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Who’s That Cough Syrup Really For?

You wake up out of a sound sleep because your child is coughing in the room next door. You get up to check on her and she’s sleeping… right through all that coughing! How does she do it? You go to the medicine cabinet to get children’s cough syrup and a spoon.

When you return to your daughter’s room, she’s still sleeping… and coughing… so you wake her up to give her some cough syrup. She barely opens her eyes, takes the medicine and lies back down. You return the cough syrup to its place and return yourself to bed. Good mom that you are, you’ve taken care of your little girl’s cough.

What if I were to ask, “Who was that cough syrup really for?” You’d look at me quizzically and say, “It was for my daughter, of course, she was coughing.” Was it? She was sleeping just fine. That cough syrup was really for you even though you weren’t the one who actually took it!

The real problem with cough and cold medications for children? Study after study proves that they provide a child with no benefits beyond their sedative qualities. And… there is growing evidence that these medications can be downright dangerous. The risks include hives, neurological problems, even death. Do you really want to put your child at risk just so you can sleep better?

The average cough in children lasts two weeks. Coughing is the body’s way of eliminating substances that don’t belong there - viruses, bacteria, dust, pollen, pollution and extra mucus. To try to “silence” a cough in any way keeps these foreign objects in the lungs – not such a good thing after all, is it?

If your child has a cough, bring him or her in to our practice to be checked. We have plenty of parents who bring their children to us before giving them any kind of medication that interferes with the body’s self-regulating and self-healing systems.

If you’re concerned about your child’s cough, or any other problem, give us a call. It absolutely makes no sense to use over-the-counter cough and cold preparations that are risky and have no real benefits. After all, who’s that cough syrup really for?