New Health Canada Warnings for Children's Cold Medicine

by Blue Crush | December 19, 2008 at 07:53 am

834 views | 9 Recommendations | 8 comments

Children under the age of six should never be given cold and cough medications, advised Health Canada on Thursday, after reviewing the effectiveness and potential dangers of the drugs.

Health Canada had previously warned parents about giving the medications to children under the age of two, but it's now expanded the restriction to the age of six, after receiving 124 reports of adverse reactions, 80 of them serious, in children under six from January 1995 to 2008. Of these, five children under two died, although it hasn't been comfirmed that misuse or overdose was the cause. Other rare side-effects include convulsions, increased heart rate, and hallucinations.

"Given the number of adverse events, especially for children under six, Health Canada decided these products should no longer be recommended," Dr. Marc Berthiaume, director of the market pharmaceuticals and medical devices bureau at Health Canada, said from Ottawa.

Health Canada is requiring manufacturers to relabel over-the-counter cough and cold medicines that have dosing information for children to indicate that these medicines should not be used in children under 6.

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Paschen

at 08:29 on December 19th, 2008

Best is still the old Mustard Wrap. Works and is non toxic.

Art_By_Alida

at 09:01 on December 19th, 2008

I knew a woman one time who used to give her baby prescription cough medicine to make it sleep when she wanted it to.

I always wondered if her baby ever had health problems when it grew up.

Tom Leuntjens Photography

at 01:29 on December 23rd, 2008

2 much medicine

Tom Leuntjens Photography has contributed a photo to this story.

Tripp Fenderson

at 03:34 on December 23rd, 2008

In my family, we never took cough and cold medicine as kids.

Instead, mom would mix up a simple formula of honey, lemon, and a dash of whisky. It soothed the throat, gave us shot of vitamin C, and made us sleep like babies.

José Ramón de Lothlórien

at 08:57 on December 23rd, 2008

This picture is a home treatment does not work for a flu that is complicated.

José Ramón de Lothlórien has contributed a photo to this story.

jessica.lam

at 10:21 on December 28th, 2008

I never had an issue with cough syrup - perhaps a misuse the medication?

daddydoctor (not verified)

at 06:14 on January 1st, 2009

As a dad and a doctor, I find children’s cough and cold medications a very scary topic. I used believe the drug companies, and think that as long as my patient’s or I dosed the children’s cold & cough medications right, then everything would be OK. But when I researched this further, it turns out that children have died from “over dose” of ALL THE MAJOR CHILDRENS COLD AND COUGH MEDICINES even when given the correct dose.

The number of infant deaths attributed to cold and cough medicines is dramatically underreported. New research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics demonstrated that there were at least “10 unexpected infant deaths that were associated with cold-medication” in 2006 alone in the state of Arizona. Extrapolated over the US and Canadian population, that would be over 500 deaths a year associated with cold-medication! (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/2/e318)

The FDA recently said that they do not want to pull the medications for children under 6 because they are afraid that parents will give children adult doses because “parents would have no other alternatives.” The truth is that the American Academy of Pediatrics has said that buckwheat honey is a safe alternative.

Parents now have a safe, effective, yet natural choice for their children. Recent research from Penn State showed 100% pure Buckwheat Honey out performed children’s cough and cold medicine for children’s nighttime cough.

Buckwheat Honey is considered safe for children 1 and older, so it is the perfect choice for conscientious parents and doctors. Currently, “Honey Don’t Cough” is the only company packaging 100% pure Buckwheat Honey in ready-to-use packets for children. A growing number of pharmacies are providing “Honey don’t Cough,” it is available on Amazon.com. To learn more you can visit Check out www.honeydontcough.com

-Daddydoctor