Years ago, when Beverly McCullough’s daughter was a toddler and had a cough from a cold, she would give her Triaminic, an over-the-counter cough and cold medicine. It worked well, and she never experienced problems with it, she says. But with current FDA warnings about cough medicines for young children, it’s not something she gives her grandchildren.

That’s because Triaminic, along with many other cold medication manufacturers, have voluntarily changed the product labeling to state “do not use” in children under 4 years of age.

“These labeling changes are being made in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and out of an abundance of caution to help avoid unintentional consumer misuse of these products,” the Triaminic Web site states.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 7,000 children ages 11 and younger are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year because of overdoses of over-the-counter cough and cold medications. Life-threatening side effects have been reported, including convulsions, rapid heart rates and decreased levels of consciousness. The Federal Drug Administration also has concluded that they don’t work for children under 2 and are investigating their effectiveness for children ages 2 through 11.

But it’s hard to watch your child suffer with endless coughing. So what’s a parent to do?

“You can get something simple like a flavored Robitussin,” says pharmacist Rex Robinson with Rogers Pharmacy in St. Joseph. “It’s generally safe to give kids, although the effectiveness of it is disputed.”

Mucinex also makes a cough medication for children, he says. It comes in flavors like bubble gum, but that also adds to the problem.

“It’s like anything else, when you buy something over the counter, there’s a tendency to use too much of it,” Mr. Robinson says.

The answer might be a home remedy that Mrs. McCullough has found works well for children and adults: honey. In fact, the honey remedy is supported by a study by The Pediatric Adolescent Medicine (in 2007), which tested children from age 2 through 18 with a tablespoon of buckwheat honey, honey-flavored dextromethorphan (DM), a cough suppressant and no treatment for nocturnal coughs. The conclusion: “Honey may be a preferable treatment for the cough and sleep difficulty associated with childhood upper respiratory tract infection.”

Honey is not recommended for children under 1 year of age, so the FDA recommends consulting your doctor. You also should consult your doctor if the cough is persistent or caused by something other than the common cold.

Lifestyles reporter Sylvia Anderson may be reached at sylviaanderson@npgco.com