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You said less than 2 yrs.
Pharmacist

 

Mother with little child on her shoulder

The goal is to make the child comfortable.

 

If Congested:

Content

 

Runny nose

Content

 

Cough

Content

 

Fever

Content

 

Worth doing

Content

 

Last updated by pharmacist on : 10/21/2014

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You said 2 to 4 yrs old
Pharmacist

 

Girl with allergy symptoms

The goal is to make the child comfortable.

 

If congested

Content for 2 to 4 yrs

 

Runny nose

Content for 2 to 4 yrs

 

Cough

Cough content for 2 to 4 yrs

 

Fever

Content for 2 to 4 yrs

 

Worth doing

Content for 2 to 4 yrs

 

Last updated by pharmacist on : 10/21/2014

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You said 4 to 6 yrs
Pharmacist

 

Little girl blowing her nose

The goal is to make the child comfortable.

 

If congested

4 to 6 yrs content

 

Runny nose

4 to 6 yrs

 

Fever

4 to 6 yrs

 

Worth doing

4 to 6 yrs

 

Last updated by pharmacist on : 10/21/2014

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Girl with stuffy nose

The most common symptoms of a cold are listed below. Choose what your child is experiencing and see what we recommend.


Child will need a decongestant for this stuffy nose.
Selection requires an antihistamine.
Need a pain reliever to take care of this.
Need to quiet the cough and relieve any chest congestion.
Child will need an antihistamine and a decongestant.
Selection require an antihistamine and a pain reliever.
Symptoms require an antihistamine and a Cough relief medication.
Symptoms require an antihistamine, decongestant, Cough relief relief medications.
Symptoms will require an antihistamine, decongestant and pain reliever.
Symptoms require an antihistamine, cough and pain relievers.
You must have this cold really bad.

Your best bet would be to visit the nearest urgent care clinic. If you don't think so, here is what we recommend to use over-the-counter.


Selections require a decongestant and pain relief medications
Will need a decongestant and something for cough/congestion relief.
Child will need a decongestant, pain and Cough relief medications.
Symptoms require a Cough relief and pain relief medication.
Looking for something to prevent or boost your child's resistance to the cold?

Preventive measures


Hand Washing

The best way to prevent a cold is to have your child develop the habit of constant hand washing. Hand sanitizers will do if no water is available.

Over-The-Counter Medicines

Vitamin C.

 

All the symptoms?
Your child must have this cold really bad.

Your best bet would be to visit the nearest urgent care clinic. If you don't think so, here is what we recommend to use over-the-counter.

Talk about Antihistamine, cough, decongestant and pain relief


None of these?
We must have left something out.

If you think your child has a cold:

Please go back and choose the symptom(s) that you feel closely relate to what he or she has or had and let us recommend something for you.

Remember, there is no cure for the common cold. All we can do is manage the symptoms.

 

Decongestants

1. Must start with a saline nasal spray.Girl using nasal spray Use this up to 4 times a day to clear the nose of dried mucus.

2. Add a decongestant nasal spray containing oxymetazoline HCl.  You may want to use the saline nasal spray to first wash off the flowing or caked mucus before using the decongestant nasal spray. Do not use this for more than 3 days.

3. If, after 3 days, the child is still congested, get a decongestant containing pseudoephedrine.​

Girl with nasal congestion

Ask for this behind the pharmacy counter. You will need a government issued ID. It is also available in syrup formulation. If your child can swallow pills, go with the little red pills. Stay away from the 12hr or 24 hr formulations. 

Probably better to combine saline nasal spray with pseudoephedrine. But do not combine a decongestant nasal spray with pseudoephedrine tablets or syrup.

 

Antihistamine

1. Before using an antihistamine, you must use a saline nasal spray. 

Saline spray bottle

We recommend using antihistamine at night and saline nasal sprays during the day.

Why saline nasal sprays? 

Girl using nasal spray

A runny nose is the body's way of getting rid of the cold virus. Use nasal spray a minimum of 4 times a day to speed up the process.

2. To help the child sleep at night, we recommend diphenhydramine. If all the child has is a runny nose, use only medicine containing diphenhydramine. If other symptoms like a headache, runny nose alternating with nasal congestion, then a combination product will be a good thing. 

Be sure to check out this app comparison feature for a good multi-symptom cold medicine that will work best for your child.

 

 

Pain / Fever reducer

Is Child mainly complaining of a headache?
Get Acetaminophen. Prefer this with the headache of a cold. Just make sure that if you are giving any other medicine with this, it does not contain acetaminophen. Child with a headacheThis would be a good reason to go with one single multi-symptom product. Be sure to use our child cold medications comparison table to help with this.

Is the child complaining  of sinus pain and pressure?
Go with ibuprofen or naproxen. Prefer this with a pain of inflammation. It would also help with inflammation of the nasal passages enhancing the effectiveness of decongestants.

 

 

Cough Relief

Honey:    

Before running to the drug store to a get a cough syrup, see if you have honey at home. Give 1 teaspoonful as needed for this cough. This will loosen the cough and reduce its severity at night.Child coughing

Expectorant

This will help thin the mucus making it flow again. The child will need to drink lots of water. Not only to make the medicine work better but also to make dried up mucus break up. The main expectorant over-the-counter is Guaifenesin. Know that this medicine will not work without drinking lots of water. Take this seriously.

Suppressant

Dextromethorphan is the main cough suppressant available over-the-counter. We don't usually recommend this except if the cough is due to flu symptoms. But if the child is coughing a lot at night, this may come in handy. We still prefer diphenhydramine for night time cough, however.

So if you already have a cold medicine with diphenhydramine, no need to get a cough suppressant with dextromethorphan. It is not going to make any difference.

 

 

Multi-Symptom

Should you decide to give your child a multi-symptom cold relief medication, we recommend using the comparison section of this app to compare over-the-counter children's multi-symptom cold relief medicines.

 

 

Worth doing

1. Fluids. Have child drink plenty of fluid.Girl drinking water This helps thin secretions and make things flow.

2. Invest in a humidifier. Moist air is needed to keep the nasal passages moist. Cool or warm mist? It doesn't make any difference. 

3. Is child having coughing spasms at night? Have the child take a warm shower. The warm mist should help relieve dryness of the throat reducing episodes of coughing spasm.

 

 

Last updated by pharmacist on 02/12/2016

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We can help you compare children's over the counter multi-symptom cold medications if you need help with picking a product.


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Know this about the safe and effective use of this recommendation.
Article photo

Our disclaimer

  • Recommendation is the opinion of a registered US Pharmacist currently practicing as a community pharmacist.
  • Recommendation is not an attempt to discuss all possible self care or treatment approach to this health challenge.
  • The responsibility of the recommending pharmacist is limited to this question:
    "If a patient presents with these symptoms, what will you recommend and why?"
    It is not an attempt to publish an article on the treatment of any condition. Just what would you tell a patient who present with so and so in the usual course of your practice.
  • The pharmacist image presented in this article may or may not be the actual image of the authoring pharmacist.
    Because we insist on using articles written by currently practicing community pharmacists, these pharmacists may choose to remain anonymous especially if they are employed by an employer to avoid being pressured to recommend a particular product to drive sales.
  • Please read the policies and terms of use for self-care OTC, selfcarepharmacist.com and it's affiliates by clicking on the button below.

 

 

 

 

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