After an advisory panel voted that some pediatric cold products should be banned, the late-night pharmacy run to find the right medicine has become tougher.

Dozens protection of typical pharmacy shelves. Some go with a committee of experts. Some do not.

Children’s Tylenol and Children’s Motrin, when sales themselves were excluded from the discussion because those products in medicine, acetaminophen and Ibuprofen, respectively, safe and effective in the treatment of fever and aches even younger age.

Tylenol and Motrin sold in syrupy concoctions that help coughs because syrup coat the back of the throat and calms the cough receptors, said Dr. John Paul, pediatrician at Penn State Children’s Hospital in Hershey, Pa., who consults for the industry.

Committee skip any lengthy discussion of antihistamines, such as Benadryl, so little discussion that such drugs are effective for allergies. Benadryl, also known as diphenhydramine, and gives some of the children sleep. But almost all experts noted deliberate sedation should be encouraged.

These products have earned the contempt that most were sold to treat coughs, mild nose and congestion, including dextromethorphan and phenylephrine.

None of them have shown the impact on children of cold symptoms. All risks.

They do not relieve their symptoms, or reduce the duration of their illness, the latest study found. There is no reason for children of all ages, along with Tylenol or Motrin, the committee found.

Triaminic Thin Strips Day Time Cough and Cold contains two drugs ineffective, and the Children’s Dimetapp DM Cold and Cough Elixir three. Any products labeled “CM” should be avoided because they usually contain dextromethorphan.

These medicines have been used for decades, tens of millions of parents, many of them simply do not believe they are useless. There is a chance that those parents are correct and cold medicines may provide some benefits that research, either because of size or measurements used until discovered. But any undiscovered benefit is likely to be small.

Take dextromethorphan, which has proved effective only for adults. Two hours after taking it, the adult who was coughing 20 times per hour will cough 16 times per hour, said Dr. Paul.

“Is this manual?” he asked.

In children, even a small benefit is not yet proven. Medication is often react differently to children.

Parents who cling to the belief that drugs work are often not realize that their children would have better without treatment. Colds are brief and generally resolve themselves.

Most of the children who died had been taking these drugs accidental overdose. But even the best-intentioned parents may be paying too much.

Maura Burke Vanderzon in Chevy Chase, Md., once her infant daughter Nicole, four times a child cold medicine, as suggested label. Nicole quickly threw him.

“And we were like,” Thank God, “said Ms. Vanderzon.

In even rarer cases, the children suffered hallucinations and other poor results after receiving the right dose. Because these drugs are not proven impact, the risk is not worth taking, group Food and Drug Administration voted.

For many parents, the recommendations came out of nowhere. But among experts, a children’s cold medicine has long been infamous as expensive placebos.

A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that at least 1519 children under the age of 2, serious health problems from 2004 to 2005 after contact with the common cold medicines. Three children died, the disease agency found.

The study solidified a growing view that children’s cold medicines were not only useless, but rarely dangerous.

Experts particularly strongly that products with antihistamines should not be used except in those children with allergies. Many of the products such as Children’s Syrup Triaminic Night Time Cough and Cold, marked in the “night-time” assistance. Antihistamines, including brompheniramine and chlorpheniramine, does not relieve cold symptoms.

Federal panel of external experts and manufacturers say even through antihistamines to sedate children is a bad idea.

Linda Suydam, president of Consumer Healthcare Products Association, said that a group of producers believed that the antihistamine label should say: ‘Do not use to sedate your child. ” Labels now say to children under age 6, “consult a doctor.”

Antihistamines increase the risk of the child stops breathing.

“A child is already having a difficult time breathing through a stuffy nose, and you want to sedate them? asked Dr. Paul, who believes that such practices may explain some cases of sudden infant death syndrome.

Sick children who are sedated May vomit, can not clear the mouth and soul, “said Dr. Michael Shannon year pediatrician and toxicologist from the Harvard Medical School.

“Even the dose that you think it is right is a bad idea,” said Dr. Shannon.

Thousands of drugs on the market as a children’s cold medicine has never proven effective. The drug agency approved some when its standards were far lower. The Agency has never approved some.

In 1966, in the drug agency approved syrup of ipecac, which is immediate and powerful vomiting, as in the most anti treatment of childhood poisonings. For decades, toxicologists say young parents, often scolding terms, save it in the vial of medicine chest in case of accidental poisoning.

Studies have shown that in the end such vomiting did nothing for poisoning can damage a child and, in rare cases, fatal. Pediatricians and toxicologist now oppose use.

“We were wrong about ipecac,” said Dr. Shannon, which for many years with the support of ipecac. “And we were wrong about cold medicine.”