I don’t disagree that that would be a lot of parents, maybe more than half, but there are plenty of parents who know a lot about the medical field.
I don’t know what the FDA should do. I think it might be best to take all medications off the OTC market, allowing them to only be prescribed by doctors or given to people only by pharmacists with explicit directions.
All I know is my daughter benefits when she gets certain medications, especially pseudoephedrine when she’s congested. And her doctor told me the correct dosage for her weight. Why would I let her suffer when there’s a safe treatment and I know how to administer it correctly? I guess the danger is that all parents think they know what they’re doing, but not all do. I just don’t think these scare tactics that seem to offer no scientific explanation (or even give us specifics) should be the method to fix the problem.