American Academy of Pediatrics | Page 2 of 2

Children and Fevers…

“Parents should not dose up children who have a simple fever on regular spoonfuls of paracetamol and ibuprofen, according to doctors who say that doing so could put them at risk.”

via Fever medicines ‘given to children too readily’ – Telegraph.

This is the recent news out of the American Academy of Pediatrics

It has been found that many dosage errors occur when giving medications to children. I have posted about this in past posts.

Now it is believed that parents are treating fevers with acetaminophen and ibuprophen when perhaps it is not really necessary.

If children are not uncomfortable then it might actually be okay to let the fever run its course. This depends on a few guidelines and for that you should ask your child’s pediatrician.

We are a society where over-the-counter medications are deemed harmless. They really are not harmless and when given to children, parents and caregivers must be diligent label readers. They also must be very careful to use a measuring syringe and properly measure the amount of medication that they are giving to their child. Only give the medication at the scheduled intervals. If this requires that you right it down and keep a chart then do it…