Things to consider when Giving Children Medicines
You will want to be very careful when giving medicines to children. There is much to be aware of so that you keep your children healthy and do not do something dangerous. Consider the following tips.
Make sure that you only give medicine that is approved for the child
A lot of medicines are not recommended for children. For instance, they do not encourage cold medicines in a lot of very young children. Read the instruction label and see what they recommend for that age. If there are ANY doubts, then call your physician. You have nothing to lose. Never give your child a prescription drug meant for someone else. Also, be sure to follow all directions. If it says to wait a certain amount of hours to give it or to give it with food, make sure to adhere. Also, be careful about giving medicine for longer than is recommended. Many of these medications are good in the short term but are not good for longer spans.
Be sure to give the correct dose
A lot of times, parents mistakenly give their children the wrong dose of medicine. It is very important to be careful to give the correct dose. Often they give a dosing spoon or cup with the medication – you might want to hang on to that to make it easier to make this distinction. Otherwise, make sure that you have an accurate measuring device – do not just eyeball it! Also, you might want to look at the bottle label every time to double-check the dosage. Sometimes it is easy to get confused such as if you are switching between the infant’s and children’s formula of an item. If you are getting information on dosing from a physician over the phone, then make sure they know exactly what type of medicine you have.
Watch for interactions
A lot of medicine that is fine to give to a child if given individually can be very bad if given in conjunction with each other. They may have two medicines that are similar or that somehow interact with each other to create a dangerous situation. This can be especially easy to do if you give medicine that has several different active ingredients in them. You should always be sure to check with your physician if you have any doubts about two medications taken in conjunction.
It is important not to just give the child the medicine and assume that it will be okay. Every year thousands of children end up in emergency rooms because of improperly administered medicine. Consider the above tips to aid you in this.
Updated On: 07/25/2010 Published On: 07/25/2010 Article ViewerClose
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