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Tylenol and Pregnancy

Tylenol (known generically as Acetaminophen) is an important drug when your child has a headache, fever, toothache or muscle injury. It can help ease the pain and allow your child to get a good night's sleep.

Unfortunately, Tylenol is also a powerful toxin. The problem with Acetaminophen is that it affects the liver. The liver is the place where your body processes Acetaminophen to remove it from the bloodstream.

This natural removal process is the reason why you have to take Acetaminophen every four hours or so. When you take too much Acetaminophen, it overloads the liver's ability to handle the drug.

In the process, it creates a toxin that kills your liver, and you die several days later.Too much Tylenol can kill your child. The thing that makes Acetaminophen dangerous, especially for children, is that the difference between a "dose" and a fatal "overdose" is small.

Ways to prevent dangerous doses of Tylenol to your child include:

Avoid giving the wrong dose to your child by mixing up infant's and children's Tylenol

Don't accidentally give your child a double dose. Sometimes one parent gives the child a dose and then the other parent does the same thing ten minutes later because of lack of communication. With Tylenol and any medicine, make sure one parent is responsible for giving medicines. If two people are doing it, make sure you communicate to avoid confusion and duplication of doses. If necessary, create a sheet of paper that tracks the doses and times that medicines are to be given, and check them off as you give them.

Avoid giving your child two medicines simultaneously because both may contain Acetaminophen. Check all medicines you give your child to make sure that they do not contain Tylenol/Acetaminophen before giving them to your child

Be sure to watch your toddler, because it has happened that a parent has dropped a Tylenol pill on the floor, and the toddler found it and popped into her mouth. Keep Tylenol and all other adult medicines well out of reach of children and in childproof bottles. If you drop a pill, make sure you find it and pick it up

If you suspect a Tylenol overdose, you should call your local poison control center or emergency room immediately

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