My young daughter would rather endure excruciatingly painful injections to her thighs than down a teaspoon of grape-flavored medicine.
Since she was a tiny baby, my daughter has forcefully regurgitated every single drop of oral medication that I have carefully and skillfully placed in her mouth… towards her cheek, away from her taste buds and not directly down her throat.
As a result of her violent gagging and distressful purging tendencies, my daughter’s pediatrician recommends that my little throw-up queen receive medication via syringe. It works when the injection option is available, like when she had strep throat, hand, foot and mouth disease and another bacterial infection, but when she comes down with minor ailments, I’m on my own. In these cases I typically choose not to medicate and instead try to ease her pain through marathon back rubbing sessions, ice packs, warm baths, and a host of other time consuming tactics.
Interestingly, I just learned that I am not alone when it comes to passing on oral meds.
A new study found that a surprisingly large number of parents are actually TOO conservative when it comes to dosing out the pain meds to their tykes.
The research, which will be published in next month’s issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, says many parents fear overmedicating their kids, so they purposely cut back on dosage amounts—-often to their child’s detriment.
Researchers looked at kids ages 2-12, who underwent common medical procedures such as a tonsillectomy, and how their parents treated their pain post-op. According to the study, 86 percent of parents reported their kids were in significant pain on the first day home, but only a fourth of those kids received pain medication, and some received none at all.
Researchers concluded that parents simply underestimated the level of pain their child was suffering. In addition, parents noted that warnings about liver damage caused by certain kids’ pain relievers was also a factor in their decision to under medicate, and in some cases the children were simply to young to effectively communicate to their moms ands dads how much pain they were in. (You mean the high-pitched screaming fits didn’t clue them in?)
According to the study, some parents, whose children enjoy the taste of medicine, don’t know if they should believe their kids when they say they need to be medicated. If your kid loves the taste of Berry Burst Benadryl to the point where she requests it by name after she gets bit by a few bugs do you give it to her or not?
Do you over or under medicate your kids?
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