When kids become too much to handle, and are being out of control, some parents opt to give them some cold medicine to settle them down. Some consider it a joke. Others actually use the practice to settle their kids down, or to help them go to bed at night.
It is one of the most joked about things by parents on Facebook.
Some seem to think that it’s alright, and others are very against it. Drugging your kids with over the counter and prescription medication can have consequences that you have not accounted for, according to the Dr. Shan Yin the author of research that was published Thursday, saying that the practice was child abuse.
“We believe the malicious use of pharmaceuticals may be an under-recognized form and/or component of child maltreatment,” wrote the author, Dr. Shan Yin, a pediatrician.
In 1,439 cases of poisoning with a narcotic, the study showed that 14 percent resulted in injury, and 18 children died as a result of an overdose or over-sedating. Most parents stick to over the counter cold medicines like Nyquil, but others use illicit substances like pain killers and other street drugs. It certainly is no way to calm your kid down and help him go to bed.
“Anytime you’re giving a medication for any other purpose other than for what it’s explicitly prescribed for, you run the risk of harming your child,” Yin said.
The study conclusively shows that you should not medicate your child for purposes other than what the medication is intended for.