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Re: I'm not a pediatrician either but... (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
You write: last I heard, ibuprofen (ie. Motrin) is NOT advised for infants and children. In fact, there are even guidelines for adult usage of it. You're best off sticking with Tylenol/acetaminophen.
Hm. If you have a reference for this concern, please do post it; I've not heard any such advice. My best understanding was (and remains) that ibuprofen is considered quite safe, absent specific health issues, and, in fact, it also has a very good safety margin, particularly when compared to acetomenophen: acetomenophen (Tylenol), while safe at the recommended dosage, becomes lethal at a frighteningly low multiple of the correct dose. Ibuprofen is less dangerous in the event of a modest accidental overdose.
Of course, with ANY medication, you want to be vigilant about checking the correct dosage.
As I said, though, if you are aware of some recent study which would tend to support a preference for acetomenophen over ibuprofen, please do post a reference here. And thanks for the comment.
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Jun 19 '05
6:41 pm PDT
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I'm not a pediatrician either but... (Reply to this comment)
by jeavinl
last I heard, ibuprofen (ie. Motrin) is NOT advised for infants and children. In fact, there are even guidelines for adult usage of it. You're best off sticking with Tylenol/acetaminophen.
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Jun 17 '05
7:22 pm PDT
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Re: Good advice--but... (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
>You have a pediatrician in N.Y. who responds >immediately to questions about acetominophen, >etc.? Wow' if she's not your sister, you're very >lucky.
Count me as lucky, I guess. My son is four now and questions like this rarely come up any more, but when he was an infant, I called (or emailed) with questions regularly. If anything, my pediatrician encouraged more frequent questions rather than less.
>Incidentally, ibuprophen (Motrin) and acetominophen (Tylenol) are not entirely independent. They are at least additive for long term kidney damage if used over long periods (years) of time.
That's good to know; thanks for pointing it out. You certainly don't want to get into the habit of regular use of either medication without a solid reason, vetted by medical experts.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
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Nov 27 '04
8:43 pm PST
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Good advice--but... (Reply to this comment)
by altecocker
You have a pediatrician in N.Y. who responds immediately to questions about acetominophen, etc.? Wow' if she's not your sister, you're very lucky. Calculate sometime the number of calls a busy practitioner would have to field if a small percentage of her/his patients called with such questions. But Okay, good advice as far as it goes, caveats and all.
I'm glad you mentioned that acetominophen is not harmless. I would vote for removing it from the OTC (over the counter) list if it were up now, and I think a lot more meds should be OTC. Mention, also, the unlikely, but possibly disastrous effects of aspirin in youngsters (that includes teenagers). Incidentally, ibuprophen (Motrin) and acetominophen (Tylenol) are not entirely independent. They are at least additive for long term kidney damage if used over long periods (years) of time. But they can be mixed as you describe. But don't take my word for it, either. All kids differ and if you can reach your pediatrician, especially before you try a new med., by all means, do so.
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Nov 27 '04
12:23 am PST
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Now that's what I call good advice! (Reply to this comment)
by alamedasims
Thanks for what literally could be a life-saver!
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Feb 06 '02
10:49 am PST
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Re: This+is+one+of+the (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
You are officially pardoned, forgiven and reprieved, Cindy. You are also thanked. :-)
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Jun 27 '01
11:28 am PDT
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This is one of the (Reply to this comment)
by cyndilouwhoo
most informative and genuinely helpful reviews I have ever read on epinions.
Thank you for some great advice.
You'll pardon me of course if I check out all of the following with my doctor, won't you?
:D
Cyndi
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Jun 27 '01
4:14 am PDT
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Well Said! (Reply to this comment)
by dkacams
Nice job putting into laymom's terms what can be pretty confusing.
I'm psycho about the children vs. infant Tylenol thing, so I appreciate seeing someone else making that potentially deadly difference known!
Good epinion!
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May 28 '01
4:26 pm PDT
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Advice for everyone that comes into contact with children (Reply to this comment)
by marniad
Dear theeye,
What a wonderfully informative review.
No children in our household but I experience the same problems in getting Sloucho to take medicine as you would an infant:)
Someone should write a similar essay on OTC drugs for adults who don't have their mommy's to make sure they don't overdose.
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May 22 '01
3:11 pm PDT
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Re: Dear+Doc, (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
Oh, dear. I forgot to add the warning about not inviting total strangers into your home based on reading an epinion. :-)
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May 09 '01
11:34 am PDT
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Dear Doc, (Reply to this comment)
by cking
Do you make house calls? Telephone infant tech support?
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May 09 '01
11:04 am PDT
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Re: Re:+a+few+thoughts (Reply to this comment)
by crankybeer
You'd be amazed at the range that you work within--not as cut and dried as you'd like to think and I trust J&J Quality control
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May 07 '01
7:30 pm PDT
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Re: a+few+thoughts (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
Sorry, Debby, I'm not buying the "J&J is better than generic" argument here. Acetaminophen is acetaminophen. FDA regulations are strictly enforced, so the dosage is the dosage.
But if it makes you feel better to spend more money on your baby, by all means do so. If you *really* want to feel better, I'll be happy to resell baby stuff to you with a nice reassuring markup in price. :-)
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May 07 '01
8:37 am PDT
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a few thoughts (Reply to this comment)
by crankybeer
1) yes, you can give a kid Tylenol and Motrin (age-appropriate version of course) which is referred to as alternate dosing. That is, if you give one, and it doesn't work, you then give the other. It is important to know that it is actually safer to do this, than give more of the same medication.
2) Motrin (ibuprofen) is often administered for higher fevers because it is somewhat stronger of a medication, and is known to hold fevers down up to 8hrs. Tylenol is often a first defense and holds fevers for 3-4hrs. Some moms are just Motrin moms to begin with--you need to check with your doctor to figure out what is right for you.
3) Don't trust this comment on this epinion as you doctor is the only one who can advise you when it comes to matters of your baby's health.
4) How can you recommend private label as the same as Tylenol? I worked on Johnson and Johnson for years as their ad agency person and learned so much about this category and many others. They are so careful in how they test and what they put to market, when it comes to medication for babies and kids, I am not trusting some company whose goal is to make products "cheap" as a suitable source for my baby. (And no, I am not pregnant.) I know the ingredients are the same, but I don't know how long the private label stuff has been on the shelf and I don't know what quality control they do. J&J is an amazing company in that way. I'll pay the extra money and buy private label dishwashing liquid instead.
Ok, that's not true. The private label dishwashing stuff is too yucky in quality. I buy Ivory Ultra or Sunlight.
Nice review. And I agree that of all the people I will never trust over my doctor, you would be the most trustworthy.
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May 06 '01
7:47 am PDT
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Excellent review! (Reply to this comment)
by rich2003dm
Great advice.
I'm a veteran parent and I never knew about the infant's/children's tylenol concentrations.
I shudder to think that I may have inadvertently over-medicated my children in the past. Thankfully they survived. Your advice will save a lot of parents from making the same mistake.
Great to see you writing again.
Rich
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May 05 '01
7:04 am PDT
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Re: Worth+the+wait (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
Rats! For a second there, Peter, I thought you were volunteering to publicize my epinion all over the net. Oh, well -- do feel free to pass it on to any new parents you happen to know. And if you change your mind about spearheading that publicity campaign....
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May 03 '01
5:11 am PDT
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Re: You+don't+write+nearly+often+enough, (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
I did, in fact, think about the liability question before posting this. But I concluded that (a) I was 100% confident that my advice was not dangerous and not likely to be misunderstood, (b) thought I actually did have some useful information to impart and (c) was concerned about what would end up in this category if someone didn't get it off to a sensible start. (Hmmm... bad construction in that sentence, but I'll let it go.)
And if you reread the opinion, you'll discover that nearly all of it amounts to common sense advice whose validity you can easily confirm yourself. The one piece of information that I, as a skeptical (and ignorant) epinion reader, would have wanted to check with a doctor would be the Motrin/Tylenol combo. And I'm confident that's accurate.
Thanks for the kind words -- you, too, never fail to disappoint: in your comments as well as in your reviews.
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May 03 '01
5:05 am PDT
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You don't write nearly often enough, (Reply to this comment)
by Sloucho
but never disappoint when you do. In a society as litigious as ours, I would be terrified to post anything like this--even with all of your protests about not being a doctor and urging your readers not to follow your advice without first consulting their own physician. But we do seem to sue one another over nothing these days. My wife was ashamed of me on a recent trip to the mall. When a little girl running around in circles collided into me and fell into a heap at my feet, I asked her parents if they wanted me to pick her up before touching her. People are so insanely protective of their children I find it's best to ignore them (both the people and their children, but primarily the children). Maybe being a parent is what gives you the courage you need to post so intelligently about something that is likely to concern many parents.
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May 02 '01
9:48 pm PDT
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Thanks, all! (Reply to this comment)
by theeye
My husband and I are just at that brief moment when we've become reasonably confident and educated about using infant OTC medication, but not so far off from the early days that we forget that we once needed some guidance. When I saw that this category was completely empty, I decided that I actually did have some useful information to impart. Glad that you all seem to agree. :-)
Hey, sis -- go ahead and use the title. I promise I won't accuse (or even suspect) you of stealing it. :-)
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May 02 '01
8:03 am PDT
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glad to see... (Reply to this comment)
by jkkelley
...you writing again. I don't have kids, but this all sounds like the kind of common sense that we wish were more common. Nice work!
jk
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May 02 '01
6:47 am PDT
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Wow! (Reply to this comment)
by DavidK93
This is quite possibly the most valuable piece of writing I have ever seen here. Of course, I'll probably never need this advice myself, and I certainly don't need it now, but there are so many parents out there who need to know stuff like this. Thanks.
--David
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May 02 '01
6:18 am PDT
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Scary! (Reply to this comment)
by theworm
About a week ago I was talking to Mr. Worm about writing an epinion about an OTC medication (for big people). I told him that I was going to title it "I'm Not A Doctor, and I Don't Play One on TV". Now my own sister has gone and used my title in her own OTC epinion! Either you and Mr. Worm are talking behind my back, or there is some spooky genetic thing going on here!
Good post (as usual)!
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May 02 '01
6:04 am PDT
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Great Review! (Reply to this comment)
by scottcolson
Well, I am a doctor and I think this was very well written. I am always surprised that parents don't know that you can give Tylenol and Motrin together. We recommend it all the time!
As far as decongestants. I never recommend them for young children (even before they took PPA off the market).
Thanks for writing this excellent opinion!
Scott (M.D.)
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May 01 '01
8:31 pm PDT
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Very thorough review! (Reply to this comment)
by diverpam
I would never have thought about the infant's version being stronger... but it does make sense.
Pam
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May 01 '01
5:21 pm PDT
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