Important Tips for Giving Baby Medicine

Following are most important tips to keep in mind before giving medicine to children:

• If you wrap a blanket around the baby’s arms, the child will not struggle.

• If the child spits out the medicine, put a little more and try to close the mouth by holding the lower jaw. Do not hold the nose forcibly as it may cause choking of the air passage.

• Put very little medication at a time. Do not put the full spoon in one jerk, otherwise it may go into the windpipe and cause choking.

• If the child does not like the taste of a tablet, crush the tablet and mix it with honey, jam or anything according to the taste of the child.

• Most of the liquids are sweet and good in taste. If not, mix them with honey or squash to make it more tastier.

• Dosage is very important in small children. Most of the liquid medicines should be administered by a 5 ml spoon provided along with syrup bottles.

• Spoons available in the house may be of different sizes. There is possibility of overdose of underdose by using household spoons. Usually one teaspoonful is equal to 5 ml.

• Special care should be taken while giving medicines available in the market without a prescription (over-the-counter) the liver of small babies and children may not be able to process the drugs and this may lead to dangerous accumulation of medicines and drugs in the body.
• Formula for Children Medicine

Dose for children under one year:

Age in Months X Adult Dose
————————–
150

For children between 1-2 years:

Age in Years X Adult Dose
————————-
Age in Years + 12

• Never add medicines to the baby’s feeding bottle.

• Never give any drug that has been prescribed for an adult or child to any other member of the family.

• If there is any medicine which has not suited him/her in the past, do not use them at all.

• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin rash and swollen joints are some of the indications of allergy to medicines.

• If your child is running very high fever, don’t give too many medicines together. First bring down the temperature by syrup paracetamol and sponging with cold water. Administer other drugs after the temperature has come down.

Half Dose to Children upto what Age?

Everybody knows that children should be given half the dose of medicines than that of an adult dose. This is very true, because children  have less body weight and medicines are given according to the weight of a person.

The question arises, upto what age one should consider an individual a child. The answer is, all children upto the age of 12 full adult dose.

If a child is very thin and underweight he can still be given half a dose upto the age of 13 to 15 years. Similarly children who are overweight can be given an adult doses even at the age of the 10 to 11 years. Always ask your doctor about the exact doses before leaving his clinic.

Never forget to ask Your Doctor the Following Question:

1. How many teaspoonfuls in each dose?
2. How many times in a day?
3. How many days to continue even if the child has improved?
4. When to give the medicines before or after food?
5. Whether to wake up the child at night for a repeat dose of antibiotics?
6. What are the side effects?