Afrin ?

MommyMich

Has anyone ever used Afrin nasal spray on their LO?  My DS had his adenoids removed about two and a half weeks ago and he is having really bad congestion at night.  I called the ENT doctor that did the surgery and he said to use Afrin four or five times a day for four to five days... but I have heard some bad things about Afrin.  I had a pharmacist tell me that she would NEVER use it on a child as young as my son and that it can cause permanent damage to the sinus cavities.  I then asked my pediatrician about it and she said that yes it can be bad, but using it for a few days should be fine... I really want him to get some relief at night, but I'm nervous about using Afrin... TIA.

mrsjami

In adults, they say not to use it longer than 3 days or you can get a re-infection. How about using just a saline spray like little noses? You can use this as much as you want as it's non-medicated.

MommyMich

We use little noses daily... it isn't helping.  He is suffering more from swelling than from snot (sorry to be blunt) and the saline doesn't help with that.  They are telling me that the Afrin will.

weelass24

I would never use Afrin. Period.  Do you have any idea how terrible that stuff is for adults?  Or how addiciting it is?   I wouldn;t use it myself, much less on a child.

 

mrsjami

weelass24:

I would never use Afrin. Period.  Do you have any idea how terrible that stuff is for adults?  Or how addiciting it is?   I wouldn;t use it myself, much less on a child.

 

If used as directed, it's effective. Please tell me how it is terrible?

MommyMich

mrsjami:

weelass24:

I would never use Afrin. Period.  Do you have any idea how terrible that stuff is for adults?  Or how addiciting it is?   I wouldn;t use it myself, much less on a child.

 

If used as directed, it's effective. Please tell me how it is terrible?

 

Yes, please inform me as well.  Obviously I don't know or I wouldn't be asking...

weelass24

mrsjami:

weelass24:

I would never use Afrin. Period.  Do you have any idea how terrible that stuff is for adults?  Or how addiciting it is?   I wouldn;t use it myself, much less on a child.

 

If used as directed, it's effective. Please tell me how it is terrible?

Have you never heard that it is addictive?  There are a lot of things out there that are effective, but that doesn't it a good idea to use them

I found this online and this is in the adult directions:

Never use this medication in larger doses or more often than is recommended. Too much oxymetazoline nasal could be very harmful. Oxymetazoline nasal should not be used more often than twice a day (every 12 hours).

Do not use oxymetazoline nasal for longer than 3 to 5 days. Longer use could cause damage to your nasal tissue and lead to chronic congestion. If your symptoms do not improve, see your doctor.

https://www.drugs.com/mtm/afrin.html

Plus, she had already been told by a phamacist, who deals with drugs for a living and is most likely a better judge than a peditrician for OTC stuff, not to use it on a child.  Most OTC drugs now are very clear that they should not be used by children under the age of 4.  The actual Afrin directions only have instuctions for those over the age of 6.  If you read the instructions on how to use it as directed, do you think a child under the age of 2 could do it?

To apply the nasal spray, keep your head upright, spray, then sniff hard for a few minutes after administering a dose.

To apply the nasal drops, lie on a bed on your back with your head hanging over the edge. Insert the drops and remain in this position for several minutes. Gently turn your head from side to side.

 

weelass24

I forgot about the side effects.  In a toddler, it would be nearly impossible to even deterime if a lot of these were happening. 

Afrin Side Effects

Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.

Check with your doctor as soon as possible if any of the following side effects occur:

Symptoms of too much medicine being absorbed into the body

• Blurred vision
• fast, irregular, or pounding heartbeat
• headache, dizziness, drowsiness, or lightheadedness
• high blood pressure
• nervousness
• trembling
• trouble in sleeping
• weakness.

• Increase in runny or stuffy nose

The above side effects are more likely to occur in children because there is a greater chance in children that too much of this medicine may be absorbed into the body

 

MommyMich

Of course a child under the age of 2 could not administer this himself, but they couldn't effectively administer ANY drug on their own.  That is the job of the parent.  I appreciate your insight and will definitely be thinking long and hard before using Afrin on my son.  In the defense of the doctor, he is an ENT specialist and even my pediatrician told me that she wouldn't prescribe this for a child, but that specialists do things differently and have more knowledge of and experience with certain drugs than she herself would.  Also, I was told to use it four to five times a day, but I neglected to mention that that was in alternating nostrils, so basically twice a day in each nostril.

weelass24

MommyMich:

Of course a child under the age of 2 could not administer this himself, but they couldn't effectively administer ANY drug on their own.  That is the job of the parent. 

Yes, I know that a 2 year old can't adminster medication to himself.  I am not a total moron What I meant was, and was not clear on apparently, do you think that you could correctly admisiter the medication to a 2 year old whose head was hanging off the side of the bed assuming you purchased the drops?  It just seems like there is a lot of room for error there.

dmogmo

Ditto Wee. I won't use that stuff (now) as an adult. My parents used it for years (heck they probably still do) and let us as kids. But no freaking way would I give it to my kid.

MommyMich

weelass24:

MommyMich:

Of course a child under the age of 2 could not administer this himself, but they couldn't effectively administer ANY drug on their own.  That is the job of the parent. 

Yes, I know that a 2 year old can't adminster medication to himself.  I am not a total moron What I meant was, and was not clear on apparently, do you think that you could correctly admisiter the medication to a 2 year old whose head was hanging off the side of the bed assuming you purchased the drops?  It just seems like there is a lot of room for error there.

Assuming I purchased the drops, yes I do think I could properly administer the medication.  I too am not a total moron.    Personally, if I used it, I would use it minimally, so about one drop in alternating nostrils and only at night because he seems to be breathing fine during the day.  I do appreciate the information, and if you have any other suggestions that might improve my son's breathing at night without the use of Afrin, I would love to hear them.  At this point I am more scared that he might stop breathing than I am of using nasal spray.

weelass24

MommyMich:

weelass24:

MommyMich:

Of course a child under the age of 2 could not administer this himself, but they couldn't effectively administer ANY drug on their own.  That is the job of the parent. 

Yes, I know that a 2 year old can't adminster medication to himself.  I am not a total moron What I meant was, and was not clear on apparently, do you think that you could correctly admisiter the medication to a 2 year old whose head was hanging off the side of the bed assuming you purchased the drops?  It just seems like there is a lot of room for error there.

Assuming I purchased the drops, yes I do think I could properly administer the medication.  I too am not a total moron.    Personally, if I used it, I would use it minimally, so about one drop in alternating nostrils and only at night because he seems to be breathing fine during the day.  I do appreciate the information, and if you have any other suggestions that might improve my son's breathing at night without the use of Afrin, I would love to hear them.  At this point I am more scared that he might stop breathing than I am of using nasal spray.

Do you have a humidifier in his room?  Also, since you said it only really happens at night, I am betting that him lying flat is what is causing the issue.  I would try stuffing a pillow under his crib matress to elevate his head to help the drainage.

MommyMich

Thank you!  I will try raising his mattress.  I HAD a humidifier in his room but when I mentioned that to the pediatrician she said that it could actually make his chronic sinus infections worse rather than better.  I actually don't recall her specific reasoning on that.  Anyway, once she told me that I removed it from the room.  I will definitely try the pillow under the mattress tonight though.

caserko

I'm sorry your son is having this issue--my LO has had a stuffy nose the past week and I feel so bad for him, so I can only imagine what you're dealing with.  I am a former Afrin addict, LOL.  I used it as a kid (like 12 years old) and my parents seriously had to hide the stuff from me--it's very true that if you use it regularly your stuffy nose never goes away and you become dependent on it.  I do use it now but MUCH more reasonably--I CANNOT sleep with a stuffy nose.  It works immediately, so you know it's strong stuff.  If I were in your shoes I would probably follow the ENT's advice but use it very sparingly, like you said you planned to do.  About the humidifier--your pedi might have said to get rid of it because people don't tend to clean them the way they need to be cleaned and they can spew lots of yucky stuff in the air, therefore defeating the purpose.  Maybe you could give the ENT a call and ask about that?  I do think the humidifier helps a lot.

Jake's Mom

I asked my pedi this exact question RE afrin.

She said don't use it on him. Why? Because it raises their blood pressure and that alone can be dangerous for babies.

I use it daily, 1 squirt in each nostril because I get congested from allergies every single day. My physician said it was fine as long as it was 1 spray per nostril per day and no more.

I would not use it on a baby/toddler though, period. I can tell it raises my bp, my heart races after I take it 100%.

MommyMich

Just an update.  I bought the nasal spray but didn't use it.  I instead propped up his mattress and tried breathe right strips for kids.  That seems to have helped him out last night so we will see how it goes...