According to Otago University Associate Professor Andrew Day, parents and doctors need to be more open about discussing the use of alternative medicines or complementary treatments for children.

Researchers at Sydney’s Children’s Hospital have discovered that the use of alternative medicines and complementary treatments for children is becoming increasingly widespread, but most parents are unaware of the possible side-effects for children that can result from drug interactions.

Professor Andrew Day, who was the senior author of the study, believes that parents should check with their child’s doctor before putting their child on any type of alternative medications. He also asserted that clinicians must be open and willing to discuss these treatments with parents in order to bring any possible side-effects to their attention.

"Some of these medicines do interact with standard therapies, or some of the alternatives are not proven in terms of having side-effects. What is known about them in adults may not be the same as how they may affect children”, said Professor Day.

According to a survey of parents at the gastroenterology unit in Sydney in 2008, most parents chose alternative therapies for their children because of personal recommendations or after seeing advertisements, but few people know about the possible dangers of these medications.