Cold remedies removed for under-twos

[panther]

Six cold and cough remedies for young children are being removed from shelves amid fears of accidental overdose.
The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has ordered the permanent removal of the medicines, which are specifically marketed for use on under-twos.
Those affected are:
Asda Children's Chesty Cough Syrup,
Boots Chesty Cough Syrup One Year Plus,
Boots Sore Throat and Cough Linctus One Year Plus,
Buttercup Infant Cough Syrup, CalCough Chesty and Bell's Children's Chesty Cough.
And dozens more remedies will be taken off shelves until they can be repackaged to include advice that they should not be given to children under 24 months.

I never give and never have gave my kids cough medicine, my doctor, who has now passed way, always said "a cough is there for a purpose"
..."just put plenty of vicks on the chest"
and it always worked..
I think they are a waste of money

[emamum]

My old doctor was like that ... lol, you'd say to him, should i just give him some cough medicine then? and he's say 'yeah, if you want to waste your money' lol

[jaysay]

Kids are very resilient, and soon get over coughs and colds, although if the cough is persistent there could be underlying causes. Its when you get to our age (over 60)that coughs become problem

[emzy]

I only ever give my 2 calpol if they really need it. They only other medicines that they get are what the doctor has prescribed (and unless its an antibiotic I try to avoid giving it to them)

[derekgas]

There are enough idiots in this world to worry more about what will be given instead, if this medicine cant be bought, how long before some numpty gives a child under 2 something that its young body cant cope with? Then they will be shouting for the medicines to be brought back, I for one am fed up with MY choices being removed by this government.

[Reidy]

well said there derek i agree....... Its up to you if you want to use them not the goverment!

[jambutty]

What’s the betting that when those products do come back on the shelf they will come in smaller bottles at an inflated price, just like they did with Aspirin etc.

If anyone recalls that at one time not too long ago you could buy a bottle of 200 300mg Aspirin tablets for around £1.

Then the powers that be declared that you could only buy 300mg Aspirin in packs of 32 if bought from a chemist, but only two packs at a time and packs of 16 if bought elsewhere, also only 2 packs at a time. This was to discourage potential suicidees. A 32 pack will cost over £1 today.

I perfect my cough by practicing all day and all night.

As a child I was given honey and lemon when I had a cough. I don’t think that it did any good but it sure tasted nice. Alternatively a glass of hot milk with a tiny portion of butter and a teaspoon of honey. That seemed to work at bedtime.

[slinky]

I don't think people should take cough medicines anyway. That cough is there for a reason..... Our own bodies getting rid of infections in our lungs.... who would want to stop doing that??

[MargaretR]

I can understand why parents resort to using cough supressants when the child and the rest of the family is losing sleep by it, but agree that a cough is a good thing to get rid of the nasty stuff in the lungs

A simple way to ease night time coughing is to sleep sitting up, so that mucous from the back of the nose is more likely to drip into the digestive tract instead of the bronchial tube.

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by slinky

I don't think people should take cough medicines anyway. That cough is there for a reason..... Our own bodies getting rid of infections in our lungs.... who would want to stop doing that??

Ah! But what about the rasping cough, where the unfortunate person causes damage to the lungs by coughing incessantly? A child with whooping cough for instance. A good cough medicine will quash the need to keep on coughing but will allow a good cough when there is something to cough up.

[MargaretR]

I have been taking a pleurisy root infusion for the past 2 months. It thins the mucous so makes it easier to cough.
I do this because I will not take antibiotics unless the alternative is death!
I had antibiotic induced colitis once - otherwise known as C difficile!

[slinky]

Originally Posted by jambutty

Ah! But what about the rasping cough, where the unfortunate person causes damage to the lungs by coughing incessantly? A child with whooping cough for instance. A good cough medicine will quash the need to keep on coughing but will allow a good cough when there is something to cough up.

Well yes, every cough is different. My 2 used to suffer with a very bad dry cough. It sounded more like a dog barking. After checking it out with the doctors, all I used to do was sit with my babies, in a bathroom on the floor with their toys and the door shut and let the hot water run. The room filled with steam, and it worked wonders for their little chests.

I don't personally think cough meds work.

[MargaretR]

I have a warm air humidifier which has a small dimple for placing eucalyptus oil and such.
I no longer need it because my goodsphere machines keep the humidity level up.

If anyone wants it to help a child breathe - I will give it to you free
1st to ask..... gets