Are you giving the wrong dose of liquid medicines to your kid?

If you give your kids liquid medicines using a spoon, you have to read this!

In winter or rainy season, moms need to be wary about their kid's health as they are more likely to be down with flu and fever. While giving medications to kids is not an easy task, when it comes to doling out the liquid medication, it becomes a bit tricky. And this is the time when most parents tend to give the wrong dose of the medicine. According to a 2016 study published in the journal Pediatrics [1], around 80 percent of parents made at least one dosing mistake when measuring out liquid medicine for their kids. Also read should you take medicine with cold or lukewarm water?

Where are parents going wrong with the dose of medicine?

Most of us tend to measure liquid medicine using household spoons instead of measuring cups. This is one of the main dosing mistakes that most Indian parents make. The reason being, kitchen spoons that we use tend to hold two-three times more the amount of liquid than that prescribed by a doctor. Hence, it can be stated that by doing so we are indirectly overdosing the kid. Moreover, parents also pour more amount of the liquid medicine into dosing cups even though the cups have printer marking the ml. This further increases the risk of overdosing or underdosing the kid.

How to ensure you give the right dose to your kid

The logic is simple -- ditch measuring the liquid medicine using teaspoons and tablespoons. Instead, use a syringe or a dosing cup that specifies the measurements clearly on the cup or a syringe. This not only helps you to give the right dose to your kid but also cuts down the risk of dosing mistake by a significant amount. So the next time you give your little one any liquid medicine, ensure that you use a measuring cup and not teaspoon or tablespoon. Also read is it OK to take medicines with soft drinks, coffee, milk or juices?

Reference:

1. Yin HS, Parker RM, Sanders LM, Dreyer BP, Mendelsohn AL, Bailey S, Patel DA, Jimenez JJ, Kim KA, Jacobson K, Hedlund L, Smith MC, Maness Harris L, McFadden T, Wolf MS. Liquid Medication Errors and Dosing Tools: A Randomized Controlled Experiment. Pediatrics. 2016 Oct;138(4). pii: e20160357. Epub 2016 Sep 12. PubMed PMID: 27621414; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5051204.

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