limited selection of cough/cold meds for little ones?????

[LosingMyMindInGA]

At the peds today I asked him what I could give Lily for her runny nose and he said that there really wasn't a whole lot.  Apparently the FDA is cracking down on makers of infant/toddler cold meds saying there isn't any research that they actually help.  According to my ped the FDA is making these drug companies pull their meds and do the studies before they can continue manufacturing them.  I had noticed that certain medicines were disappearing and hard to find.  The FDA has apparently told docs they can no longer recommend or prescribe most cold/cough/sinus meds anymore.  Has anyone else heard this?

He did say that allergy meds like benadryl and probably mucinex will still be ok.  With all the drugs out there that are being prescribed for various things that haven't had the proper studies done, why are they targeting kids meds so much?  Why not target all of the FDA Pregnancy Cat. C, D  & X drugs that docs continuously prescribe for pregnant women as well?  

Just thought this was interesting!

[Michele, Katy, TX]

Yay!  That's good to hear.  That's the thing too.  When someone is sick, they need rest and if they are miserable enough, it may take the aid of medication to get that rest.  Anyway, I am glad she is feeling better and hope she continues to be on the up swing!

[LosingMyMindInGA]

I gave her a quarter teaspoon of benadryl along with some tylenol and her azythromicin.  She slept for a good while...which was great cuz she needed it.  She seems to be feeling pretty good right now.  No major coughing fits so we'll see!

[Michele, Katy, TX]

Yes, I have gone through this.  There used to be a great medicine called Bromhist.  Then it went to Neutrahist that they just recently pulled.  It was a GREAT medicine.  It has some of the same properties in it that the Pediacare for Infants used to have.  It was great stuff.  Mary is now old enough to take a prescription called Bromfed.  But when this baby comes and gets sick that first year, I don't know what I will do.  I still have some of the Neutrahist left from Mary.  I'm kind of saving it.

I think it's ridiculous to pull these things from the shelves.  I understand why they started monitoring it and have no problem with that.  It really started, from what I was told at the pharmacy, from teenagers abusing the OTC drugs.  So, if they wanted me to sign for things for my kids, that's fine.  This way they can actually monitor how much adults are buying of it.  Fine.  But to pull it all together and then not even be able to get it as a script from your doctor.  Sorry but that isn't right.  I am a responsible parent and I should be able to make those decisions for my kids and so should the doctor I trust to make those decisions.

BTW GA...I have given my small ones very small amounts of Benadryl if I felt they needed it.  I would give like 1 or 2 ml and that always did the trick.  If you go that route, it should be plenty safe.  I haven't ever had any problems anyway.

[Heatherm4]

I've never had to use it yet but I've gotten Brady cough medicine from the natural store. I always want to try using natural products before having to rely on other products. Hope she feels better. I've given Brady vitamin c pills that dissolve in water for a virus in his eyes and it was gone in 2 days!

[LosingMyMindInGA]

Don't you just hate it when irresponsible people do things that ruin it for those of us who ARE responsible!!!  

[alaysha]

Yeah like mami2karina said I heard it was because people were giving medicines too often to children and that the dosages were too high. I don't really give the kids medicine at all if I can help it since I don't like taking medicine myself. Whenever my daughter has a runny nose and it seems like a sinus problems I give her saline drops and a humidifier.

[mami2karina]

Yep! I've been going through it for a while. People were overdosing their little ones and that's why they they've pulled everything from the shelves. The only thing I was told I could use was tylenol/motrin, benadryl or saline drops which of course are non-medicated.