what happens when young children ingest adult cough medicine?

Answer 1

If this has happened in your home, call poison control ASAP.
They are very helpful.

Answer 2

well it might have some effects, but adult cough syrup is far less powerful than baby cough syrup, because the baby's dosage is more concentrated. you should probably check out the bottle though. it would be much much worse if an adult took the adult amount of cough syrup from a baby's bottle than the baby taking the baby's dose from an adult bottle.

Answer 3

That depends entirely on how much of which cough medicine, but one thing you can count on is that it won't stop a kid's cough.
Note that one of the more popular drugs of abuse among teens of late has been dextromethorphan, which can cause hallucinations in high doses, and may even cause respiratory depression in very high doses.
Cough syrups containing antihistamines often cause sedation, and that's often to an unwarranted degree in small kids.
Decongestants have been known to cause heart failure and tachyarrhythmias in small children.

Answer 4

Some adult cough medicine contains codeine or similar narcotics that can cause extreme drowsiness or even death.

Answer 5

The strength of the medicine can poison them. When my little brother was three years old, he drank an entire bottle. We had to rush him to the hospital, and his stomach had to be pumped full of charcoal to dilute it and flush it from his system.

Answer 6

Depending on how much and what kind they injest. Call the doctor immediately to get a safe answer to your question.

Answer 7

If the cough syrup contains alcohol (and most do), they get drunk and sick.