5 Best Cold Medicine for Babies and Kids – The Ultimate Guide in 2022
It takes up to 10 days for a cold to go away. But that’s a very long time until your little one can feel their normal self again.
Immediately your child shows signs of a cold, it’s best to act as fast as possible to help them get better.
Reaching out to the best cold medicine for babies can be quite a relief. And it’s – somewhat – a first-hand approach to managing a kid’s cold before seeing a physician.
Keep in mind that medication for treating a cold can be effective for your baby only if properly chosen. That means strictly sticking to cough medication recommended for babies and kids, not any cold medicine sold over-the-counter.
Of course, non-drug treatments like having your child drink warm water can help a great deal to soothe the cold. But they don’t offer quick relief like the following cold and flu medications.
In Summary: Best Cold Medicine for Babies and Kids
Maty’s All Natural Baby Chest Rub is packed with pure, organic ingredients safe for babies 3 months and older. The natural ingredients not only soothe baby’s cold and congestion, but also help them to have peaceful night sleep. You’ll love the chamomile, eucalyptus, and lavender that work together to calm and soothe cold and stuffy congestion.
The natural cold relief by Hyland’s Baby threw the brand into a limelight a long time ago. Today, Hyland’s Baby Tiny Cold Tablets help to relieve running nose and sneezing caused by common colds. What you will love about these tablets is their natural active ingredients, because they are safer for babies 6 months and older.
From soothing runny nose to reducing nasal congestion, Boiron Coldcalm Baby helps to make your child feel themselves again in the shortest amount of time. The only problem with Boiron is that it offers only temporary relief, hence no long-term effect. It is strictly for kids 6 month and older.
Zarbee’s Naturals Children’s Cough Syrup is medication that tastes great. It doesn’t have any chemical ingredients, making it a useful solution for baby and toddler cough. What you’ll love about this syrup is its almost instant relief that helps babies to feel more comfortable. Also, it works well for asthmatic kids that have cold.
Cold and congestion can make your baby’s nights the worst times on God’s green earth. But Hyland’s Baby Night Time Tiny Cold Tablets can give them the relief they need for a more comfortable night sleep. Because it is an all-natural cold reliever, this medication is suitable for babies 6 months and older.
The Benefits of the Best Cold Medicines for Babies
Cold and sore medicines for babies and kids aren’t equal. While the primary goal is to relieve cold and make your bundle of joy feel well again, how long a medication can be effective will vary from brand to brand. Some temporarily relieve runny nose and nasal congestion. Some offer long-term effect. With that said, the following are additional benefits of these medicines.
1. They Contain Natural Ingredients
If it is pure and packed with organic ingredients, then it is safe medication for your child. Cough and cold medicine recommended for kids in this guide are all organic, with no traces of chemical additives. Maty’s Chest Rub is a good example of a cold medication that’s safe and all-natural, making it suitable for babies aged 3 months and older.
2. They Work Well, Day and Night
A child’s cough is often as bad during the day as it is during the night. And so the best relief would be cold medicine that can work for them both day and night. At their best, babies’ cold medicine can be useful in three ways. Some work well during the day. Some suppress cold during nighttime. And others work quite well during both day and nighttime.
Those that work both day and night are the best to go for. During the day, these medicines will help your child to get enough sleep and feel more comfortable during their active moments. During the night, the medications will help them to sleep peaceful until the morning.
3. They Work Well, All the Time
The biggest merit of the best cough medicine for kids is their long-term effectiveness. Each recommendation on our list has been confirmed to work by hundreds of loving parents that can’t wait ten days for their babies’ cold to naturally subside. You, too, can use them as first aid to reliving a baby’s cold before paying your doctor a visit.
Best Cold Medicine for Kids and Babies 2020
1. Maty’s All Natural Baby Chest Rub
Of course, common cold will come and go on its own.
However, it is wisdom to invest in cold medicines that can relieve your kid’s cold, and fast.
Maty’s All Natural Baby Chest Rub is a perfect choice, and for good reasons.
It is a vegan medicine with no single trace of harmful chemicals like petroleum, hydrogenated oils and menthol.
It uses diluted essential oils to sooth sinus and nasal congestion and helps your baby to have a peaceful night rest.
The combination of coconut and castor oils with lavender, dill weed, chamomile and coriander essential oils makes Maty’s All Natural Baby Chest Rub a perfect medication for boosting your young one’s immune system, while helping them feel their normal self again.
Unlike many homeopathic remedies, this treatment doesn’t have any side effect.
As it sooths your baby’s cold, it also helps to enhance the circulation of blood in the body, while providing antioxidant and antiseptic effect.
Thanks to additional ingredients like peppermint, pine, cedar, and wintergreen, this medication can open nasal passages and ease stuffy noses fast.
2. Hyland’s Baby Tiny Cold Tablets
It is perhaps the most rigorously accused and positively approved cold medication out there, with so many helpful reviews showing that it’s a product parents can trust to give their babies quick relief from common cold.
Hyland’s Baby Tiny Cold Tablets are good for that nasty cold that makes your little one uncomfortable all day. These tablets are dubbed pushy, because they shoo away running nose, common cold, and congestion easily just like you would expect.
Since Hyland’s Baby Tiny Cold Tablets fall right in the list of cold medications with no artificial anything, the temptation of using it on any baby is highly likely. As good as these tablets are in getting rid of the cold germs, they aren’t good for babies under 6 months.
It is best to seek medical advice if you have a baby younger than 6 months. But once your baby is 6 months or older, you can use the tablets as instructed on the box.
3. Boiron Coldcalm Baby Relief Drops for Cold
But Boiron Coldcalm Baby Relief Drops for Cold can give them a quick relief from nasal congestion, constant sneezing, and runny nose.
Although these soothing drops have a good taste, they only offer temporary relief, which means their effects are short-lived.
As much as Boiron Coldcalm Baby Relief Drops relieve cold only temporarily, they contain no flavors, sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, lactose, or dyes, making them suitable for babies 6 months and older.
Some cold medicines for small children have severe side effects, including sleeplessness and drowsiness. Boiron Coldcalm Drops have no such side effects whatsoever.
To get the most out of these tablets, make sure to squeeze the whole content into your baby’s mouth.
Also, Boiron recommends administering one liquid unit-dose at least 3 to 6 times a day for more effectiveness.
4. Zarbee’s Naturals Children’s Cough Syrup
The syrup isn’t just free of gluten, artificial flavor, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners; it also has a natural, grape-like taste that isn’t really that bad for your young one.
In addition, the honey blend formula and organic ivy leaf extract thin and loosen mucus, making it easy for your baby to breath.
That’s not all.
Zarbee’s Natural cough medicine for kids also has zinc and vitamin C, which helps to boost your baby’s immune system.
As much as Zarbee’s Naturals Children’s Cough Syrup contains natural ingredients, this medication is not for babies under 12 months of age. It is suitable only for babies aged between 12 months and 5 years.
Before administering this to your kid, make sure to shake it well. To ensure your little one gets the most out of this medication, have them take it every 4 hours.
5. Hyland’s Baby Night Time Tiny Cold Tablets
Out of stock
Hyland’s Baby believes that a night with a cold, headache, sneezing, chest congestion, or runny nose is something a parent doesn’t want for their bouncing baby.
And there is not a better way to make a child feel their normal self at night than with Hyland’s Baby Night Time Cold Tablets.
These cold tablets help to ease the discomfort of night time cold, and therefore helps your baby to get the best good night sleep that they can possibly get. And if your baby can sleep until the morning, you too can have the much-needed rest, with an assurance that your baby is fine.
What you will love about these cold tablets is the fact that they are natural. The package does not contain artificial flavors, parabens, ibuprofen, dyes, or acetaminophen. The nature of the tablets, therefore, makes them safe for babies 6 months and older. For children under 6 months of age, Hyland recommends seeking medical assistance before administering these tablets.
COMMON COLDS IN CHILDREN – AND HOW TO MANAGE IT
Few illnesses are more common than a cold. It can affect people of all ages, but infants and children usually get colds more often than adults. However, there are steps you can take to make them more comfortable if you notice cold or flu symptoms. They will usually have an average of 5 to 10 colds a year, with symptoms lasting about 10 days.
Fortunately, coughs and colds in children are rarely severe, and most colds improve on their own without treatment.
What causes colds? There are many causes and contributing factors such as:
Virus.
There are more than 100 varieties. The most common is the rhinovirus.40
Direct transmission.
Cold viruses stay active on the hands of a person with a cold for about three hours. If they touch another person and the other then touches their own eyes, nose or mouth, the cold virus spreads39.
Indirect transmission.
Some cold viruses can live on surfaces such as countertops and doorknobs for up to two to three hours.40,42
Inhale virus particles.
Viruses can be exhaled into the air by the infected person by coughing or sneezing, and then inhaled by another person.39
The best way to avoid catching a cold is to wash your hands frequently. It is also a good idea to keep children away from sick people and to wipe down household surfaces and toys with disinfectants.
Tips for managing a cold
When your child has cold symptoms, making them feel better is your top priority. Here are four ways that can help you:
- Inhale the steam from the shower. 41
- Try saline drops (nasal drops of salt water) or a nasal spray (followed by bulb suction for infants) to facilitate breathing43.
- Make sure they drink plenty of fluids and get enough sleep.
- Give them soup – research has shown that it can help the inflammation seen in cold infections and temporarily clear the nasal passages41,43.
Cough and cold medicines and certain flu treatments should not be given to children under the age of six.
When to call the doctor
If your child has any of the following symptoms, you should seek the advice of your doctor: 44,45
- Refuses to drink water or other liquids
- Vomits frequently
- Complains of severe headache or earache
- Has difficulty breathing
- Has a persistent cough
- Spits out rusty or bloodstained phlegm
- At a temperature above 38.5 ° C
- Does not show any improvement in 48 hours.
- Has muscle pain
- Has a rash
- Eye pain when looking at the light
In most cases, with a little loving care and a lot of tissue, the common cold in children will go away on its own.
Buying Guide – How To Choose Best Cold Medicine for Babies?
Brightly colored products are abundant in the cold and flu aisles of your local drugstore. You can even find a section dedicated to children’s medicine.
These guidelines will help you choose a formula that will make your child feel happier and faster.
1. Pay attention to labels
Pay attention to the age information. Pay attention to the ingredients list. If a child is under 19 and has a fever, do not give it aspirin. Aspirin consumption by children during this time can lead to Reye syndrome, a serious brain and liver condition.
2. Treat Young Children Cautiously
Experts, including those from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), advise against giving cold or cough medications to children under 4. Your child should be between the ages 4 and 6. These medications won’t work and may have side effects that are harmful for children between the ages of 4 and 6.
3. Take extra care with infants
Although manufacturers no longer sell infant cold and cough products, there are still things you can do to make sure your little patients feel better. Children younger than 12 months can be given ibuprofen or acetaminophen to ease fevers and relieve aches and discomforts. Home remedies such as humidifiers and rest may be helpful, along with a rubber bulb to remove mucus from small nostrils.
4. Keep it simple
A variety of symptoms can be treated with medicines, including a runny nose, cough, sore throat, and fever. Choose a product that only treats the symptoms of your child, especially if they are older. If your child has a mild case of the sniffles, you shouldn’t purchase a combination product for both cold and cough. You can avoid potential side effects. You should also check the product labels for Acetaminophen. This common pain reliever can be toxic to your liver if it is used excessively.
Avoid using any medication that causes drowsiness unless your child has a serious respiratory condition. Consult your pediatrician to discuss other options for getting a restful night.
5. Know when to seek further treatment
The over-the-counter medications don’t cure the flu or cold; they only relieve symptoms. Your health care provider should be contacted if your child feels worse or doesn’t feel better within a week. Your child’s health care provider will examine your child for any infections or other illnesses that might require additional treatment such as antibiotic or prescription antiviral medication.
If your child has a reaction to over-the-counter medication, discontinue giving them and contact the pediatrician immediately. These symptoms are known as an allergic reaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the best time to give a child cold or cough medicine?
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has only approved over-the-counter cough and cold medicines for children under 4 years of age. This approval must be obtained from your pediatrician. The AAP recommends that children wait until they turn 6 years old to receive cold medications. Again, this should be done with your doctor’s approval.
Research shows that cold medicine purchased at the drugstore does not work better than placebo in controlling symptoms in infants and toddlers. It can also be dangerous because there are no dosing guidelines and the risk of toxic effects.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the AAP have found that over-the-counter cold and cough medicines can lead to hospitalizations and even death in infants and toddlers. This is especially true if the meds are nasal decongestant pseudoephedrine.
It is best to avoid all of these until your child gets older. Remember to not use any cold or allergy medication to help your child sleep on planes, car trips, or anywhere else.
2. How to treat a runny nose?
You might consider an anticholinergic spray. The anticholinergic spray Atrovent contains ipratropium bromide, which is an anticholinergic. It can dry out a runny nose and is recommended for allergy sufferers.
It’s unclear if oral antihistamines like diphenhydramine (brompheniramine), doxylamine, doxylamine, and chlorpheniramine dry out a runny nose due to colds. They may be able to make it easier to fall asleep by counteracting the stimulant effects of decongestants.
Side effects include dry eyes, dry mouth, and daytime sleepiness. These effects can be found in many night-time products. Make sure to check the label. Avoid using these products if you have narrow-angle glaucoma, or an enlarged prostate.
3. What are the signs of common cold and cough?
The common cold (or cold) is a viral infection in the upper respiratory tract that is usually self-limiting. Common symptoms include nasal congestion, sore throat, dry cough, and cough. You may notice a decrease in appetite, headache, fatigue, and fever in your child. The symptoms of a cold usually resolve on their own within 7-10 days. If symptoms persist or get worse, consult your doctor.
4. How to Safely Use Cold Meds
First, do not ask your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic. These drugs are for bacterial infections only, and not for viral infections such as a cold. These drugs will not help, but can unnecessarily put your child at risk for side effects such as diarrhea and nausea. Overuse of antibiotics can lead to “superbugs”, bacteria that is resistant to multiple types of antibiotics.
You should also avoid any prescription or OTC cold medicine that contains codeine or tramadol. Both drugs were linked to serious breathing problems in children, according to the FDA.
These precautions should be taken when you give any other fever or cold meds to children.
Acetaminophen is the best option for fever. Tylenol, along with many other products, contains acetaminophen. This drug is safer than some alternatives such as ibuprofen (Advil, generics), or naproxen, (Aleve, generics). Aspirin should be avoided in infants, and used with caution in children under the age of 12 because it can cause a rare, but severe disorder called Reye’s syndrome.
Use nasal decongestant sprays briefly. Nasal sprays, including oxymetazoline, can be helpful for children aged 6 and above. They should only be used for three days. Congestion can worsen if it is continued for a prolonged period.
Make sure to check for age restrictions. H. Shonna Yin is an associate professor at NYU Langone Health and a professor of pediatrics. She is currently conducting FDA-funded research to improve the labeling and packaging OTC cough and cold medicines for children. A cough medicine label might indicate that it is not suitable for children younger than 4 years old. Some antihistamines, however, are not recommended for children below 6 years of age unless prescribed by a doctor.
It is important to ensure that the medications do not overlap. You could accidentally give your child two doses of acetaminophen if you are giving it to a fever-stricken child and then also giving them acetaminophen for a cough. Make sure to read all labels.
Choose single-ingredient products. OTC cold medications often contain multiple ingredients that treat multiple symptoms simultaneously. This can increase the chance of side effects. Choose products that focus on your child’s symptoms such as fever, runny or cough.
Learn how to dosing instructions. OTC cold and cough medicines for children have a chart that shows different levels of dosing according to age. The appropriate dose is determined based on your child’s age. Acetaminophen and ibuprofen labels often list the doses based on weight and age. Yin suggests that you choose the weight if given the option.
Always use the supplied dosing device for liquids. Kitchen spoons cannot be used to measure medication. Make sure to read all instructions on the medicine and use the dosing cup, syringe or dropper provided with it. Prescription drugs may not come with a dosing device. Ask your pharmacist for the correct dosing device for your medication if that happens.
Keep your medicines high up and out of reach. Children find a way into medicines and end up in the emergency department. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in seven children end up in the emergency room before the age of five. This is because they get into medicine without an adult’s permission.
Ask questions if you are unsure. If you are unsure about any medication, consult your pharmacist or healthcare provider.
5. How to Treat a Cold or Cough
Drink plenty of fluids for your child, including water, broths, and chicken soup. Avoid sugary drinks like sports drinks and fruit juice.
Mix 1 to 2 teaspoons honey with warm lemon water for cough. Children younger than one year old should not be given honey.
You should ensure that your child gets enough sleep.
To relieve congestion, use a saline spray on the nasal and a bulb needle to assist you in eating or sleeping.
Cool mist humidifiers should be used in the child’s bedroom. Avoid using a warm humidifier in your child’s room. It can cause burns.
To soothe sore throats, older children can use non-medicated lozenges and hard candy to help.
6. When should you call the doctor?
Your doctor should be consulted if your child experiences any of these symptoms: 44,45
Refuses to drink water or any other fluids
Often, vomits
Earache or intense headaches are common complaints.
Is it difficult to breathe?
A persistent cough
Sneezes blood-stained or rusty-coloured phlegm
Temperatures greater than 38.5degC
No improvement after 48 hours.
Muscular pain?
Is there a skin rash?
Is there pain in the eye looking at light?
Most children will get better with some tender love and lots of tissues.
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Conclusion
We know that when your baby is sick, you just want to make them better. And we also know that picking the right cold medicine for babies can be tough with so many choices on store shelves and online. That’s why our team put together this list of five best cold medicines for babies to help you find relief in a hurry! Our pharmacist-formulated children’s cough syrup contains only natural ingredients like honey, lemon juice, ginger root extract, echinacea purpurea extract and zinc gluconate without any artificial flavors or colors making it perfect for kids who are sensitive to dyes or preservatives (or those who don’t need an extra kick).
