Antibiotics are one of the great advances in medicine but the overuse or misuse of antibiotics in children can cause serious harm.

Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and not viral infections. For parents, it can be hard to tell whether their children's illness requires antibiotics or if there are other ways to treat symptoms effectively. Many of the upper respiratory tract infections in children like common cold and cough are caused by viruses, so children don't need antibiotics most of the times.

Antibiotics are used to treat 'secondary infections' if a child is very sick or ill & if your pediatrician has advised. Remember, antibiotics don't lower the body temperature or reduce fever in children.

The more children are treated with antibiotics, the more likely they are to become ill with antibiotic-resistant infections in the future. Knowing which illnesses can safely be treated using home remedies instead of antibiotics is important to prevent the overuse of these drugs.

Kindly stop popping antibiotics as candies. Please remember... it will cause more harm than good for children or for that matter... anyone!