Many pediatricians are concerned about parents giving too much over-the-counter medicine to a sick child. What is of most concern is fever reducing medication which can affect liver and kidney function in children.
Parents give one medication for cold symptoms and another one for fever reduction. However, many of the cold medications contain acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce a fever. Adding a second fever reducing medication can easily result in over medication of the child. Also, parents should look for another ingredient in their child’s cold medicine – PPA (phenylpropanolamine) which has been linked to strokes. Parents should try to find a cold medication which doesn’t have fever reducing ingredients and then use a fever reducing medication too.
