why is cough medicine so bad?

[Anonymous]

I have continously heard not to give cough medicine to children. Why? I used to take dimatapp as a child. Can someone please fill me in?

[Anonymous]

I used to take dimatapp as a kid too. Till the day I slept 28h straight after taking it. My mom started suspecting something was wrong.

[Anonymous]

Google is your friend.http://www.m.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/kids-cold-medicines-new-guidelines

[Anonymous]

http://www.m.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/kids-cold-medicines-new-guidelines

Oops let's see if the link works now.

[Anonymous]

My pediatrician has also said no cough suppressants etc., but he did recommend Claritin for my 2.5 year old when he is super snotty to dry him out a little bit, which helps a lot and seems to have no impact on his mood, tiredness etc. (cannot say the same for benadryl). The other important thing is make sure you have the dosing by weight, not age. It can vary a lot; which was important since my DS has always been small for his age. When he has a cough, honey at night really helps the coughing... Also can't say enough about the nosefrida....

[Anonymous]

They don't really work that well, anyway, so I would follow the doc's recommendation to not give it.

[Anonymous]

The ones that cause drowsiness can depress breathing, which is dangerous in kids.

My ped says coughing is required to expel phlegm, but I think she's full of it.

[Anonymous]

Hylands makes cough syrup for babies. Its homeopathic and all natural. It really works and is not sedating at all.

[Anonymous]

I've heard taht because it supresses coughing and expelling phlegm that it can cause pneumonia in young cildren.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The ones that cause drowsiness can depress breathing, which is dangerous in kids.

My ped says coughing is required to expel phlegm, but I think she's full of it.

She is actually right, coughing is actually a life saving reflex, supressing a wet cough can actually be very dangerous in little kids, especially at night. The worst are medicines that combine both an expectorant and a suppresant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ones that cause drowsiness can depress breathing, which is dangerous in kids.

My ped says coughing is required to expel phlegm, but I think she's full of it.

She is actually right, coughing is actually a life saving reflex, supressing a wet cough can actually be very dangerous in little kids, especially at night. The worst are medicines that combine both an expectorant and a suppresant.

Sorry, I should clarify: I agree that it's important to get rid of the crud, when there's crud to get rid of. But when there's just that dry, irritated cough, I'd like that to be acknowledged and addressed, instead of just getting the party line.

My dad is an old-school pediatrician, and in cases like this, where it's an issue of irritation and not congestion, he (when he was practicing-- he's retired now) prescribed a very low dose of codeine cough syrup, even for small children. It's the sleep aid that calms the useless cough reflex; this can be dangerous in some situations, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ones that cause drowsiness can depress breathing, which is dangerous in kids.

My ped says coughing is required to expel phlegm, but I think she's full of it.

She is actually right, coughing is actually a life saving reflex, supressing a wet cough can actually be very dangerous in little kids, especially at night. The worst are medicines that combine both an expectorant and a suppresant.

Exactly! What did you think coughs were for, annoying you?