No Medication Needed for Cough and Cold in Infants and Toddlers

In October 2007, manufacturers voluntarily withdrew over-the-counter cough and cold medicines labeled for infants from the US market, amid concerns about limited evidence of efficacy and reports of harm — including infant deaths linked to overdose and misuse. A year later, the labels were revised to warn against use in children under four.

A study by CDC researchers, published in the journal Pediatrics, has now measured what happened next. Looking at emergency department visits in the 14 months before and after the 2007 withdrawal, the team found that ED visits for cough-and-cold-medication adverse events among children under two fell from an estimated 2,790 to 1,248 — more than halved.

The detail that matters most: about two-thirds of those emergency visits, both before and after the withdrawal, came from unsupervised ingestion — toddlers getting into medicines left within reach — not from parents dosing them. The lesson is as much about storage as about medication.

For parents, the guidance from pediatricians remains straightforward: for an infant's ordinary cold, fluids, rest, saline drops, and a cool-mist humidifier are the tools of the trade — not the adult cold remedies repackaged in smaller bottles. And as always with a sick infant, the pediatrician's advice comes before the pharmacy shelf.

This article is general information, not medical advice. Consult your pediatrician about any child's illness or medication.