PEM Source

Your source for all things Pediatric Emergency Medicine

Honey for cough

Respiratory virus season is here, and we all know that the FDA recommends against the use of OTC cough medications in children < 4 years old (due to too many adverse effects and lack of efficacy). Some studies have shown honey to be something useful we can recommend to frustrated parents, but how exactly is it administered? Studies tested from 2.5mL to 10gm (5mL of honey = ~ 7gm). Pulling the results together, 5mL of honey can be mixed in any non-caffeinated drink, such as warm lemon water, herbal tea, or warm skim milk, and given at bedtime or up to TID. Giving it longer than 3 days had no added benefit. There is some evidence that dark honey is more effective. (Oduwole et al Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2018 Apr 10;4:CD007094).

IDParentsPharmPulm

pemsou5_wp • November 8, 2019


Previous Post

Next Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published / Required fields are marked *