December 18, 2011
Health Tip: Skip the Cold Medicine Before Age 4
Here's what you can offer instead
(HealthDay News) -- Parents want to do whatever they can to ease a child's cold symptoms, but cough and cold medicines aren't recommended for children under age 4.
The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests these alternatives to ease a young child's cough and cold symptoms:
- Encourage your child to get lots of rest.
- Offer the child plenty of fluids.
- Use saline nose drops to ease stuffiness.
- Run a cool-mist humidifier in your child's room at night.
- Steam up the bathroom with a hot shower, letting your child sit outside the stall while the shower runs.