So, just as the flu and cold season begins to ramp up, I just wanted to highlight some recent findings with regards to not administering cough and cold medication to children under 6.Some excerpts from the surprisingly enlightening article include:
Pediatricians pushing for greater restrictions told the FDA advisers Thursday that the over-the-counter medicines shouldn't be given to children younger than 6, an age group they called the most vulnerable to any potential ill effects. But FDA officials and panelists agreed there's no evidence they work in older children, either.
Some of the drugs — which include Wyeth's Dimetapp and Robitussin, Johnson & Johnson's Pediacare and Novartis AG's Triaminic products — have never been tested in children, something flagged as long ago as 1972 by a previous FDA panel.
One health expert told the panel that children catch five to eight colds each year. Those colds don't necessarily require treatment beyond comfort measures that don't involve drugs, said Patricia Jackson Allen, of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners.
Click HERE to read the article in its entirety.
BOTTOM LINE: There's so much icky stuff out there these days that it's truly hard to know what the best line of defense really is -- and worse, whether that line will move based on tomorrow's research results. Obviously, as a parent, you'll want to do your due diligence and arm yourself with as much information as your sanity can tolerate, but ultimately, you've just got to trust your instincts and do what you think is best for your family.
So, here's wishing everyone a very healthy season!
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