Children's Medicine Recalled

Last week there was a recall on children's and infant's cold and allergy medicine (including Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl and Zyrtec) and all reports were advising parent's to immediately throw away any unused portions of the medicine. 
According to reports there weren't any serious side effects reported among children that have taken the medication (that we know of) but McNeil decided to voluntary recall the medicine as a precaution.

Earlier this afternoon Lyndsey Johnson from the Washington Post had a online Q&A session with other readers further explaining the recall and the latest news regarding the recall.  Some of the updated information she gave to the readers included:

• all generic forms of Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, and Zyrtec are NOT included in the recall and can still be used.
• links were provided for parents in order to get a voucher or refund for the recalled medicine.
• (as of today) only the liquid forms have been recalled, not the chewable pill form.
• a link explaining proper disposal of unused medications

Her session provided a lot of important information regarding the recall, especially some of the links she provided and I was glad that I came across her article.  I initially threw away both generic and brand name Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Benadryl before full reading her article (I will be purchasing more generic versions for the future). 

But for those of you who don't want to purchase anymore over the counter medicine for certain issues maybe the following tips can help your child who would normally take them:

• Fever: push lots of fluids, make sure your child gets lots of rest, keep the room/house at a steady temperature, avoid zinc and iron, and cool baths.  If the child's fever persists for more than a couple of days and is over 100 degrees, seek medical attention[1].  For infants under 3 months, take them to the doctor immediately if their fever is 100 degrees or more[2].
• Stuffy nose: Vicks.  Get a Q-tip and apply a small layer of it into your child's nose, top lip, and on their chest.  Usually that works great (it worked wonders with MIB when she had a bit of congestion last week).
• Cough: a teaspoon of honey helps lessen cough in children (children ages 2-5 should get half a teaspoon, 12 and older 2 teaspoons) DO NO GIVE pure honey to children under the age of 2[3]

Of course, ALWAYS TALK TO A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL before administering any of these alternate options (especially to find out about allergies).  Your doctor can also be contacted if you would still like to administer over the counter medications. 

For further information about medication recalls and to get emails about recalls go to the following sites:
Recalls.gov
FDA
US Consumer Product Safety Commission