Try natural solutions, such as honey

The sniffling, sneezing,coughing and runny nose that can go with the common cold are making your child miserable. Once, you might have picked up cough and cold medicines to ease the discomfort. But over-the-counter (OTC) decongestants, expectorants, antihistamines and cough suppressants are no longer advised for young children.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says you shouldn’t give these drugs to children younger than 2 years old. They raise the risk for serious side effects: convulsions, fast heart rates, even death. The FDA is weighing the drugs’ safety and effectiveness in children ages 2 -11.
“These medications shouldn’t be used in any children,” adds Lawrence Quang, MD, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and director of the Northern Ohio Poison Control Center at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“There’s no evidence that they work, and they can potentially be harmful.” If you do give cough and cold medicines to kids ages 2 to 11, the FDA says, follow label directions and learn the product’s active ingredients.

Parents and caregivers should always check with the child’s pediatrician before administering these types of medications.

So what can you do to help your child? A study from Penn State College of Medicine suggests an old folk remedy — honey.

“Kids who took buckwheat honey before bed coughed less and had less severe coughs than those who took nothing or who took medicines containing dextromethorphan, the most common cough suppressant found in OTC medicines,” says Dr. Quang. “And the kids who had honey  and their parents  slept better.”

Dr. Quang warns that kids younger than 1 year old shouldn’t take honey. It may be tainted with bacterial spores that can cause infant botulism. By the time kids reach their first birthday, their digestive systems usually have developed enough to rid the body of the spores before they cause harm.

For kids older than 1, Dr. Quang recommends these bedtime “doses” of buckwheat honey: