Drug companies are in the business of selling their products. Don’t trust everything in their ads or their claims that “Four out of five doctors recommend…” Non-prescription cough medicines have questionable efficacy and are unproven in children, where their side effects can be more severe and risk of inadvertent overdose is higher. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, since 1985 none of the 6 well-done studies of over-the-counter cold medicines have shown any meaningful benefit, and 123 deaths have been identified related to the use of these products. Many products were recently banned by the FDA for children younger than six. For a list of these products, click here.

Current recommendation are to avoid these medications in children under the age of 6. It’s safer and cheaper to stick to Tylenol for fever, honey for cough (avoid honey in children under 1 year as there is a risk of botulism), and chicken soup to feel better in the time it takes to get better.

If you do use medications, be sure to first discuss with your child’s doctor and to make sure you know how to give the proper amount and aren’t using multiple products with duplicate ingredients.

Also, don’t forget to wash your and your children’s hands often and teach everyone in the family to cough and sneeze either down their shirts or into the crook of their elbow. For a fun and education video on the hygenic way to cough and sneeze click here.