FDA is working with manufacturers to eliminate the safety hazards posed by the caps. Until then, parents must be extra cautious when using capped syringes. These are safe and easy to use with infants and children too young to drink from a cup. Be sure to measure at eye level and administer quickly, because droppers tend to drip. The spoon looks like a test tube with a spoon formed at the top end.
Small children can hold the long handle easily, and the small spoon fits easily in their mouths.
Be sure to check the numbers carefully on the side, and measure out liquid medicine with the cup at eye level on a flat surface. One such label appears on the recently approved OTC version of children's Motrin. For prescription drugs, FDA took measures in December 1994 to provide more information to health-care providers about use of those products in children. This rule was final in January 1995. The agency now lets prescription drug manufacturers base pediatric labeling on data extrapolated from adequate and well-controlled adult studies, together with other information about safety and dosing in children.