Pain relief medications for small children

by **Nanneerose** Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:24 am

Children are not little adults, and when it comes to medication, they can respond quite differently and be more sensitive, particularly to overdose.
Since paracetamol is a very common medication given to children, here are a few rules that are worth taking note of: don't give a child any more paracetamol than it says on the pack for their age and their weight and don't give it for more than 48 hours at a time continuously. If a child is very overweight or very underweight, you may need to take advice from your doctor about the right dose to take.
Be very careful if you're actually going to the chemist and looking for cough and cold medications, because some of them contain paracetamol, and you don't want to be doubling up on the dose. And remember cough and cold medications should not be taken by children two years of age and under.
Don't give children and teenagers aspirin, because it can cause a rare and potentially-fatal condition called Reye's syndrome. Ibuprofen should not be given to children under three months of age. Double check the dose on the package, and if it's syrup, measure it out really carefully. Don't be tempted to think that if 'a little is good, more is better' – it's not.
And always check the expiry date, particularly if you've already opened the medicine.
Overdosing on paracetamol can cause serious liver damage and even death. Most cases of overdose are the cumulative result of several days of paracetamol, where the recommended dose has been exceeded. So it's really important to get the right dose and the right timing from the get go.
http://www.abc.net.au/health/minutes/stories/2011/04/19/3122207.htm

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