Infants' and Children's Tylenol New Safety and Convenience Enhancements Update

 Recently, I heard the news about  Tylenol and their new safety and convenience enhancements of both the Infants’ and Children’s Tylenol products. I wanted to forward this information to my readers because, like most of you, I have used and trusted the Tylenol brand of products both as a child and as a mother. If you have children, you will most likely remember the recalls of Tylenol for infants and children that occurred a while ago. Lately, Tylenol Infant and Children products have been missing from most store shelves - this is because Tylenol has been working on these innovations that will enhance both safety and convenience on their Infants' and Children's Tylenol line of products.  These enhancements include a including a change to the concentration of Infants’ TYLENOL® products and a new bottle that has a protective opening and a push in syringe.  Also, TYLENOL® has shared these safety innovations with other manufacturers of pediatric acetaminophen products in order to encourage industry wide adoption of these safety measures. The products will be available as early as the upcoming cold and flu season.I have included more info below about the changes and also some helpful tips to keep in mind when giving medicine to infants and/or children:
Upcoming Product Enhancements (this info and more can be found on Tylenol Product Update Page) 

Enhanced BottleInfants’ TYLENOL® will include SIMPLEMEASURE®, a new, enhanced bottle with a protective opening and push-in syringe designed to:

• Provide even more accurate dosing and easier administration to infants
• Allow for better control when dispensing with fewer spills
• Further reduce the risk of children getting to the medicine in the bottle

The new, enhanced bottle with protective opening will be coming to Children’s TYLENOL® products soon.

Dosage ChangeLook for new dosing directions on Infants’ TYLENOL®.

• To help minimize medication errors, Infants’ TYLENOL® will now have the same concentration of the active ingredient, acetaminophen, as Children’s TYLENOL®, which will standardize dosing across the products and age groups.
  • When Infants’ TYLENOL® returns to store shelves as early as this upcoming cold and flu season, the products will continue to include specially designed dosing devices appropriate to the age of the child.

As announced by the OTC trade organization, Consumer Healthcare Products Association, other manufacturers also intend to transition to the same single concentration (160 mg / 5 mL) for all single-ingredient OTC pediatric liquid acetaminophen products. This transition of other manufacturers’ infants’ products to the children’s concentration may begin as early as this summer and is anticipated to continue into 2012.

• There may be a time period when more than one concentration of infants’ acetaminophen products will be available in stores, and parents and caregivers might have both in their medicine cabinets. Caregivers should always read and follow the dosing directions on the package they are using.
• Parents and caregivers should contact their child’s healthcare provider if they have questions about dosing instructions.

Helpful Tips for Giving Medicines to Infants and ChildrenSimply remember to NURSENever give adult medicines to children.Use the measuring device (syringe, dropper, dosage cup) that comes with the medicine every time you use it. Don’t use kitchen spoons (teaspoons or tablespoons).Read and follow instructions on the label. Never give more than the recommended dose and do not give the medication more frequently than recommended.Store all medicines out of the reach of children. Immediately following use, always restore the child resistant cap and put the medicine back into a high and out of sight location.Every child grows. Know the infant’s or child’s weight and/or age to help determine the appropriate dosage.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Tylenol and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate