Will you keep your young kids away from cold medicines?

[Sinaptics]

Well I guess I have the dubious honor of actually having first-hand (or at least very nearly first-hand) experience with one of these medicines causing a death.

My wife’s cousin had her 8 month old son die last year do to the pseudoephedrine in INFANTS Tylenol Cold & Allergy. Unfortunately, just a year ago, none of us had any clue that an OTC product being marketed to infants could cause their death.

Still makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it. Such a senseless way for a child’s life to be snuffed before it’s even began. -sigh-

I mean, really, how can you market a product to infants if it’s not COMPLETELY safe? I would have sued the hell out of Tylenol if it were me. Still pisses me off.

[Sarahfeena]

With my 3-year-old, I pretty much never have treated cold symptoms…I will occasionally use Tylenol and/or Advil to bring a fever down if it gets too high, and I’ll do the Vicks and a vaporizer thing at night, but I haven’t used cold medications.

Now my 6-month-old has a stuffy nose, and if I was ever going to use them, now would be the time…the kid still won’t eat any kind of solid food, so he’s going through formula like there’s no tomorrow, and it’s hard to keep sucking on the bottle if you can’t breathe through your nose. But I decided to try to tough it out with him by using the bulb syringe & Vicks. Poor baby.

[WhyNot]

@Sinaptics

I mean, really, how can you market a product to infants if it’s not COMPLETELY safe? I would have sued the hell out of Tylenol if it were me. Still pisses me off.

Because nothing on this great green earth or under it is COMPLETELY safe.

I’m very sorry for your family’s loss, but (unless you have further information you’d like to share) it sounds like an idiosyncratic reaction, allergy or misdosing was to blame. It’s indeed a terrible, terrible shame, and my heart goes out to that baby’s parents and all the family affected by such a shocking loss, but you have to realize that thousands of other infants were given the same medicine on the same day and didn’t die.

[Stitchglass_Slide]

@WhyNot

You’re right, actually. I used to be anti regulation even on antibiotics, but that’s my one area of exception now. In fact, I think antibiotics should be administered only in emergency situations or with the results of a culture, so they’re HARDER to get than morphine. It’s so annoying as a parent to have the doctor hand you a scrip for Augmentin “in case” this pneumonia is bacterial. But whatcha gonna do? Me? I’m gonna give it to my kid on the best guess of the doctor and feed her lots of yogurt and hope I’m not making a superbug in her lungs this week…

Ear infections I would just refuse the scrip outright, frankly. But a lung infection with a history of BPD makes Mama nervous…

well…this was unexpectedly civil. Here I was all ready to jump in with anedotical evidence and all. Darn.

Cheers!

@WhyNot

Because nothing on this great green earth or under it is COMPLETELY safe.

I’m very sorry for your family’s loss, but (unless you have further information you’d like to share) it sounds like an idiosyncratic reaction, allergy or misdosing was to blame. It’s indeed a terrible, terrible shame, and my heart goes out to that baby’s parents and all the family affected by such a shocking loss, but you have to realize that thousands of other infants were given the same medicine on the same day and didn’t die.

Also, to back up your second comment - I once knew of a 16yo kid who died from an enema of all things. It wasn’t any super-duper special enema either. Sometimes weird stuff just happens and it’s no one’s fault.

The randomness of life does sometimes make me nervous crossing the street sometimes.