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| NewsFriday, October 19, 2007 9:28 PM CDT |
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Local pediatricians advise using other methods than cold meds
BLOOMINGTON — Get saline nose drops and a nasal suction bulb syringe and push fluids. That’s advice physicians are giving to parents of infants with colds after drug manufacturers ended sales of over-the-counter oral cough and cold medicines for children age 2 and younger. The advice comes from two physicians who treat infants: Dr. Dirck Curry, program director of the BroMenn Family Health Clinic in Normal, and Dr. Stephen Trainor, a pediatrician at Carle Clinic in Bloomington. Curry and Trainor said they always have recommended saline or saltwater nose drops and a nasal suction bulb syringe to remove mucus from the nose, to ease congestion and to make infants more comfortable. The doctors also recommend keeping the infant’s head elevated so mucus doesn’t pool in the back of the throat. While Trainor recommends running a humidifier to further combat congestion, Curry is concerned that some humidifiers aren’t effective and that old humidifiers have bacteria that will be spread. Both doctors agree that fluids — water, juice and milk — are important for hydration. If the child is experiencing aches and pains, Tylenol taken at recommended doses could provide some relief, doctors said. Rest is important. A cold needs to run its course. Changing recommendations Trainor said he didn’t recommend cold medicine for infants in the first six months of life. After that, for parents who wanted to give their children relief, Trainor would tell them that cold medicine at proper doses may relieve some symptoms but wouldn’t make the cold go away more quickly. With the recent ending of sales of infant cold medicine, Trainor will not recommend cold medicine for children age 2 and younger. Neither Trainor nor Curry is aware of any severe side effects among their patients. Trainor said some parents gave their children Motrin Cold for fever instead of plain Tylenol or Motrin, then gave the children Dimetapp for cold symptoms. Because they have some of the same ingredients, the children became irritable, restless and had trouble sleeping. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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