I OVERDOSED MY KIDS....

(I rarely admit I'm wrong, but this is something I *know* other people are doing, so I wanted to share to ensure that others knew about it!)

Up until a few months ago, I've only given my kids Ibuprofen, Tylenol, or Benadryl...all doses given to us by our Pediatrician. I then read on here from various posters about the Dr. Sears website & bookmarked it for future reference. Of course, now I deleted it & can't link you to it, but it was the cold & cough medication guide on the Ask Dr Sears website.

Anyways, since most meds are not recommended for kids under 4-6, I used that website to buy Delsym for our kids when they got sick this week. Even though I'm a nurse, I naively assumed the dosing guide on there to be true & didn't consult my Pediatrician. Whoops. I followed the dosing guide & gave them doses once or twice a day, as the internet stated (the bottle said to consult a physician for use under 4).

So, I had to take Aiden in this weekend for his cough & told the Ped I had been given Delsym. Apparently I was giving THREE TIMES THE AMOUNT he was SUPPOSED to have! I got scolded by the Ped (rightfully so) & we had to call Poison Control (who also scolded me) to make sure I didn't do anything detrimental (after using it on BOTH kids for about 4 days). Thankfully it was just on the VERY high end of dosing & no where near a toxic dose, but needless to say, I deleted the website.

For those of you who have used the Dr Sears website, PLEASE be sure to consult your Pediatrician before administering any medications to your kids. It's something I KNEW, but I still had to learn the hard way to be careful.

And, seeing as the Delsym dose that was 3x too high didn't work, I threw it out anyway...I'm much too freaked out now to use anything NOT given to me by our Pediatrician!

Just a word of warning....

 

Wow, that's scary!

Have you written anything to the website? I'm sure they'd appreciate the feedback. It might be just a typo, and they'd probably be very grateful for the heads up.

 

I would definitely notify the website! There's probably alot of other people out there doing the same thing you were doing and not knowing any better. That's definitely scary. Thanks for sharing!

 

The dosing info on Dr. Sears is the same as on the bottle for ages of 4 and up, which is 1/2 tsp every 12 hours. We've always used Delsym following the dosing on the bottle and have never had any issues.

 

I also found a Children's hospital that lists dosages for Delsym, an they have 2-5 yrs olds as 1/2 tsp.

 

Yes, the websites state the same dose, but if you actually break it down according to WEIGHT vs AGE, the dose was WAY too high for my kids (who are 30 & 34 lbs). Most kids under the age of 4 should have their meds dosed by weight vs age because they're more precise. So, while the dose I gave (the 1/2 tsp...15mg) was a 'high' dose, it wasn't toxic or anything. Our clinic & Poison Control BOTH stated he should have received 5mg. Another website I found on Dextromethorphan (the drug that Delsym is) stated that 15mg is the daily dose, but in 3-4 doses (equally around 5mg each). So, I think there is some discrepancy on the actual drug dosage...but I agree in going by weight & thus feel I 'overdosed' my child. But, it's 100% MY fault for going off an internet site & not consulting my own doctor. Although, I'm sure doctors disagree on doses, too....ah, the joys of medicating children !

ETA: I looked at that Children's Hospital site & it states that the dose should be 7.5mg for a 33lb child, yet in the 2-5 age range, it's dosing 15mg. There is a huge weight difference between 2 & 5 year olds, so I'm surprised they can lump those together. A 2 year old closer to 22 lbs could be dosed at 5mg, yet in the 2-5 category getting 3x that. Just a prime example in the differences of weight vs age. However, I am confused because it's stating that Delsym is different than the top Dextromethorphan, when they're both the same drug (if you read the bottom comments). I wonder why that is. I think Delsym is more extended release vs the others, so maybe that's why. Who knows !

 

Thanks for the heads-up!! I know I've done that(and agree-it didn't even work!). My only thing about contacting the pedi first is-they will tell me to give them NOTHING. It's what they always say. That part aggravates me because there has to be SOMETHING out there that can alleviate the symptoms.

That said-my kids have RARELY needed anything for an illness. They've mostly have only had motrin/tylenol when teething and fevers. That's it. Colds-nothing. But there was ONE time where it was just AWFUL, and they needed something...(in all actuality, it ended up being an ear infection for one, and croup for the other two).

 

Ditto. Our ped is big on pain meds (Motrin, etc.) but will always say no cold meds of any kind under age 5. (This is the same ped who said no peanut butter until age 3.) I didn't do any until age 3, but since then I've been giving them Delsym and Benadryl according to the directions on the bottle. I know about the dangers of overdosing and I can read labels -- I'm not going to combine meds and accidentally overdose them on tylenol or antihistamines.

(FWIW, Delsym does seem to make a difference for us, but it's the only cough medicine that ever has.)

I refer to Dr. Sears fairly often for dosing for things like Motrin, where the bottle always gives the low dose for a given age range but I know it's OK for them to have slightly more according to their weight.

 

I give Delsym to my kids too, as a matter of fact I just gave Sarah some the other day because of her uncontrollable coughing. But I rarely give them meds and am super cautious about making sure that they only get it when the time is up. I know my family doctor said to always go less than what it says on the packaging that way if they happen to need it sooner, then I can give them more without over doing it. However, according to this post, even when I go less I'm still giving them too much.