HHS HealthBeat (February 11, 2008)

Kids and the cough medicine

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Kids can get into everything, which can be dangerous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlights one example – when kids swallow so much over-the-counter cough and cold medicine that they have to go to the emergency department.

The CDC’s Melissa Schaefer says it happens to about 7,000 kids each year. She says about 4,600 of those got into the medications without their parents knowing, and most were ages 2 years to 5 years.

Schaefer says child-resistant packaging by itself wasn’t enough:

``Parents should be reminded to keep all medications, not just cough and cold medications, out of the hands of their children, so secured in cupboards or cabinets where their kids can’t access them.’’ (9 seconds)

She says parents should remind kids meds are not candy, and should avoid taking their meds while the kids watch.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February, 08 2008