Winter means cold and flu, and may have people racing to buy the usual assortment of ointments and treatments.
However, this may not be as helpful as tried-and-tested methods, and could be harmful.
Over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicines come packed with ingredients, some of which, like paracetamol, you may already be giving to your child. This runs the risk of overdosing.
Meanwhile, there is little evidence to show what these medicines do any good over the long term.
Parents will do just as well if they rely on more traditional ways of dealing with colds, like ‘honey and lemon, rest, and lots of fluids’, according to Dr Ollie Bevington.
In an article for The Hippocratic Post, Dr Bevington of Southampton Children’s Hospital in the UK details the current thinking around seasonal respiratory illnesses in children.
He outlines his case below.
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