Fall in North Carolina means cute scarves and boots for me and hoodie season for my boys.
But it can also mean cold and flu season. Kids under 6 can average 6-8 colds per year and 15-42% of preschool and school age kids will get the flu.
I can remember one doctor visit when my boys were 6, 4, and 2 when they were all terribly sick and what stressed me out even more was the idea of wrestling medicine down my middle son’s throat because there was just no way he would take any of it.
The doctor solved part of the problem by giving him a shot of antibiotics instead of prescribing oral antibiotics like he did for the other two. But, all three were miserably sick and feverish and I hated that there wasn’t anything that I could do to ease his suffering.
The #1 reason children don’t take medicine is taste. We all start life with lots of taste buds, but lose up to half of them over time, which is why children experience flavors very differently from adults. And here I thought they were just picky.
But PediaCare® knows this as the brand that is 100% dedicated to kids, and as a result, specially develops its products to have a taste geared towards kids.
PediaCare® Smooth Melts™ Fever Reducer/Pain Reliever is the brand’s newest innovation. It’s another great-tasting product from PediaCare® that contains acetaminophen to help reduce your child’s fever. These chewable tablets are much easier for children to take and feature an unbeatable cherry taste kids love. They are available nationwide at Rite Aid and Amazon.com.
PediaCare® has partnered with pediatrician and father, Dr. David Hill, author of Dad to Dad: Parenting like a Pro, to develop informational videos offering tips for caregivers on what to do when their child gets sick. To view Dr. Hill’s videos, visit the PediaCare® YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/PEDIACARE.
I heard Dr. Hill speak last week and he shared some ways you can tell whether you child has a cold or the flu since it can be hard to tell. Most colds don’t cause vomiting or diarrhea, so if either or both of those are present, you’re probably dealing with more than just a cold.
And as someone who is never sure if I should rush off to the doctor or wait it out, I appreciated Dr. Hill’s advice about when to head to the doctor: if there’s wheezing present or if a fever is over 104. Though he also said that he never minds when that parental instinct tells a parent to have their child checked out. I wonder if he’d have said that if he knew that I live close enough that I could actually show up at his office with my three boys in tow…
His tips for cutting down on illnesses during the cold and flu season include using hand sanitizer, having tissues readily available, teaching kids to cough/sneeze into the crook of their elbow instead of their hands, and getting enough Vitamin D(at least 200 units. I just checked and the gummy vitamins my kids take have 400).
I’m hoping for a mild cold and flu season in my house because my boys do much better when they can be off and running around!
Pediacare Giveaway
15 winners will be selected to receive a PediaCare® care package that will include assorted PediaCare® products and a book (ARV $75). Enter in the Rafflecopter widget below.
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How do you keep your kids healthy during cold and flu season?
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of PediaCare®. For more information about PediaCare and the full line of products, please visit pediacare.com, or join us on Facebook at Facebook.com/PediaCare and on Twitter at @PediaCare
We wash our hands A LOT. I also work hard to make sure that my kids get as much sleep as possible…not that it’s easy.
As much as I hope they don’t get sick enough to need PediaCare or any other medicine this winter, my boys have gotten much better with taking meds.
That’s so interesting and cool about our taste buds. Fun Trivia.
my one child is ill every so often no matter what we do so a medicine that tastes nice would be great xx
Cold and flu season is tough on little ones’ immune systems! Glad Pediacare is there for your family
This reminded me that I never rescheduled Jack’s flu shot. He likes the bubble gum flavor of OTC meds so I’m pretty lucky in that.
Quick melting tabs like that are GENIUS for kids. I wish they had this when I had to take medicine as a kid!
My little girl spits out and/or vomits every medicine except Pediacare!
My son complains about the taste of medicine a lot. This looks like a great solution!
Cold and flu season is always hard on our family. I’m glad there’s things out there specifically for kids.
All of my boys gave me a really hard time when it came to taking their meds. Luckily they are older and know it’s important and take it whether they like it or not. This is the brand we use.
Cold and Flu season is always terrible around here. Kiddo brings the germs home from school and hubs brings the germs home from the hospital. Since I work from home and don’t get much contact, my immune system is built up the way it used to be. I take a lot of vitamins , supplements and use essential oils to help keep me cold-free and healthy.
Something like this would have been great for my daughter when she got sick and was younger, she hated taking medicine! Thankfully, she didn’t get sick very often.
Ugghh I can’t stand cold and flu season. My son has a pretty strong immune system but my 3 nieces get sick a lot. OTC meds are the go to if it isn’t something serious.
So not looking forward to cold season. And whatever the new virus is that is going around. Makes me want to keep my kids home.
Not looking forward to cold season! These tips will help for sure though!
I have two boys and I’d hate for both of them to be sick at the same time. That might be this year because my youngest isn’t nursing anymore. I might need to WIN the giveaway because I’m sure I need the products this year.
Just hate when kids are sick. Most will spit out meds that taste awful.
It’s always good to have on hand. My son is in daycare so it’s important!
Fingers Crossed – it hasn’t hit my house YET but I know that it will. It’s inevitable. Thanks for the tips!
My son has recently had his first cold of the season poor little guy! He started coughing a few days ago and it was horrible for the both of us! We were up all night last night because the OTC meds we had gotten wasn’t working! I went to to the store today to get something that hopefully will work now!
I hate cold and flu season. I always make sure my kids wash their hands. Eventhough they are teens, I am always reminding them, especially after they were at school or shopping.
See, I dint like that kids meds are too candy like in taste. I think they should be somewhere in the middle. Not too tasty but not horrific. My kids will pretend they are sick to try to get meds…not good!
I have given my kids an over the counter medicine that said it would relieve cough an ti did not so I would love to have something that did what it said!
We haven’t had a bad experience with OTC meds for the kids. Right now we have a bottle of cough syrup, and it’s working fine. 🙂 I’m entered for this giveaway. Thank you for hosting.
We love this. We try and prevent colds washing our hands and bundling up.
I certainly know how that goes! my middle child hates medicine as well. I’ll have to try this out.
Luckily Jake doesn’t get sick all that often aside from his allergies and asthma. It’s good there are quality OTC products out there though.
I’ve not seen this product yet! Thank you for sharing. I am always looking for new ways to keep the boys healthy.
What a great share!!! My boys are always catching something especially my little at preschool.
We pump up on lots of vitamins and supplements as soon as fall hits, since we have a large family. If one gets sick… it takes forever to get through all of us.
With the way most OTC medicines take, my little girl will hide so she doesn’t have to take them. Even grape Tylenol isn’t nasty, I tried it to prove my point to her. If it doesn’t taste good, they won’t take it!
We have not had any bad experiences yet with OTC children’s medicine, they don’t like to take it but they do cause they want to get better.
I have had a bone marrow transplant and our little one (7) brings home many colds from school. Her daddy spent more money on the last cold just so she would like the taste, but NO! she didn’t. I was put on antibiotics and steroids from her “sharing” her cold with me. I have 30% lung capacity due to gvhd of the lungs. Ugh. But, anyway, I would love to get something she would like. When she was a baby and get ear infections, we would have to wrap her in a towel, plug her nose so she would open her mouth, then squeeze some of the medicine down her mouth/throat. She was an expert at spitting it out! Now, I just hate having to tell her “you are a big girl. swallow it!”