Cough medicine warning extended to under 6 year olds

I know, I remember what it's like to have a young child sick with a nasty cold. They feel miserable, you feel miserable, everyone feels miserable. For many parents, letting your child get a bit of rest means giving him or her a bit of cough or cold medicine.

I admit, I was one of them. I wanted them to cough during the day so they could get the crap out of their chest (what? "crap" isn't a medical term? ;-) but at night, I thought it important that they get a good sleep - or as good a sleep as they could - so I did give some cough and cold medicine. Seems that was a big no-no.

Earlier this year, there was a lot of news about how pediatricians didn't want children under two years old to get these medicines. There was no proof that they did any good and there were serious complications with some children. The age of "no cough syrup" has been raised to six years old in Canada after several cases of complications were reported. Health Canada has ordered that the medications be labeled to reflect the new warning.

What can you do instead? Pediatricians are saying to use saline nose drops or sprays, have humidifier to put moisture in the air, and provide lots of fluids. Thankfully, the colds do go away after a while.

Tip from me to preventing the spread of colds and viruses in your house:

Like most families, one child would come home with a cold and then it would spread throughout the house quite quickly. One day, I decided that if we all had our own toothbrushes, we should have our own toothpaste. I gave everyone (three kids, my husband and myself) their own toothpaste with strict instructions not to share. The amount of colds in our house plummeted. Sometimes, someone will come home with a cold, but it is very, very rare that anyone else in the house gets it.

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