Benadryl for a cold?

bethm03 · March 2014

DD is two and her pedi told me to give her benadryl. She has a bad cold with fever and is very congested. Has anyone ever heard of this? We just talked over the phone and I have had questions about this since. I just don't like giving meds to her and this seems weird.

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fanofanne · March 2014

i'm the same way with meds. i heard that children shouldn't receive benadryl until after 2 years old, though.

djm31012 · March 2014

my pedi told me i could give it but jury is still out if it will really help. it might dry up some of the mucous but it wont treat any of the other symptoms.

Meery82 · March 2014

Yes, Benadryl is given to help dry up mucus. It's for symptom management only.

dufferoo · March 2014

I've had doctors tell me (as im me, adult me), that Benadryl is actually helpful during a cold because it dries up mucus and can help prevent ear infections. I asked my 18-month-old son's pediatrician about this and he said there is absolutely no evidence that this works (for adults OR children) and he never recommends Benadryl. So there's 2 perspectives for you. Do what feels right to you, but maybe next time question the doctor a little more about why he's recommending medicine and whether he feels it's actually necessary or not.

smileybabyboy · March 2014

Meery82 said:

Yes, Benadryl is given to help dry up mucus. It's for symptom management only.

This. DS is 18 months and I was told I can give him 1 teaspoon every 6 hours if needed.

Myaflowers · March 2014

Our pedi told us to give Zyrtec, 1/2 tsp once a day to help with congestion when DD had a cold.

shannm · March 2014

Yes, at the direction of our pedi, we have given our kids benadryl with colds, particularly if their coughs are keeping them up at night. It can dry up all the postnasal drip.

beckcour · March 2014

We gave DD Benadryl at the direction of our pedi when she was 17 months old. She had a cough that would wake her up at night and during naps for 2 weeks. We took her to the doctor twice and they kept telling us it was a virus. We started getting notes from daycare that she was waking herself and the whole room of toddlers up during naptime. DH was sleeping on the couch with DD every night. Propping her crib didn't work. The vaporizer also didn't work. We called our pedi, said enough is enough and they had to do something. She was not sleeping. We gave her 1.25 mL of Benadryl and it worked the first night. It decreased her coughing by 75%. I hate giving meds too but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

DawnLilly · March 2014

At 18 months I asked pedi and he said it would help dry DS up so that he could breath and get some sleep. He told me to alternate it every 6 hours with infant ibuprofen. He told me that he did not have a dosage for under 2 and that I needed to talk to a pharmacist also before giving him anything.

On the bottle it says not under 2. The pharmacist asked me for DS's exact weight (which happens to be more than the average 2 year old anyway) and gave me the exact dosage.

I only ended up giving it to him once a day for 4 days an hour before his nap so that I could continuously check on him. It did help dry him up. Poor guy was having trouble breathing laying down because he was so gunked up.

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