wow interesting range of replies, thanks everyone!

Schmickers - thanks for clarifying regarding which meds, you're quite right that I mean specifically cold & cough meds. In terms of antihistamines, with my DS's allergies, our GP and pharmacist wouldn't give us anything when DS first had full-body hives, but our allergy specialist has allowed him to have an antihistamine since the age of 10 months. So it seems that if your requirement is considered severe enough, and you're prepared to monitor them - meds will be given at a younger age.

So saying, I'm digressing as I'm really interested in the cold stuff. For those who weren't aware, the recommendations on the cold & cough meds have been changed within the last year or so. Having checked a few pharmacies and googled, as far as I'm aware, ALL of these products are now removed for under 2's (same in NZ too). So things like Dimetapp for infants and Demazin infant drops do not seem to exist anymore. Interestingly the UK and Canada have even go so far as to make all these products unavailable for under 6's. The listed reasons are as follows:

  • Very limited evidence for efficacy of these products in children under two years of age.
  • An absence of evidence-based dosage advice for the use of cough and cold medicines in children aged less than two years.
  • Evidence of harm in therapeutic use in this age group.
  • Evidence of significant toxicity, including death, in overdose in this age group.
I actually thought it was interesting that it doesn't directly mention SIDS, but I wonder if that's part of the consideration.

I think watching your child struggling to breathe and sleep is horrible, I know for our DS this is the worst he's ever been (and yes he's been checked out by a dr). But then when I weighed up whether to give it, for me it was about "what if". If he reacted badly, I couldn't forgive myself for going against the guidelines. So saying, I think if he doesn't improve, I'll go back to the dr and say is this an option. Good to know that's a possible avenue.