In a new study researchers warn parents against the use household teaspoons to give medicine to the children because their size can vary extensively. The varying size of teaspoon can lead to under dose or overdose of the medicine. Researchers from Greek and U.S when examined the teaspoons of twenty-five households, they found that the biggest was three times the size of the smallest.
When parents are asked to use five ml medicine spoon, they decanted that in varying quantities. To prevent dosage difference, researchers advised the parents to use syringes in place of teaspoons. In clinical study by the International Journal of Clinical Practice looked at seventy teaspoons collected from twenty- five homes in Greece.
Nearly all households included in the study had approximately one and three different teaspoons but two women had six teaspoons. Most households in the study had between one and three different teaspoons, but two women had six. Parents using the biggest teaspoon would be giving their child almost three times as much medicine as the smallest.
They not only found broad differences between households but had also found substantial differences within households, explained Professor Matthew Falagas, the lead author from the Alfa Institute of Biomedical Sciences in Athens. Addition to it when they asked five persons to determine medicine in a standardized 5ml spoon, they found that only one gave the correct dose.
Syringes are more and more given out with over-the-counter medicines such as child paracetamol and ibuprofen. The risks of damage happening as a consequence of parents giving in excess of these products in a single dose are thought to be very small certainly.