Is It Safe To Give Medicine To A Infant With Cold And Cough?

Posted on Tue, 15 Jan 2013

Question: My son is 30 Months old and like all other kids falls sick every now and then. And whenever he catches cold or cough, my wife immediately gives him crocin syrup or Sinarest and keep arguing to wait on for a day or two so that he builds on the immune to fight against the ailment. My question is whether it is advised to give him medication the day that you realize or let him suffer for a day or two (not that I like it!!).

Please advise. Thanks!!

Answered by Dr. Arun (29 minutes later)

Dear,

Thanks for writing to health care magic.

I went through the details submitted and the following are my comments.

1. There is absolutely no need to give the medicines which you have listed for every cold or cough. Infact fever is one of the defense mechanisms our body uses to kill germs with body heat. Therefore unless the temperature is very high, there is no need to give paracetamol.

2. The other medicine you may or may not give initially - it doesn't matter much. But yes, if your child is in discomfort and very troubled, you can give him sinarest to relieve symptoms of cold/nasal congestion. Delaying sinarest will no way build immunity.

3. But waiting a day or 2 before starting antibiotics by your doctor makes sense, as most of the cold attacks start as viral but can progress to a bacterial super added infection. Therefore unless the symptoms are persisting, there is no real need to start antibiotics.

Hope I answered your query. Let me know if you have any other enquiries.

Wishing your kid good health...

Dr. Arun

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad