Whenever one of my kids comes down with a cold, my mom tells me to try cough medicine. For decades, giving cough medicine to toddler-aged kids was the recommended treatment for cough and cold symptoms.
It’s not the recommended treatment anymore, though, and I always have to (kindly, of course) remind my mom of that fact.
Today, the Federal Drug Administration says over-the-counter cough and cold medicines shouldn’t be given to children younger than four years old, although many pediatricians advise parents to wait until age six.
According to Dr. John La Count, a pediatrician with St. Elizabeth Physicians’ Florence office, the problem is that cough medicine “isn’t causing any specific benefit in children younger than six, and it can cause a risk.”
Cough medications in young children can potentially sedate children, La Count said, and don’t necessarily decrease the severity of the cough.
Today, La Count said, many pediatricians tell parents to give their children Tylenol or Advil, natural remedies such as agave nectar, or other sweet syrups like popsicles that will lubricate the backs of kids’ throats while relieving coughing and congestion.
“If you look at most cough and cold medicines now, they only have acetaminophen or ibuprofen, syrups and sweet things,” La Count said. “They don’t have anything else that could be used as a cough suppressant, even if they say ‘for infants.’ ”
Honey is okay, La Count said, but only in kids older than 12 months of age because of the risk of botulism, a rare but serious bacterial infection.
Cough drops also are not recommended in kids under six years old because it could cause choking or breathing problems, especially if they fall asleep with it in their mouths.
“Kids don’t understand they’re supposed to suck on cough drops,” La Count said. “One of the reasons I like popsicles more than anything else I’ve found for cough relief is because they melt.”
Other things to try to help soothe the symptoms of your child’s cough or cold include VapoRub, a humidifier or a bulb syringe in kids too young to blow their own nose.
“The important thing is to make the child comfortable,” La Count said.
