I am guilty. I admit to running out of children’s Motrin in the past and just giving my child half of an adult tablet. My thinking, like so many parents, was that children need the same medicine as adults, just in smaller doses, because they are smaller. However, that is not always the case. Some medications affect children much differently than they affect adults. When it comes to giving our children medications, we need to remember that they are not just miniature adults.

If you are fostering children, or if a child is placed with you, but not yet adopted, you need to be especially careful with administering medications. Your agency can remove your license and remove your foster children from your home for giving them over the counter adult medications without written permission from the child’s pediatrician. A friend of mine couldn’t find pediatric acetaminophen suppositories for her foster son who was running a high fever but couldn’t keep down any medication. She cut an adult suppository in half and used it for the child. The birthmother told the agency, who wrote my friend up, and removed her license for endangering the child. (Side note: You usually have to ask the pharmacists for pediatric enemas, they keep them in the refrigerator. We had a foster son with severe tactile issues who couldn’t swallow any medications.)

Make sure the drug you are considering giving to your child is actually safe for children. If the drug label doesn't contain pediatric dosing information then don't assume it's safe for anyone under 12 years old. If you still have questions, ask the doctor or pharmacist.

Remember that children react different from adults to many drugs. For example, antihistamines and alcohol, which are common ingredients in cold medications, can cause excitability or excessive drowsiness in children. Barbiturates will make a child hyperactive but they make adults feel sluggish. Amphetamines, which stimulate adults, can calm children.

Aspirin, if given to children with chickenpox or flu symptoms can cause serious illness or death. Reye syndrome is a rare but serious condition that can cause death, and is associated with aspirin use in children and teenagers. Antacids may contain bismuth subsalicylate. This can also increase the risk of Reye’s syndrome in children who may have the flu or chickenpox.

Photo Credit Julia Fuller 2006