If your baby or toddler is ill with another cold or virus and needs more the usual cuddles, fluids and balance, medication may be in order. But earlier you head to the drugstore, y'all'll desire to make sure you're getting medicine that's condom for your little one and know the right doses to dole out.

To prepare y'all, here are some handy medication prophylactic guidelines and tips for babies and toddlers.

How to give a baby or toddler medicine

Here are some tips on giving your little one medication:

  • Never requite a baby under ii months former any medication, non even an over-the-counter i, that's non recommended or prescribed by a doctor.
  • Only two types of unmarried-ingredient pain and fever medications should be considered for both babies and toddlers: acetaminophen (like Tylenol) for babies 2 months and older, and ibuprofen (such as babe Motrin or Advil) for those 6 months and older.
  • Always use the baby or toddler formulations. Never requite your baby or toddler a medication intended for older kids or adults.
  • Don't get physical. To prevent choking, don't clasp your piddling 1's cheeks, hold her nose or force her head back when offer her medicine.
  • Make certain your kid is propped upwards. If your baby is old enough to sit up, manipulate the medicine with baby in a sitting position. If your infant can't yet sit down upwards, aim the dropper to the inside of babe'southward cheek while propping baby up slightly to preclude choking.
  • Aim the dropper to prevent gagging. Don't indicate the dropper to the back of your lilliputian 1's mouth, since that can trigger gagging.
  • Have a few tricks up your sleeve. If your baby resists taking medicine, try gently bravado on her face, which triggers the swallow reflex in young babies. Or offer a pacifier to suck on immediately after offer medicine, equally the sucking action will aid the medicine get where it needs to go.

Medications to avoid giving babies and toddlers

When it comes to medication prophylactic for babies and toddlers, certain drugs may exist harmful. These include:

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  • Cough and cold remedies. Studies have shown that cough and cold remedies don't finish the sniffles or silence the hacking, and they may fifty-fifty cause young kids to develop serious side effects such as a rapid heart rate and convulsions. That's why the manufacturers of these drugs take voluntarily changed their labels to signal that these meds shouldn't exist used in children nether four years old, and why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says cough and cold medicines should only be used in children who are at to the lowest degree four with their pediatrician's approving. Otherwise, the AAP recommends waiting until children are at to the lowest degree 6 years old to give them cold medicines specifically designed for them, and again only with the medico'southward approval.
  • Aspirin (and anything containing salicylates). Doctors take been warning parents for years against giving their kids aspirin, only the message bears repeating: Don't requite aspirin to children younger than 19 years old because it has been linked to the onset of Reye'southward syndrome, a rare but very serious illness that affects the liver and encephalon. Although research comes down hardest on aspirin, the National Reye'southward Syndrome Foundation advises against giving children any medication that contains any form of salicylate, and then read ingredient lists on drug labels advisedly.

Questions to enquire your chemist

Getting a medication for your child requires more than than simply picking information technology up from the pharmacy: You need to know the dose, how and when to requite it and what the side furnishings are, amid other details. Your pediatrician should give you nearly of this information, but you'll also want to talk to the pharmacist to be on the safe side.

If you're giving your child an OTC drug, bank check out the back label. For prescription medications, read the pamphlet that comes inside the box. Either fashion, bring any questions upwards with your pharmacist. Here are a few you lot'll want to have answered before you head home:

  • Are at that place any generic (i.east. less expensive) equivalents to this brand-name medication?
  • What is the drug supposed to do?
  • How should the medication be stored?
  • Should it be given before or with meals? Tin can I mix information technology with food or milk?
  • Are there alternatives that require fewer daily doses (if it's given three times per twenty-four hour period)?
  • If my child spits up a dose, should I give another one?
  • If I miss a dose, should I double up the next time?
  • How presently should I expect to see an comeback? When should I call the doctor if I don't run into an comeback?
  • Does my baby have to finish the full prescription?
  • Are in that location whatsoever mutual side effects I should look out for?
  • If my baby is taking another medication, should I be worried most whatever interaction?
  • Could the medication affect my baby's chronic wellness condition (if applicative)?
  • How practice I become my toddler to take liquid medicine?
  • Would yous be able to divide the medication into 2 bottles, each with its own characterization, so that ane tin can be kept at home and one tin exist kept at day care (if applicable)?

Common safety tips for giving your child medicine

When giving your child medicine, follow these tips:

  • Always talk to your doctor commencement. You shouldn't give a child of any age whatever medicine (OTC, or even an onetime prescription written for your kid) without getting a specific okay from a physician for every illness, unless your doctor has given you standing instructions (e.1000. whenever your baby has a fever of 102 degrees Fahrenheit, give acetaminophen, or apply asthma medicine whatever time wheezing begins).
  • Treat herbal remedies like whatever other medicine. No i actually knows whether many herbs are condom for babies and toddlers. They aren't fully regulated past the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means you might be getting more of an agile ingredient than is advertised on the label, or it may contain other contaminants. All of which means herbal remedies should be treated merely like any other drug, only to be dispensed to your child with an approving from your doctor. This includes herbal remedies that claim to treat colic, teething and gas.
  • Only utilise medications made for kids. Children are non mini-adults who tin can have smaller doses of adult medication. Children'due south bodies are less developed, and an adult medication (which is formulated specifically for an adult body) could not only work very differently on them, merely could also cause serious side furnishings. When choosing meds for your baby or toddler, limit yourself to medicine found in the chemist's's children's aisle and to the medication your pediatrician prescribes.
  • Read the directions carefully. Read the medication insert and/or label carefully. The rule of thumb when measuring the dose is to follow the weight recommendation — fifty-fifty if the packet suggests i dose based on your child's weight and a different dose based on her age. If the instructions conflict with your doctor's instructions or aren't specified for your baby'due south or toddler's historic period, call the md or pharmacist first. Follow the instructions almost timing, shaking and giving with or without food.
  • Employ equally intended. Unless otherwise recommended past your doctor, only utilise a medication to care for the indications listed on the label or insert. And don't give a medicine longer than prescribed.
  • Avoid double-dosing and go along records. Never requite your baby or toddler more than one medication at a fourth dimension without checking with your physician or pharmacist outset. Some combinations are unsafe, and many parents accidently give double doses. Always document when and how much medication was given to your child so you lot don't accidentally offering up a double dose or skip i. Try using a slice of paper on the fridge door or a shared document (recollect notes or tasks or reminders) with whatsoever other caregiver to keep track. If y'all exercise give your kid a dose a little late, don't stress — just become back on schedule with the following dose.
  • Check the ingredient listing. Know the active ingredients in the medication you're dispensing to avert accidentally giving your baby or toddler two medications with the same active ingredient at the same time — possibly causing an overdose. Reading the ingredient list also clues yous in to whether the medication contains annihilation that your kid may be allergic to.
  • Steer clear of expired meds. Drugs that have expired are not only less potent, but they may as well have undergone chemical changes that can render them downright dangerous (this applies to prescription meds you may take hanging effectually from a previous affliction, too). Look at the expiration appointment earlier you buy a drug to make sure it isn't outdated or virtually to expire. Recheck expiration dates periodically — otherwise you may terminate upward making a pharmacy run in the wee hours. Fourth dimension to clean out your medicine chiffonier? Learn how to safely dispose of expired medications.
  • Never give your child a prescription medication intended for someone else. While information technology may be tempting to skip the trip to the pediatrician and give your tot her older sib's leftover antibiotics in a pinch, don't do it. Just because your 5-yr-old benefited from a medication doesn't hateful your 2-yr-old will. Plus, taking someone else's meds could be very dangerous to your kid. Only give her a prescription medicine that's been written specifically for her by the pediatrician.
  • Turn on the lights. If you're doling out medicine in the wee hours of the morning, brand sure you can see — and think — conspicuously (not e'er easy when you've been up all dark with a sick toddler). Read package labels in practiced light (nether a night-light when you lot're wearied doesn't count) so you lot don't mistake "tsp" (teaspoon) for "tbsp" (tablespoon), or "every 4 hours" for "every 2 hours."
  • Measure with intendance. One time you've nailed down the right dose, dispense the medication in the loving cup that comes with it, or employ a calibrated medicine spoon, dropper or cup. Don't use spoons from your flatware — y'all can't count on them to equal a truthful teaspoon or tablespoon (and that'southward how many dosing mistakes happen). Brand sure the chemist's doses your medicine in milliliters for your child'south historic period and size.
  • But mix with food if recommended by your dr.. Also exist certain your kid will end the whole bottle or cup (and therefore the whole dose of medicine).
  • Be bourgeois after any medication meltdowns. If your baby or toddler spits or vomits up a medication, it's best not to give a 2d dose without checking with your pharmacist or doctor outset, since under-dosing is less risky than overdosing. Definitely be sure to cheque with your doctor about antibiotics, since taking the total dose as recommended is peculiarly of import.
  • Have the total class of antibiotics. On that note, if your pediatrician does prescribe antibiotics for your toddler, exist sure she takes the full course, fifty-fifty if she appears to be better. Stopping antibiotics midcourse can give lingering leaner the opportunity to abound back. The end result? A sick child all over again and, maybe, the need for yet another (possibly stronger) class of antibiotics. Nip the illness in the bud the first time around and cease off the antibiotics.
  • Store meds safely. Continue medicine for babies and toddlers (as well as those for the adults in the house) out of kids' reach and in a cool, dry place. That ways you lot'll want to avoid stashing them in bathroom cabinets, where humidity from the bath and shower tin can damage the drug'southward say-so. Also, while it's easy to get distracted with your ill infant or toddler when you're giving her medication, remember not to exit the drugs out and unattended after dispensing them. Put them away quickly then they don't end upwards in the wrong hands. That goes for your medications too, including those in the pill-a-day dispensers that tin look like an enticing toy or box of candy to a child.
  • Re-read the label every fourth dimension. That style y'all're sure to go dosing, timing and other of import information correct.
  • Update other caregivers. If your child will be at day care or staying with some other caregiver, be certain they have clear instructions on how to use the medication. Licensed kid intendance facilities require special forms to administer any prescription and nonprescription medication (including vitamins). Ask your 24-hour interval care near the policy then you know what to expect should your child need to finish out a prescription for something like an ear infection while in their care.
  • Don't phone call medicine "candy" or a "care for."While doing and then might temporarily make your baby or toddler cooperate, that kind of association could lead to an overdose if your child afterward finds and manages to open the medicine, and decides to try out the "treat." Vitamins and medicines ofttimes look like candy to a kid, further calculation to the confusion.
  • Ask questions. If you're always unsure whether to requite a medication to your babe or toddler, or if your child seems to be having an adverse reaction, phone call your md.

Getting your baby or toddler to take medicine

Where'southward Mary Poppins when you lot demand her, right? Unless you're lucky enough to have a baby or toddler who happily opens up wide at the sight of a medicine dropper, having these tricks in your back pocket to "help the medicine get down" tin can help (spoonful of sugar not included):

  • Try giving the medication to your toddler earlier meals. Unless you're instructed to give medicine on a full stomach or after eating, effort offering it before breakfast, lunch or dinner. Your child may be more probable to have information technology when she'southward hungry.
  • Avoid sense of taste buds. Gustation buds are located in the front and center of the surface of the tongue. Bypass them past placing a medicine behind the rear gum and inside the cheek, where it will glide down the throat without hitting the gustation buds as much. (Aye, this requires a bit of skill, and maybe an actress set of hands to keep your toddler still while you perfect your dunk shot.)
  • Keep medicine cool. If your chemist says chilling the medicine doesn't bear on potency, endeavour sticking it in the fridge to make the gustation less pronounced. Otherwise, offer a absurd bottle, a mesh feeding bag with frozen fruit or a Popsicle commencement to slightly chill and numb baby'due south tongue so it doesn't taste as strong.
  • Look for fun flavors. Enquire your pharmacist for an FDA-approved child flavoring (like FLAVORx) that can gainsay the icky-tasting flavor of many medicines. Sometimes these do accept a small up-charge, but it can be totally worth information technology.
  • Bribery. Okay, last resort. Offer a treat, a small prize, stickers or extra fourth dimension watching a show in substitution for taking medicine without a fuss. Pull out all the stops if it helps!

Side effects of infant and children'south medicine to look out for

Some children may experience side effects when taking sure kinds of medications. Hither's what to sentinel for in your baby or toddler:

  • Diarrhea

  • Change in activity or mood (eastward.g. increased fussiness or drowsiness)

  • Sweating/flushing

  • Unexplained rash/swelling

  • Rapid heart rate

If you find your baby having any trouble animate or showing other signs of distress, telephone call 911.

Though you should utilize medication sparingly when your infant or toddler is sick, accept heart in knowing that if other at-home remedies merely aren't working to make her feel better, there are some prophylactic options for infants and young children. Be sure to follow these guidelines and your pediatrician'due south advice when giving your fiddling one medicine, and rest assured that she'll soon be on the mend.