Having a sick child who needs medication is something every parent has to face. To ensure the health of your child, it is important to avoid these 4 common mistakes when giving your child medicine. Let’s find out and take note right away!
1 Using an old prescription
Using an old prescription
Usually, many parents keep old prescriptions to use in case their child gets a similar illness. This is a very common practice that poses many risks to the child’s health.
Each prescription is tailored to the specific condition of the child and it is only valid for a limited time, it cannot be applied to all cases. Reusing an old prescription when the child has a recurrence of the illness can prevent the child from getting better, and even lead to complications due to improper medication.
2 Giving your child someone else’s prescription
Giving your child someone else’s prescription
In reality, some parents ask for a prescription from someone who has a similar illness, thinking that the same prescription will work for their child.
However, each prescription is specifically tailored to each patient based on their actual condition, potential allergies, age, etc. Using a prescription that is not directly prescribed by a doctor can make the treatment process difficult and ineffective.
Allowing a child to use someone else’s prescription without understanding how to use it properly can make the child resistant to the medication, worsen their condition, and even pose risks to their overall health and life.
3 Overdosing or underdosing
Overdosing or underdosing
One of the most common mistakes parents make is giving their child an extra dose or reducing the dosage of medication on their own. The reasons for this are thinking that increasing the dosage will speed up the recovery, finding it difficult to administer the medication to the child, etc.
Regardless of the reason, it is absolutely not allowed for parents to adjust the dosage of medication for their child. When sick, the child needs to take the medication according to the prescribed dosage to ensure effective recovery and their health and safety.
In addition, parents should also pay attention to the follow-up appointment for the child after finishing a course of medication to understand the child’s condition and determine the appropriate treatment.
4 Not completing the course
Not completing the course
Most parents stop giving their child the medication when they see a significant improvement in the child’s condition, even if the child has not completed the prescribed course. This is a very serious mistake. Nowadays, most medications need to be used continuously for the specified number of days in the prescription. Suddenly stopping the medication can lead to antibiotic resistance – the main cause of prolonged, recurring, or worsened illness.
In some cases, the child may have to be treated with stronger antibiotics, which come with more side effects and pose a greater risk to their health compared to the initial medication.
Above are the 4 mistakes when giving medicine to children that we want to share with parents. Take note and make changes immediately if you are making any of these mistakes!
Source: Trí Thức Trẻ – Báo Tổ Quốc.
