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8 Month Old Child, Having High Fever. Taking Acetaminophen Medication, Took Two Doses By Mistake. Side Effects Of Overdose?

Posted on Sun, 17 Jun 2012

Question: Hi, my 8 month old baby (weighing 16-18 lb) received a 0.8 ml dose of infants acetaminophen from me because of fever (102 degrees) , BUT... my husband also gave her same dosage approx. 20 mins later (not knowing I gave it to her already! :( I'm obviously very concerned! I did read, however, that if baby has a fever, that a ONE time initial double dose is okay...can be safe & effective, but I'd rather be safe than sorry! Can anyone help me ?

Answered by Dr. Hema Yadav (2 hours later)

Hello,

Thanks for posting the query.

Please do not panic. It is definitely an overdose for your baby but not a doubly overdose since 0.8 ml is the minimum required dose and your baby can normally be given one ml maximum effective dose for fever. Also for pain relief, she can be prescribed the double dose but that should only be prescribed by doctor. So my advice is that there is no risk of toxicity to your baby and you don't need to do anything about it at present.

Also acetaminophen is the safest anti-pyretic and a once given doubledose is not going to have any major effects.

The effects of overdose are gastritis, liver damage, etc. so if your baby develops any vomiting, yellow discoloration of skin eyes etc. then please consult your pediatrician. I don't think she will need it.

Hope I have answered your query. Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E