Protecting your child from the common cold

Protecting your child from the common cold or other viruses can be a daunting task, especially if they attend school, daycare, or church. We should always practice good hygene with our children for this is one of the best ways to fight viruses.

If your looking for some magical guarantee that your child will not get a cold or virus this winter, you can stop looking now. There is no guarantee that your child will not get sick no matter what you do. Especially, since most people who have the common cold virus or contagious way before they show any cold symptons.

Even though there is no guarantee your child will not get sick, taking the steps to protect them will help keep the odds in your favor.

-Make sure your child washes their hands after using the restroom, blowing their nose, coughing, before and after dinner, after playing with toys, etc. At any given time the human hand is covered in thousands of germs. When your child touches his nose or eyes these germs are deposited directly into their mucous membranes, where there rapidy deposited into the bloodstream.

-Use a disinfectant spray or wipe to clean toys, faucets, knobs and other areas that children will be putting their hands.

-Make sure that immunizations are up to date. You can protect your child from some viruses and bacteria simply by keeping their immunizations up to date.

-Make sure your child eats a healthy Diet and gets adequate rest.

Government health officials gave drug companies until October 31, 2007 to stop making and selling any unapproved medicines labeled for use by children younger than 6 that contain the pain killer and cough suppresant hydrocodone.

This is a move by the FDA (Food and Drug Association) to put forward an effort to remove from sale an estimated 200 unapproved prescription cough medicines made with the narcotic, hydrocodone.

Manufacturers of unapproved hydrocodone medicines, beyond those intended for young children, must stop making them by December 31, 2007 and stop shipping them by March 31, 2008. The FDA said the order applies to most of the hyrocodone formulations sold as cough medicines. The order does not apply to other hydrocodone medicines, including the seven cough suppresants made with the narcotic that do have FDA approval. Nor does it apply to pain-relief drugs such as Vicodin, which combine hydrocodone and acetaminophen.

For more information consumers can visit the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research's Website.