Things to Keep in mind when giving medicine to your child

• When you get a new prescription, ask your doctor or your pharmacist for a medicine information sheet. It will tell you about the medicine.

• When the doctor’s prescription says ‘every six hours’, which generally means the medicine is taken four times a day (for example, at breakfast, lunch, supper and bedtime). It doesn’t necessarily mean to wake the child up at night to take medicine.

• Use a special measuring device to get the correct dose. An ordinary kitchen teaspoon may not hold the right amount of medicine. If you use a syringe-type measuring device to give liquid medicine to your child, first throw away the small cap of the syringe. Children can choke on these caps.

• If your child has a bad reaction to a medicine or is allergic to a medicine, tell your doctor right away. This is important medical information. You should also keep a record of this information at home; the name of the medicine, the dosage directions, the illness the medicine was given for and the side effects the medicine caused. This will be useful for the future.