Infants’ Ibuprofen Recalled from Walmart, CVS Pharmacy and Family Dollar

Earlier this week, Tris Pharma—a major pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey— issued a voluntary nationwide recall of Infants’ Ibuprofen Concentrated Oral Suspension, USP (NSAID) due to potential higher concentrations of ibuprofen. 

The products were labeled as 50 mg of ibuprofen per 1.25 mL, however, the company claims the concentration may be higher than labeled. There’s a remote possibility that the higher dosage in these products could lead to permanent kidney injury, nausea, and vomiting among other adverse effects. To date, the company says it has not received any reports of harmful events related to the recall. 

The products in question were sold at Walmart, CVS and Family Dollar under the brand names Equate, CVS Health and Family Wellness. Infants’ ibuprofen is often recommended by health care professionals as a pain reliever and fever reducer for infants.

(Photos: PRNewsfoto/ Tris Pharma Inc.)

Tris Pharma has issued an urgent recall notice and wholesalers and retailers have been instructed to stop further distribution of the affected lots of ibuprofen. 

More information about the recall is available from the company’s official release. 

If you have any health-related questions or concerns about this recall please call us at 970-494-2626. 

Attention: NEW EXTENDED HOURS

You Asked. We Listened.

Pediatric Urgent Care of Northern Colorado is excited to announce our new extended hours, effective immediately.

Monday – Friday 

9:00am – 9:00pm

Saturday & Sunday 

8:00am – 8:00pm

“The health care providers at Pediatric Urgent Care of Northern Colorado are committed to treating children and families with the same respect and quality care as at the best hospital emergency rooms,” said Larry Mortensen, Executive Director of Pediatric Urgent Care of Northern Colorado. “By extending PUCNC’s hours, we hope to be the first choice for your family’s medical needs not only during the day but into the evenings and on the weekends.”

Visit our list of Pediatric Services and Treatments or call 970.494.2626 for additional information.

Taking care of your kids 365 days a year. 

Cooking with Kids | Thanksgiving

When we think of Thanksgiving, we all focus on the big meal that we are going to enjoy at dinner. You don’t have to wait until dinner to celebrate with delicious Thanksgiving treats. Start the day off right with peanut butter turkey snacks that are easy for you and your kids to make together!

What you will need:

Muffin cups

Peanut butter

Red and yellow apples or bell peppers

Green Grapes

Directions:

1. 1. Slice your red and yellow apples or bell peppers.
2. 2. Have your child can fill the muffin cup with peanut butter.
3. 3. Let your child pick apple slices to place on one half of the peanut butter filled muffin cup. (You may also use sliced bell peppers)
4. 4. Place a grape on the other half of the peanut butter filled muffin cup for the head.
5. 5. Enjoy your healthy Thanksgiving snack!

*Photo and recipe from www.thepartyanimal-blog.org.

Upcoming Events for Children in Northern Colorado

Are you feeling like you and your kids need to get out of the house this fall? We get it. Here are some upcoming local events that your kids will love!

Weekly StoryTime With Jeanette

What: Storytime, a snack, and activities for kids aged 0-5. Jeanette will be on the stage in the Children’s Department to read a story and help the kids with some activities. This is a free event, so you just have to show up and enjoy the fun!

When: Thursdays from 10 am to 11 am.

Where: Barnes & Noble Promenade Shops Centerra. Located at 5835 Sky Pond Drive, Loveland, CO 80538

Saturday StoryTime @ Barnes & Noble

What: Storytime and activities for kids aged 1-8. It is free, so take advantage of a quick break in your day and let your kids be creative and have fun!

When: Saturdays from 11 am to 11:30 am.

Where: Barnes & Noble Locations in Loveland and Fort Collins

Loveland: 5835 Sky Pond Drive, Loveland Co 80538

Fort Collins: 4045 S. College Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80525

Weekend Toons @ Lyric Cinema Cafe

What: Weekend Toons allows you and your kids to catch some of your favorite classic animated cartoons. The toons are appropriate for all ages. The event is free, but if you’d like to take part in some breakfast, it’s just $5. There are also mimosas for the parents that just need an extra boost for the day!

When: Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 am to about noon.

Where: The Lyric Cinema Cafe. Located at 1209 N. College Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80524

Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run

What: A 4-mile family event in the heart of Fort Collins. This is the 25th annual Thanksgiving Day Run! The event is for people of all ages, and kids can participate in the Gobble Gobble Kids’ Fun Run! Register here.

When: Thursday, November 22, 2018, beginning at 8:45 AM.

Where: The Corner of Oak and Mason in Old Town Fort Collins.

2018 Pelican Lakes Turkey Trot – 5K Run/Walk

What: Start off your Thanksgiving celebrations with a 5K run/walk around the Pelican Lakes Golf Course in Windsor. A special kids event begins at 10:00 am. There will be two courses, one for kids 5 and under and one for kids aged 6-10. You must register to participate.

When: Thursday, November 22, 2018, beginning at 9:00 AM.

Where: Pelican Lakes Golf Course @ Water Valley, 1620 Pelican Lakes Point, Windsor, CO 80550.

2018 Loveland Turkey Trot 5K

What: Kick off Thanksgiving at the family-friendly Loveland Turkey Trot 5K. This event benefits the Clinical Services Fund, which supports growth in education, development, equipment, and improved hospital processes in the Loveland and Fort Collins area. You must register for the event to participate.

When: Thursday, November 22, 2018, beginning at 8:30 AM.

Where: McKee Medical Center, 2000 Boise Ave., Loveland, CO 80538.

21st Annual NCMC Turkey Trot 5K/2K Fun Run/Walk

What: The 21st Annual NCMC Turkey Trot is a fun family event, open to participants of all ages. All children 12 and under will receive a finisher ribbon for both the 5K and 2K. The 2K is a fun run, and the 5K is more competitive. To participate, register for the event.

When: Thursday, November 22, 2018, beginning at 9:00 AM.

Where: North Colorado Medical Center, 1801 16th Street, Greeley, CO 80631.

Stay tuned for more upcoming family events!

When You Should Go to the Doctor for a Sore Throat

In Colorado’s dry air, a sore throat in the morning isn’t uncommon, especially in the winter when home heating makes air particularly dry. If your child wakes up with pain in her throat, have her drink water.

The American Society of Pediatrics recommends taking your child to the doctor if her sore throat doesn’t abate after a drink of water in the morning. Get care immediately if your child’s sore throat is accompanied by difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing or excessive drooling. These may signal much more severe health issues.

Adults don’t need to see a doctor about a painful throat unless it’s accompanied by a fever of more than 101 degrees, ear pain, joint pain or difficulty opening the mouth. See your doctor if you have frequently recurring sore throats, which may be a symptom of HIV.

Sore Throat Causes

There are many reasons your child may experience a sore throat, and many of them aren’t cause for concern. Commonplace causes of benign sore throats include:

• Postnasal drip: Allergies or colds that cause nasal congestion may cause sore throats.
• Dryness: Dry air, particularly when breathing through the mouth, may cause soreness.
• Voice strain: Excessive shouting can strain the muscles in the throat, causing pain.
• Poor air quality: Chemicals, tobacco smoke and environmental smoke (from campfires or nearby forest fires can irritate throats.

Often sore throats are just part of a cold caused by a virus.  However, if your child’s sore throat is persistent, or your child is experiencing a fever, flu like symptoms, or a stomach ache, they would benefit from seeing a provider.  If you have questions, call our nurse triage phone line at 970-267-6715.

Why You Should Wash Your Hands

Washing your hands isn’t just good advice. It’s the best advice you and your family can follow to prevent illness on a daily basis. Not only is it tremendously effective in reducing the spread of germs, it’s so simple that even preschoolers can be taught to do it correctly. (We’ll talk about correctly later.)

Scientists estimate that there are more than 1,500 microorganisms per square inch on your hands. Similarly, germs can congregate anywhere people touch – from door knobs and shopping carts to your computer’s mouse and your favorite coffee mug. It’s easy for germs to piggyback from an object you touch, onto your hand and onto whatever you touch next.

Although nearly everyone understands the importance of washing up before cooking or eating, it’s just as important to give your hands a scrub throughout the day. Many people touch their eyes, mouth or nose without realizing it. From there, it’s easy for the bacteria, fungi and viruses to enter a body and make you sick.

When to Wash Your Hands

When in doubt, wash your hands!  This instills habits in your family to always lather up after these activities where germ transmission is easiest:

• After using the restroom or changing a diaper
• Before and after preparing raw foods
• Before eating
• After blowing your nose
• After working in dirty environments, such as gardens, garages and basements
• After shopping trips

Wash Your Hands Correctly

Believe it or not, a lot of people don’t wash their hands correctly, with many people rushing it or skipping steps. To properly wash your hands, use warm water to wet your hands, including wrists and between fingers. After lathering your hands, rub them together for 20 seconds – about long enough to sing “Happy Birthday” to yourself twice – making sure to cover all surfaces with soap.

Wash your hands to prevent disease transmission and keep your family safe. An extra 30 seconds at the sink can prevent days of illness!

Managing Fever in Children

Watching your child struggle with fever is an ordeal for any parent, and it’s normal to want to manage fever as effectively as possible.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes a low-grade fever as a sign that your child’s immune system is going its job and fighting off infection.

Fever is defined if rectal, ear or forehead temperature is 100.4 degrees F or greater. Treat with rest and with plenty of age appropriate fluids. For fevers 100 – 102 degrees F, medication is rarely needed as the fever doesn’t typically cause discomfort.

Fever Medication

Often when fevers are above 102 degrees F your child will become uncomfortable, and medication can be used. Give acetaminophen OR ibuprofen, using dosing tables available on the Youth Clinic website. Do not use aspirin. The Youth Clinic does not recommend alternating doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. The goal of the medication is to bring the temperature down to a comfortable level.

Schedule an Appointment with Your Provider If…

• Your child’s fever reaches 105 degrees
• Your child has had a fever of 100.4 degrees F or greater for 72 hours
• Your child looks or acts very sick
• Your child develops serious symptoms such as trouble breathing

Common Sports Injuries in Children

Roughly 75 percent of all families have one child involved in youth sports sometime in their childhood. With the sheer volume of children in athletics, it’s inevitable that sports injuries in children occur: More than 3.5 million children under the age of 14 receive care in an emergency room every year for sports injuries, and children aged 5 to 14 years account for about 40 percent of all sports injuries treated in hospitals.

Acute Sports Injuries in Children

Many of the sports injuries suffered by children are acute injuries, those caused by a sudden accident or trauma. These injuries range from injured eyes, brain injuries such as concussions, broken bones and connective tissue injuries. Most sports’ rules and safety equipment are designed to protect athletes from acute injury, so a large portion of trauma-based sports injuries in children stem from lack of proper safety equipment or poor supervision.

Some sports are inherently more dangerous than others, however. High-contact sports like football or extreme sports like skateboarding are more likely to produce acute injuries than swimming or running.

Overuse Sports Injuries in Children

As their name implies, overuse injuries are caused by repetitive motions that produce stress on bones or muscles over time. Overuse injuries can impact bone growth, so parents should monitor for them. They’re as common in non-contact sports as contact sports. Common overuse injuries include:

• Pitchers: Caused by repetitive motions involved in throwing a ball, elbows can become stiff and hard to fully extend.
• Swimmers: Stroke recovery places significant strain on swimmers’ shoulders. They may experience pain while swimming or, if untreated, constantly in the back of their shoulders.
• Soccer players: Overextension of the back, known as spondylolysis, is common in soccer players, as is shin splints, caused by overtraining at the beginning of a season.

To reduce the risk of injury:

• Rest.  Plan to have at least 1 day off per week and at least one month off per year from training for a particular sport to allow the body to recover. Breaks during practice and games are also important in preventing over heating and injury.
• Protective equipment.  Children should wear protective gear such as helmets, mouthpieces, pads, face guards, protective cups, and eyewear. Make sure gear is the appropriate fit.
• Strengthen muscles. Conditioning exercises can strengthen muscles used in play.
• Stretch. Stretching both after practice and on a regular basis can increase flexibility.

Can I Give Emergen-C to My Child?

Many adults reach for Emergen-C at the first sign of a cold. While that’s fine for adults, when you see cold symptoms coming on for a child, you shouldn’t give your child under 15 Emergen-C or a similar supplement.

Emergen-C is a high dose of Vitamins C, B-6 and B-12 that’s formulated for adults. Each dosage contains 1,000 mg of Vitamin C (about 16 times the USDA recommended daily value). While this is well within safe dosage for an adult, the upper intake level for children is considerably less: Children aged 1- to 3-years old should only consume 400 mg Vitamin C and those 4- to 8-years-old should consume no more than 650 mg.

Adult doses of Vitamin C won’t have severe adverse affects, but they can cause upset stomach in children. In both children and adults, absorption of Vitamin C is best at low dosages: You (and your child) can absorb up to 90 percent of a moderate dosage, while up to 50 percent of a dose higher than 1,000 mg is not absorbed.

Although wasteful, unabsorbed Vitamin C is typically not dangerous. Although excessive levels of the vitamin, which is acidic, can cause upset stomach, unused Vitamin C is passed in urine.

Instead of giving your child Emergen-C or a similar supplement, seek to provide enough Vitamin C though a balanced diet. Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit, bell peppers, strawberries and cantaloupe are all rich in Vitamin C. If you’re concerned your child isn’t receiving enough Vitamin C in her diet, supplement it with a kids’ vitamin that contains is.

And the idea of beating back a cold with big doses of Vitamin C? It’s mostly a myth. Treating the common cold with Vitamin C reduces the length of a cold about 14 percent in children and 8 percent in adults.

Can I Take My Baby to Urgent Care?

If you’re like most parents, you’d always rather be safe than sorry when it comes to your child’s health. While that can protect your child from health issues, it also causes some overreactions, particularly when it comes to babies. In most cases, you can take your baby to urgent care rather than to the emergency room.

Common sense and general pediatric guidelines will help guide you when it comes time to take your baby to urgent care. For example, fevers in infants younger than two months are always an ER-worthy trip, for older kids, they’re more routine. Other times when you should take your baby straight to the ER include:

• Head Trauma: If your child hits his head and loses consciousness, take him to the emergency room.
• Seizures: A seizure incident should always be followed by a trip to the emergency room.
• Large Cuts on the Face: Babies and small children may need sedation during suturing.
• Difficulty Breathing: Babies suffering respiratory distress should receive hospital-grade care as soon as possible.
• Severe Dehydration: Including dry lips and lethargy or confusion.

In many other cases, it’s not just acceptable to take a baby to urgent care, but a better health decision. If your child’s illness isn’t severe, she may not receive immediate treatment, as hospitals triage patients and provide the ones with most urgent needs care first. Taking a baby to urgent care instead of an emergency room also eliminates exposing her to the aggressive germs sometimes found in hospitals.

As with older children and adults, taking a baby to urgent care will likely be significantly less expensive than an emergency room visit. You’ll receive the same level of care, but most insurers’ urgent care copay and deductibles are much less than ER visits. If paying cash you’ll avoid the charge for emergency-level care that comes with ER care.