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SALT LAKE CITY — The world of children's health and medicine can be confusing to many parents. Women's health and medicine can be equally puzzling.
In an effort to ease some of this confusion and provide parents with easy-to-understand answers to their health questions, Motherhood Matters at ksl.com is excited to introduce the new Mommy Medicine column.
Our medical expert, "Nurse Suzy," holds a master's degree in nursing. She is a certified emergency nurse who has worked in rural and urban hospitals since 1982. Each week, she will answer questions submitted by you on topics you are concerned about.
This week's question deals with the changes to Infant's TYLENOL.
Question:
I heard on the news that TYLENOL is going to stop making infant drops. They said it was to avoid dosage confusion between Children's TYLENOL and Infant's TYLENOL. I'm kind of frustrated because I like the infant drops. What will I do now if my baby gets sick? Can I use Children's TYLENOL? How do I measure the dose without the dropper? Answer:
Most parents are looking to find relief for their children when they know they are in pain or have a fever, TYLENOL has always been the number one choice to relieve these symptoms. TYLENOL's plan is not to stop making infant drops, but to only produce a few concentrations of their infant and children's products. This change is an effort to limit confusion in dosing. Another name for TYLENOL is acetaminophen, which is found in many products such as DayQuil, allergy medication, Percocet, etc. It is very important when you give your children any medication you read the labels and ingredients to make sure you know the components in the medication to avoid overdosing.
TYLENOL/acetaminophen when administered in an overdose amount, accidental or non-accidental, will cause permanent liver failure. When parents bring their children to the doctors to find relief from fevers, for example, we recommend a dose of TYLENOL, then a dose of ibuprofen two hours later. Continue alternating TYLENOL and ibuprofen every two until the fever is under control. TYLENOL alone will not fix all problems. Too much TYLENOL, in any form, will cause irreversible problems.
TYLENOL is not the only company making changes. Other acetaminophen manufacturers plan to change their dosing to 160 mg/5 ml for children's products. The labels will give directions on how much to give your children depending on their age and weight. In children's dosing we look more to their weight than age for accurate dosing.
The transition from current products to new products takes time. The directions given by the manufacturers will be to start making the change in the summer of 2011 and roll into 2012. This means not all products on the shelf will be changed to the new dosing, therefore it is very important for you to read the labels very closely to make sure you give the accurate amount to your children.
More details and information on this subject can be found at www.tylenol.com.
If you have a question for Nurse Suzy, send her an email at nursesuzyksl@gmail.com.
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Suzanne Carlile, "Nurse Suzy," has been a nurse since 1982, working in both rural and urban hospitals. Her main focus of nursing is Critical Care areas and Nursing Education. She holds a master's degree in nursing, is a Certified Emergency Nurse, and a member of NNSDO Intermountain West Chapter.
