oral suspension cephalexin?

Question

my doctor prescribed oral suspension cephalexin(250 mg/5ml). i dont understand the bottle instructions.


it says:

usual pediatric patient's dose - 25 to 50 mg per kg per day in four divided doses.

prior to mixing - store at 20 - 25 c

directions for mixing - add 70 mL of water in two portions to the dry mixture in the bottle. shake well after each addition.

may be kept 14 days without signifcant loss of potency, discard unused portion after 14 days.


can someone help me and explain how exactly i am supposed to take the cephalexin?

Answer 1

You have to reconstitute the antibiotic...means add water. You need 70 ml of water, but add first 35 ml, then add the next 35 ml, and shake after adding each 35 ml.

Then you need to figure out how much the child weighs. So a 45 lb child is about 20 kg. You are to give 50mg/kg or a total of 1000 mg over the day, split among 4 doses. so each dose is 250 mg.

There is 250 mg in each 5 ml, so that means take 5 ml is taken 4 times a day. Now if the kid weighs 90 lbs or more, you should probably double that to 10 ml 4 times a day.

Answer 2

It depends on how much you weigh and what your doctor intended, best thing to do is call the doctor to get it clarified so you don't take too much or too little.