My 17 month old daughter, myself, and my boyfriend all have come down with something over the Thanksgiving weekend. My daughter and I have a cough and a fever and runny noses. My boyfriend and I both have sore throats. My daughter has a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon but I was trying to bring her fever down so I gave her some infant tylonol. On the side it says that it expires in November of 2009 so this month. Is infant tylonol still good after the exp. date? The same goes with cough drops. I was trying one this evening in hopes of soothing my throat and it says that they expire in May of 2009. Are they still any good? What medications do I need to keep in the medicine cabnit for my family?
My understanding is the effectiveness just stats to decrease a little over time. I wouldn't worry, just get some new when you get the chance and use waht you have untill then. Good luck to you and I hopr that you all start to feel better soon.
C.
Actually, fevers are the bodies way of burning out the invading germs. Most doctors say not to bring the child in or give them anything to try to reduce it unless it goes above 102- 103 degrees f. I make sure that my kids stay well hydrated, that is a cup of water an hour, and that is pretty much the only thing to worry about.
As for your sore throat, the cough drops are probably fine, but you could also drink a cup of warm water with a tbsp apple cider vinegar and tbsp honey.
I cannot recommend highly enough the Herbs for Kids class on Dec 9 here: http://www.inspiredabq.com
You will find out how to stock your herbal medicine cabinet with remedies that are effective and SAFE. This class gave me a lot of confidence in treating my kids. Don't forget that illness is necessary for our kids as they grow and their immune systems are built. So half of the battle as a parent is knowing when to worry and she definitely goes over that in the class! It's a truly wonderful class and they offer it quarterly.
The medications should still be good. They usually start losing their strength after the expiration date but they will still work. Do not increase the dosage though... that is a big no no that some people do when they hear that the expiration date means that strength of medicine happens.
Good luck for you family that they can come through whatever illness is attacking.
Feel free to contact me if you would like.
All that happens to medication when it reaches its expiration date is that it loses a little bit of its effectiveness. In other words, it may not be as strong. Perfectly fine to use the Tylenol that expires this month.
This is NOT true for prescription meds, however, so be careful with those once expired!
Feel better!
Tylenol does break down after a while. I would buy new meds if I were you. I learned in college that Tylenol breaks down into something not so good.
