This morning I was watching Good Morning America and heard this news report on cold and cough medicines for babies and children. I'm sure most of y'all saw this and there's been an article circling the internet.
They were interviewing a specialist that basically said a couple of things that kind of got my blood boiling a little bit.
He said:
1. There has been NO studies done on babies or children with cough medicine. He said that they took their studies from adult men and just modified it basically guessing what dosage to give our children. Which is why on medicine bottle instructions there is not a dosage amount for children under 2. It says consult your physician. I don't believe that studies or testing should be done on babies or children, but I would like to know how exactly they come to the conclusion of the dosage they suggest.
2. He said that when you ask your pediatrician if I can give my baby cough medicine/how much I can give them, they have almost zero information on this, so are just giving us an amount based on nothing really.
I know that we are supposed to fully trust our doctors and I don't know what we would do without them. Especially in an emergency situation like Ella was in several months ago when she was so dehydrated from a stomach bug and needed an IV.
But what about the medicines we are giving them that have our pediatricians approval. Are they really just guessing? Apparently something happened to a child as a result of taking a particular cough/cold medicine. I didn't hear that part. Do y'all know?
So my question is, what are we to do? If we can't trust our pediatricians (which obviously most we can), where do we turn? I really do LOVE LOVE LOVE our pediatrician! But how do we know they have the correct information? And if we aren't supposed to give them cough/cold over the counter medicine, what is our alternative? The news this morning put doubt and a little fear in me, but didn't help in any way remedy the situation. I wish when they reported something of this severity, they would follow it up with some guidance.
Anyway, I'm officially off my soap box.
And so this isn't a totally negative post, here are some sweet pictures from this weekend we spent in Waco with Heath's mom and sisters!
18 comments:
Hello- I love reading your blog and and this particular post resonates with me because I am in pharmaceutical research and development. It is true that little to no research has been done for children's medication. This also holds true for pregnant women. The reason for this is because the FDA feels that it is unethical to test medicines on these patient populations. And I have to say I completely agree with that- there is no way I would ever want experimental medicines given to a child. What you heard on GMA is definitely scary and I think it's wonderful you are questioning these types of things. We need to be armed with this information. The way children's doses are calculated are from extrapolated data from adults. So they do calculation on weight vs. age vs. dose. This is really how many dosages are established even in adults. It is scary to hear about how that child had an adverse reaction to the cold/cough medicine but that doesn't mean it will happen to your baby or mine. We don't know if that child was given something else that shouldn't be given with cold/cough medicines or if that child was given too much, etc. I don't know if this helps at all, but just know that your doctor is always available to answer these types of concerns and people like me are working really hard to make sure you get medicines that work the right way. God Bless.
Thank you so much!! This was very informative and you have help set my mind at ease some. And you are right, I would hate to have any experimental drugs tested on children. Thanks for your wisdom!!
I saw that too, and it worried me. I am just so thankful nothing's ever adversely affected Ava...b/c before I knew those were bad to give, I had used "Little Colds" a few times.
Hang in there through the busy time! Try to enjoy it. Hey, I hope you got the evite for my shower on the 20th of October. If not, give me your email so I get it to the right place. Hope all is well. We will get together soon. My c/s is scheduled for Nov 9th at 7:30!!! It is coming up so fast!!!
Linsey
Motherhood is a such a faith walk. There's never a shortage of opportunities to worry. I don't really have anything to add. But I would like to say that Ella looks like a runway model in that last picture. Love it!
I think the best thing you can do is follow your instinct. The Princess is small for her age and I am not wild about giving her lots of medicine, so I always give her the amount my dr recommends for a newborn and see if that helps. I know I can always give her a little more if needed. Most of the time, that small amount is all she needs.
That is pretty scary.
It's so hard with babies. Whenever my son (16 months) seems under the weather I just don't know what to do. He can't communicate to tell me how badly he feels so I don't know if he is better off without medicine - just his immunities duking it out (I guess that is what fevers are for...) or if he is really in pain or really sick and getting worse.
I agree with what Amanda said. There is always something legitimately concerning to worry about AND Ella looks like she's trying out for America's Next Top Model!
"Be anxious for NOTHING but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Philippians 4:6
I know it is so easy to worry about our little ones, but God's word doesn't say "Be anxious for nothing (besides your kids...them you can worry about) but is says nothing. Trust the Lord and rely on the instincts He's given you as a mother to help you discern what to do. He's in ultimate control! That should make us rest a little easier :)
I rarely give my babies cough/cold medicine...I rarely take them myself. My oldest goes NUTS when she has Tylenol, no drowsiness, it seems to maker her more cranky and irritable, which scares me. So, I make sure she gets plenty of rest, liquids,and we just "veg out." I'm kind of a "all natural" health nut. We have a family doctor, but I dont take my kids for check up's, we only go if there is something wrong (Mommy always knows!) My advice: Research and learn how to prevent sickness. So much can be prevented with diet.Doctors are great when you need them, and they can be a good source of information. I grew up in the Amazon without a pediatrician and turned out fine! :-) All I know is that giving my little girls extra hugs, kisses and rest when she is sick makers her feel a lot better than the Tylenol does.
I know what you mean about worrying!!! It took me a while to decide 100% about whether to get the shots for the kiddos or not, just because of all of the negative stuff you hear on the news with autism and stuff! Then I started thinking about it and how God is the one in control and that my children could have been born with something wrong with them that was out of my control...so we went with the shots. It also helped that we watched a missionary movie where all the kids were dying from the childhood diseases that we have vaccines for! Hahaha! Being a mommy is very intense business! I'm so glad that I'm not in control and that God is! :) Thanks for this blog! :)
Our last pediatrician (God bless his retired soul) always told me that coughing was actually good because it kept mucous from settling in the chest. He told us to only give cough medicine at night if Tobey was having trouble sleeping. He told us 1/4 tsp but I rarely had to give it. It is scary though. After Tobey had his allergic reaction to motrin I was terrified to give him anything and still am to some extent. Ella is looking so grown up and adorable. See you tomorrow night!
CUTE CUTE CUTE PICS! We just went through cough/cold routines here. One with an almost 3 year old and one with a 16 month old. Our pedatrician told us what to give our oldest however, they said to give nothing in the form of cough/cold medicine to the under 2 age. So Pace just had to suffer .. we gave lots of juice and a humidifier to make it a little more tolerable but they said not to give. I also had a lot of the same questions given all the recent talk on cough/cold medicine. I belive we just trust them knowing God holds them in his hands.
Hi Janelle~
Our pediatrician and my friend who is a pediatric RN also said the same as some others. You do not want to suppress (stop) a cough from a cold if you don't have to as it could settle in the lungs. You also do not want to give cough medicine to any child under 2. Lots of fluids, elevating their head when/if they can sleep and prayer seem to be the best. I have also found it very helpful to call the pharmacist to verify dosages or question them about certain meds since that is their specialty. And they are more than willing to help.
Your daughter is a cutie-patootie.
Annette
Hey! How are you doing? Hope all is well. By the way, you're tagged!! Look on my blog to see what to do! :)
Have fun, and your daughter looks cuter than ever!
Love,
Ashley
In the last picture she looks like a runway model! Struttin' her cute lil' self!
what a precious little one you have! and i agree with some others...definitely some runway action going on!! :)
i actually wasn't up to see Good Morning America today (i won't brag too much about sleeping in!) but i think that's an important issue they brought up...and a tough one at that
I totally understand your concern, I think where moms are concerned its pretty universal.... we all worry about what we're putting into our child's body. I personally have never been a huge fan of over-the-counter meds, although I have had to turn to them at times. God blessed us with doctors and pharmacists but He also gives us a 'mother's instinct', which I have had to rely upon on more than one occasion. Even to the point of returning to the pediatrician's office for the THIRD time in one day with my 4 week old and telling him I was not leaving his office again until he checked my child for strep. Which was positive and he apologized for not listening to me the first time. I'm not trying to sound prideful, but I'm just saying they're human. And they can be wrong, and so can we as mothers. That's why above all of the doctors and the cough/cold medicines........we must ultimately rely upon God, for He knows all, and He knows best. Blessings to you, Lynn :)
To add on to the madness, I just heard a wellness doctor who said that American's have no idea what we are doing to our children. She said "don't use deodorant with aluminum in it because it's a metal and is horrible for your body." I checked mine and they all had aluminum. Only one of Dave's didn't so right now I use his! Doctor's immediately get someone to stop using deodorant when they have breast cancer. So why don't we know this? There is also metal in your mouth if you got a filling in your teeth from the 80's or 90's. This goes inside you when you eat and is a type of poison. She said enough to make me question a lot of things we use, like microwaves for example. There can't be anything good and natural from heating a food with radiowaves, right? Most countries have even banned microwaves, they change the molicules of the food over 20%.
The world has a lot of other things wrong like taking God out of schools. So should there be other things we are supposed to seek out?
I think the truth will set us free and I am glad we are in a generation that can seek out the truth for our kids.
Thanks for sharing this post with others.
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