Relieving both safely with medication can be very tricky. Children often need to be sedated not just to relieve pain, but to hold them still for tedious procedures like drilling cavities or collecting blood samples. Too much of a drug can harm a child. Too little doesn't work. Too often, there's not much room in between.
Pediatric sedation is the subject of growing debate and research in the medical community.
Until recently, there were no anesthetics or sedatives specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in children. But since doses for children aren't listed on the labels, anesthesiologists rely on their own knowledge and experience to mix drugs for young patients. In an ongoing effort to stimulate research for pediatric drugs, last March the committee met to discuss the issue of pediatric sedation. Miller and other experts met in Rockville, Md., to hear from parents pleading for better and safer pain medications, and from physicians knowledgeable about pediatric sedation. Approved in October 1993 but not yet on the market at press time, Oralet is the first narcotic ever tested in and approved specifically for children.