There is nothing in the Medicine Cabinet

January 18, 2008

Nothing could prepare me the night my daughter woke up at two a.m. screaming bloody murder. I read What to Expect the First Year, but everything in that book flew out of my mind when her tiny voice yelled for me.

She wasn’t running a fever, but she was congested and her nose was like a geyser ready to blow. I wiped it off, gave her some Infants Motrin and she was back to sleep in no time. It was her teeth coming in. Oh what joy those months are when sleeping becomes foreign to you as a parent.

Now at 15-months-old, she was sleeping through the night, but it seemed that she was averaging 13 hours every night. This was unusual, since she was a go to bed late, wake up early kind of girl. The first morning she woke up after 13 hours though, she was accompanied by a new geyser in her nose. Mount Geyser of Tarrah is what I call it, and this thing sprung a leak like no other. Tissues disappeared like cookies, and it was no wonder why.

But when she began coughing, was this because of phlegm due to runny nose from more teething or because our strange winter season in Binghamton, had taken a toll on her health? And to make everything worse, “FDA Warns Parents Against Using Infant Cough and Cold Medicine.” My jaw dropped when I read the CNN headline, and there was now only one thing to do... call the doctor, who told me that all I could do is use saline nasal spray and buy a humidifier.

Nothing else was recommended for my child under two, and the last thing she said was, “wait it out, it will go away and she will be fine.” I knew she would be fine. The doctor didn’t need to tell me that. She is my daughter; she is a warrior against runny noses. I just wanted her to be “fine” sooner rather than later.

“The FDA has found in rare cases cough and cold products can cause death, and serious side effects,” Reported by: Michelle Paynter. As I passed the cough, cold and runny nose medicines in Target, I said to my daughter, “I would get you some medicine to help you feel better, but I don’t want to kill you.” It is amazing how our medicine cabinets are so bare now when it comes to children. Some of us just don’t know how to deal with it.

©COPYRIGHT 2008 ASHLEY B. VINCENT