Sunday, October 3, 2010

Just how many...

'spoonfuls of sugar' are in children's medicines these days?? I'm commenting off the cuff here as I haven't looked at a box to see if sugar (or something ending in -ose) is the first ingredient, but there's gotta be an addictive element in there or my kid is a hypochondriac.

I know they're sweet, because (a) kids won't take them if they taste like 'medicine'; and (b) I've tasted it. When we give it to her, some of it inevitably ends up on her face, and in order to not get it all over my shirt/her PJs/the bed/the carpet (doesn't come out, btw) I wipe it off and simply lick my fingers. Seriously, it's like Redbull with a couple packets of Splenda thrown in for good measure. Ugh, just the thought of it makes me gag.

Anyhow, a mild chest infection currently has her taking that pink stuff that smells awesome and tastes like bananas (Amoxicillin, I believe). Honestly, it's heroin for kids. (Banana's themselves would be considered 'crack for kids' at our house, so I tip my hat to you drug companies, well played.) She takes it twice daily, and literally sucks it out of the syringe-y applicator like a vacuum. I'm surprised she hasn't just asked for the bottle and a straw. After each dosage she asks for "more, please".

On top of that, for the first few days we alternated Children's Advil (grape) and Children's Tylenol (mixed berry) to bring down the crazy fever that came with the infection. These melted-down-lollipops-disguised-as-medicine go down real smooth, as well. In a perfect world, I'd be able to count these towards her daily fruit requirements. Man, the drug companies would love that. 

Needless to say, she currently has a serious itch for this sweet, syrupy stuff. So much so, that now every time something happens to her... stubs her toe, falls, gets cold, yawns, runs out of grapes, sees the bottle... she asks for some medicine. For example, after swimming this morning we were getting changed and she was cold. Through her shivering teeth comes, "H-h-h-ave me-me-medicine at home...?" Like, COME ON!

With cold & flu season upon us, I'm going to do my very best to keep her as healthy as possible. For good measure, though, I may look into buying some stock in Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.

(Aside: We prefer naturopathic remedies when suitable, but for severe cases like the chest infection and sky-high fever, we turn to the OTC and prescribed stuff.)

1 comment:

  1. I remember banana medicine. I loved that stuff when I was a kid, it was yummy!

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