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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Kids and Cough Medicine
newtodaycare22 09:17 AM 11-01-2010
I had a mom tell me this morning that she gave her daughter cough medicine, even though she is 3 and the label says do not give it to a kid under 6. Now, had she not said the detail about age, I would've thought it was kid cough syrup. I don't have any kids of my own...but I guess they don't have that for the youngest kids? Anyway, any thoughts on this?? From all of you who are parents-is this bad news? Should I be concerned?
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tenderhearts 09:26 AM 11-01-2010
I would not ever give a medicine to my child without consulting the doctor if it was not age appropriate. If she gave the bottle to you to give to her, I would refuse unless she had doctors instructions from them with the ok. I don't like giving medicine to children even when the parents says go ahead and give them this if they need it, unless I absolutely have to. With a cough it's better to cough and drink lots of fluids anyways than to cover it up. It's better to give the meds at night than during the day for a cough anyways IF they need it. just my opinion.
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DanceMom 09:29 AM 11-01-2010
When I KNOW my kids ONLY have a cold - I will give them cold meds. But I will wait a couple of days to make sure it doesnt turn into anything else so the cough meds dont cover that up.

I have one mom that pretty much puts cough meds in her kids milk...it is her answer for everything. I never give cold meds here to any dck's unless I have permission from a doctor ( note ).
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newtodaycare22 09:31 AM 11-01-2010
She gave it to her...she definitely wasn't asking me to (which, like you guys said, I only do with a doctor's note). She's had the cold since Thursday, poor little thing.
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QualiTcare 10:44 AM 11-01-2010
she probably only gave her a fraction of the recommended dose for 6 year olds. since she's 3, she probably gave her half (or less) of what the dose was for a 6 year old. i'm a freak about following directions on the bottle, but i remember doing that before when i bought some medicine for my oldest child and it was all i had when my youngest got sick. i wouldn't worry about it.
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marniewon 10:54 AM 11-01-2010
Since they took all the kids' cold meds off the shelf, many peds are telling parents to go ahead with adult meds. I have a 1yo dcb who takes benadryl for a bad cold he has. Doctor told mom to give it to him, and on that bottle it says not to be given to under age 6 also.
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DCMomOf3 11:03 AM 11-01-2010
I have been given the ok by our doctor to modify adult meds for my kids in the past. Did you ask how she knew how much to give? She very well could have called her doctor and just not told you.
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TGT09 01:03 PM 11-01-2010
I kept a dcg for a week (overnights and all)...in this time she had unbeable allergies. I went to drug mart and asked the pharmacist what I could give her and what dose since all the packages said "not for use under 2". He looked it up and gave me a dosage amount. I gave her lower than what he said to see how she reacted and eventually upped it to the amount he recommended. She never got loopy, crazy, or even groggy on it but it helped a TON. (FWIW: I asked dcm about this beforehand).
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MarinaVanessa 02:16 PM 11-01-2010
I don't give my own daughter cough or cold medicine. Pretty much well ... because it doesn't work. All it does ir knock them out from what I've seen but it doesn't help children get better any quicker than if they weren't taking it. I've actually made a small packet that I'm handing out at the end of the day to everyone about this. It's meant as an introduction to the flu season and as a reminder about my sickness policy. If a doctor recommends medicine then I'll administer it with a Dr's note and a waiver signed by the parent (like many have said) but I prefer not to do it so I pass out a fact sheet about medicine. Many parents don't really realize that meds for kids don't work or can be dangerous.

Fact Sheets For Families
Safety & Effectiveness of Cough and Cold Medicine in Children
http://www.healthandwelfare.idaho.go...id=80&mid=1411

Over-the-Counter Drugs
http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/p...gsen011804.pdf
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newtodaycare22 02:50 PM 11-01-2010
Thanks everyone. She did give her a lower dosage than the regular amount for older kids, and she was still fine. Well, actually she was still sick. Haha I was just worried about an adverse reaction
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TGT09 05:02 PM 11-01-2010
Well, I don't think many over the counter medicines are meant to make colds/sinus infections go completely away but just to help ease the symptoms.
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QualiTcare 08:25 PM 11-01-2010
Originally Posted by MarinaVanessa:
I don't give my own daughter cough or cold medicine. Pretty much well ... because it doesn't work. All it does ir knock them out from what I've seen but it doesn't help children get better any quicker than if they weren't taking it. I've actually made a small packet that I'm handing out at the end of the day to everyone about this. It's meant as an introduction to the flu season and as a reminder about my sickness policy. If a doctor recommends medicine then I'll administer it with a Dr's note and a waiver signed by the parent (like many have said) but I prefer not to do it so I pass out a fact sheet about medicine. Many parents don't really realize that meds for kids don't work or can be dangerous.

Fact Sheets For Families
Safety & Effectiveness of Cough and Cold Medicine in Children
http://www.healthandwelfare.idaho.go...id=80&mid=1411

Over-the-Counter Drugs
http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/p...gsen011804.pdf
i have to say - when i was sick as a kid - i loved taking meds to knock me out. if i stayed home from school and wanted to lie around all day or sleep at night - i wanted it! i give my own kids medicine before bed if they're sick just to help them sleep if nothing else. it's horrible waking up coughing and blowing your nose. if it does nothing but relieve the symptoms, that's still good IMO.
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MarinaVanessa 08:18 AM 11-02-2010
Originally Posted by QualiTcare:
i have to say - when i was sick as a kid - i loved taking meds to knock me out. if i stayed home from school and wanted to lie around all day or sleep at night - i wanted it! i give my own kids medicine before bed if they're sick just to help them sleep if nothing else. it's horrible waking up coughing and blowing your nose. if it does nothing but relieve the symptoms, that's still good IMO.
My daughter is 5 so it's ok now but when it comes to cold and cough medicine giving anything with psudophedrine (spelling?) can be dangerous if under this age which is why I wouldn't give it to her. It can have adverse effects in young children. ALL of the kids that I watch exept 2 are younger than this age which is why I don't like to give them any here. Also if they are going to be lethargic while in my DC I DON'T want them here. Mom and dad can take care of them at home. That was my point ... sorry .
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Former Teacher 04:18 AM 11-04-2010
The first thing I always did when a parent brought ANY medicine was check the expiration date. I can't even begin to tell you the number of times when parents would argue with me saying something is still good. I didn't care. If state were to come in and see any expired things of anything, we would be written up.

Then I would look at the age and weight. I would follow the instructions on the bottle Once I had a DCM who said give her daughter .04 Tylenol. The normal dose was .08 but the dr. said to cut it in half. Um ok. I need a dr. note. Oh sure she said, I will bring you one this afternoon. Ok, when you do, I will start that tomorrow then. Of course she never did, and she never gave me a reason why lol.

On the flip side, I am allergic to red dye ( I think Red40) Well I break out into this bad rash and heart starts pounding blah blah blah, its not a pretty site! Well I was at work and I started to break out in my rash (I had a SIP of juice! ) Well I called my dr. and I explained that I was at work and the only thing that we had was children's benadryl. The head nurse said to DOUBLE the dose for me. Which I didn't thank God. I took the regular dose and I was still dragging. I had to go home
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