Paediatric drops

Paediatric drops are liquid oral preparation of small dose giving by a calibrated dropper intended for paediatric use. 

Oil formulations are not recommended for paediatric use because they are unpleasant to ingest and their use has been associated with diminished nutrient and vitamin absorption, with anal leakage and pruritus. They are especially unsuitable for nasal drop formulation as inadvertent aspiration has caused inflammatory and fibrotic changes in the lungs due to the inhalation of various fatty substances (lipid pneumonia). 

Lim DL, Batilando M, Rajadurai VS. Transient paral5dic ileus following the use of cyclo-pentolate-phenylephrine eye drops during screening for retinopathy of prematurity. J Paediatr Child Health 2003 39(4) 318-20. 

Formulae have been assembled for multi-vitamin syrup and multi-vitamin drops [190, 191] using polysorbate 80 to solubilize vitamin A palmitate and vitamin D with glycerin as co-solubilizer, enabling a high concentration of drug to be given per dose. The solubilizer serves the extra purpose of allowing the preparations to be diluted into water or milk for paediatric administration. The sorbitol, primarily added to enhance the taste of the preparation, but which increases the absorption of vitamin Bj2, obviously also acts as a co-solubilizer [192]. A similar preparation is described by Whittet and Cummins [193]. 

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