Use of medications in infancy

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Infants studied in their first three months were found to have medication commonly administered despite a low incidence of illness. Anti‐colic medications were the most frequently given drugs, these were usually prescribed by a nonmedical person. Most of the medications were unnecessary and achieved little. Mothers felt they were managing their infants satisfactorily despite the common use of anti‐colic medicines. There is a growing opinion which suggests that medication is probably not the best way of managing the “colicky infant”. We are concerned that we may be setting a pattern of drug taking for the future.

A comprehensive definition of infant colic: parents' and nurses' perspectives

“…Despite its commonness, the cause of colic is still unknown, effective treatment is lacking and the criteria for defining colic are vague. The occurrence of colic in different studies varies between 3 and 40%, depending on the criteria on which the diagnosis is based (Cockington et al ., 1981; Thomas, 1981; Hide & Guyer, 1982; Ståhlberg, 1984; Lothe & Lindberg, 1989; Matheson et al ., 1989; Lester et al ., 1990; Lehtonen & Korvenranta, 1995; Canivet et al ., 1996). The clinical approach to infants and parents shows evidence of the ambiguities in the literature on colic and is dominated by trial and error (Wikander, 1995).…”

Sources of Australian Pharmacoepidemiology Data

“…Unlike the prescribing survey now conducted by IMS, the results of the RACGP survey were disseminated widely and some interesting prescribing trends were d o c~r n e n t e d .~~ Other surveys include Bridges-Webb's study of drug medication in approximately 10% of the community of Traralgon in 1970-71, 25 the Canberra Mental Health Survey in 1973, 26 and Cockington and coworkers' study in 1977-78 of the administration of medications to infants aged 3 to 5 months. 27 More recently, the two Australian Health Surveys (AHS) in 1977-78 and 1983 provided some information about the drug-taking habits of Australian~. *~'~~ In the 1983 survey, occupants of 18,000 households were interviewed and information was sought on many health-related topics, including medication taken in the previous 2 days and previous 2 weeks.…”