When Your Toddler Gets Sick

Posted by Rachel Lister Jan 9, 2008

I have to admit that my first two children have often been given cold medicine when they have been sick. I never really thought twice about it. Recently there have been studies that show cold medicine can be dangerous for children under the age of 6. Most of it stems from the fact that it is extremely hard to give accurate doses to small toddlers and there have been several cases where toddlers have died from an accidental overdose. The companies that produce many of the popular children's cough medicines recommend that you only use the dosing device that comes with the medicine in order to make sure that you give your toddler the correct amount but for children under 2 most medicines state that you need to contact your pediatrician for the correct dose.

I had heard that regular honey can be used as effectively as most over the counter cough medicine for children under 6. Honey is supposed to sooth a toddler's throat and settle down a bad cough. Since we are right in the middle of the wonderful cold and flu season now I didn't have to wait long before I got a chance to try out honey as a treatment for my toddler's cold. My toddler was much happier about swallowing a spoonful of honey than yucky tasting medicine. I gave my toddler honey right before bed and it did seem to decrease the number of coughing spells he had throughout the night. Some studies are saying now that cough medicine does not actually do anything for toddlers. My experience was that the honey did almost as much as the cough medicine did and was much more pleasant to give to my toddler.

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