No cough or cold meds for kids under 4

Ya know, docs keep changing their mind on this on a daily basis. When my oldest was little they gave me a chart that corresponded with his weight as to what I could give him and how much. I still have that chart and when my kids need medicine I'll give them what the chart says. I never worry about any of that stuff because all my kids have taken cough and cold medicine their whole lives with no problems. But they don't take any other meds, and I never give them more than the chart says.

We don't give anything to her if she is taking other medication especially if it is from a doctor or if we don't know it will mix. We love the pharmacist because they answer so many of our questions. Seemed the doctor prescribes her cough syrup every time my little sister went to him for a sniffle..so my mom chose to change to a better doctor one who actually checked things out and she gets less medication also which is good..the other doctor was prescribing a 6 year old child 400 mg of Ibuprofen 3 times a day or as needed I thought that a bit to high for her age and we would break them. The new doctor said that the old doctor was over dosing and over prescribing her medication.

i think it all depends on where you live and your doctor. i give my kids cold medicine when they need it. i use my "mommy gut" as a guidline. I dont see the point of keeping waiting times up for docs and hospitals to run my kid in there every time he gets a sniffle.if he isnt better in a week or so, then we go in to see the doc. my doc thinks that some otc cold meds work pretty well. and i use the ones he mentioned to me in the past.

I gave my kids as little medication as possible when they were little. I always read the box instructions though. I remember being told by the pediatrician I could give them sudafed and benedryl plus the obvious tylenol at times. Now that's changed too.

I have heard this too, however I do sometimes give my daughter some medicine. But it is only when she is really sick. I have always given my children over the counter medicine for colds. My oldest child is 17 years old and my youngest is 3 years old. I have never had an issue with them getting sick from the medicines. You just have to check with the pediatrician or pharmacist to find out how much medicine to give them based on their weight, etc. I think that a lot of the problems with this is that parents give the child too much or something that might have aspirin in it. Have a nice day and happy myLotting!!!

I heard that before, but I can't figure out what else to do. I can't exactly not give my kid any medicine when she feels terrible.

The last time I went to my doctors she told me that all off the shelf cold medicines are rubbish and she said our Government was thinking of banning them, so maybe it would be good that if they are not doing any good they should be stopped from being sold.

I never gave my daughter ANY kind of non-prescribed medicine when she was under four, except for baby Tylenol. Thank heavens for baby Tylenol. When she was 18 months old, she ran a fever really bad. She had two teeth coming in at the side of her mouth, the pointy ones. And it made her sick. I didn't know what to do, but gave her some baby Tylenol and the fever went away for good within three hours. I was so worried! I hope they are making this decision to pull the cough and cold medicines off shelves.

I only give my kids medicine when the doctor advises it unless it is a simple pain killer or fever reducer. Normally anything other than Tylenol or Motrin I get in a prescription. With the exception of my daughters allergy medicine since it is OTC now too.

Hi there ersmommy1 My kids are now 3, 5 and 7 and very rarely give them medication. Only when I think they really need it will I give them some and usually it is something like calpol I think it is called tylanol in the US and I usually give them less than is recommended. I don't want to get my kids used to taking medicines so that their bodies get used to it.

I try to stick with just allergy medicine and a vapor plug in. If she's really bad I will sleep sitting up with her on my chest to help keep the drainage from hitting the back of her throat and causing her to cough. If I have to though, I will call my doc and give her something with a little guaff in it.