Verification Methodology & References
Per the Critical Vector academic-rigor standard: every entry tagged VERIFIED below was checked against a primary/authoritative source. Where that check found and fixed an error in the original compilation, the correction is documented in this section with its citation, though the on-card badge no longer visually distinguishes "corrected" from "verified" — both represent an entry that is now accurate and sourced. All 104 entries in this database carry this status; none remain unchecked.
Paracetamol (acetaminophen): Bennett PN, et al.; WHO Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children (2013): 10–15 mg/kg/dose PO q4–6h; BNF for Children (current): max total daily dose 60–75 mg/kg/day depending on age/indication, not exceeding adult max. Single max dose generally capped at 1 g.
Ibuprofen: standard pediatric dosing 5–10 mg/kg/dose q6–8h (max ~40 mg/kg/day); consistent with the range given in the original compilation.
Ceftriaxone: Drugs.com/FDA labeling and IDSA bacterial meningitis guidance: 50–75 mg/kg/day (general infections) to 100 mg/kg/day (meningitis, penicillin-resistant pneumococcus), max 2–4 g/day depending on indication. Safety caution added: avoid in hyperbilirubinemic neonates — ceftriaxone displaces bilirubin from albumin, risking kernicterus; this caution was absent from the original compilation.
Ondansetron: Canadian Paediatric Society position statement and multiple RCTs (dose-response study, PubMed 21028919): evidence-based single dose is 0.15 mg/kg (max ~8–16 mg depending on source), not 0.2–0.3 mg/kg as in the original compilation — corrected downward to the actual evidence base. QT prolongation caution added per current labeling.
Artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem): WHO/FDA labeling: dosed twice daily for 3 days (6 doses total) by weight band (5–<15kg, 15–<25kg, 25–<35kg, ≥35kg), not once daily as the original compilation stated. This was a substantive dosing error in the source material.
Zinc sulfate for diarrhea: WHO/UNICEF joint statement: 10 mg/day for infants <6 months, 20 mg/day for children ≥6 months, for 10–14 days — consistent with the age-based split in the original compilation.
Vancomycin: standard pediatric dosing 40–60 mg/kg/day divided q6h (10–15 mg/kg/dose); consistent with the original compilation's range, though actual dosing should be individualized with trough/AUC monitoring given the narrow therapeutic index.
Meropenem: confirmed 20 mg/kg/dose q8h (60 mg/kg/day) for standard infections, escalating to 40 mg/kg/dose q8h (120 mg/kg/day) for meningitis/CNS infections — consistent with the original compilation.
Piperacillin-tazobactam: confirmed 80–100 mg/kg/dose (piperacillin component) q6–8h against FDA labeling and pediatric dosing guidelines — original compilation's 90 mg/kg/dose TDS falls within this range.
Vitamin D: confirmed AAP-recommended 400 IU/day for infants <12 months, 600 IU/day for children ≥12 months, as universal supplementation (not treatment-dose for diagnosed deficiency, which is higher and protocol-specific).
Vitamin A: confirmed WHO high-dose supplementation program figures — 100,000 IU (6–11 months), 200,000 IU (12–59 months), repeated every 4–6 months in deficient/high-risk populations only, not routine well-nourished infants.
Fluconazole: confirmed indication-dependent range of 3–12 mg/kg/day (lower end for mucosal candidiasis, upper end for invasive/CNS disease); original compilation's 12 mg/kg/day + 25 mg/kg loading sits at the high end of the confirmed range for severe/invasive disease specifically, not a universal starting dose.
Amikacin: confirmed 15–20 mg/kg/day, with once-daily dosing now generally preferred at all ages with normal renal function (not just >7 days as the original compilation implied); added specific peak/trough monitoring targets.
Aminophylline: confirmed loading/maintenance doses are within the published range, but added an important currency note absent from the original: caffeine citrate has largely replaced aminophylline as the preferred agent for apnea of prematurity in current practice, due to a wider therapeutic margin and simpler once-daily dosing.
Phenytoin: confirmed 15–20 mg/kg IV loading dose and infusion rate limits against FDA labeling and status epilepticus dosing tables; original compilation was accurate.
Diazepam: confirmed 0.2–0.3 mg/kg IV for acute seizures against standard status epilepticus references; original compilation was accurate.
Montelukast: confirmed age-banded dosing (4mg for 6-23mo and 2-5yr, 5mg for 6-14yr, 10mg for ≥15yr) against current FDA Singulair labeling; original compilation was accurate.
Domperidone (Motilium), removed from this database: the original compilation listed a flat, non-weight-based dose (30mg BD for children under 12 years/over 15kg) that calculates to roughly 4 mg/kg/day for a small child. The EMA/PRAC safety maximum, set specifically because of documented QT-prolongation and sudden-cardiac-death risk, is 0.25 mg/kg up to three times daily (0.75 mg/kg/day max). The original dose was over 5 times the safety ceiling. This is the most significant error found in this review.
Levocetirizine (Neosedil): corrected — original's flat "2.5mg BD for >6mo" is roughly 4x too high for infants 6–11 months specifically, who should receive 1.25mg once daily only per FDA labeling.
Cetirizine (Sedil) — a self-correction: I initially flagged this entry as an overdose error (parallel to levocetirizine) based on a patent-document source claiming a 2.5mg/day maximum for ages 6mo–5yr. Further checking against the actual FDA Zyrtec label showed that 2.5mg BID (twice daily) for 6–23 months is the real studied and labeled regimen, confirmed QTc-safe in clinical trials. The original compilation was correct; my first-pass flag was wrong and has been reverted. Leaving this note in rather than quietly fixing it, since the rigor standard cuts both ways — a false correction is still an error.
Clindamycin: confirmed 10-20mg/kg/day is accurate for standard infections but too low for severe/invasive MRSA disease, which needs 30-40mg/kg/day per FDA labeling and pediatric antimicrobial stewardship guidelines.
TMP-SMX: confirmed 6-12mg/kg/day (TMP component) BD against AAP 2011 guidelines for standard infections; noted that PJP treatment dosing is substantially higher (15-20mg/kg/day) than prophylaxis/standard dosing, a distinction the original compilation blurred.
Ciprofloxacin: confirmed the 20-30mg/kg/day dose range, and added nuance the original lacked — pediatric arthropathy risk is real (~13.7% transient arthralgia vs ~9.5% with comparators in one trial) but no confirmed permanent cartilage damage has been documented in large human safety reviews, and the AAP's own 2016 position is that fluoroquinolones are reasonably safe in children absent an equally effective alternative. The blanket "risk of arthropathy" framing in the original overstates the strength of the human evidence relative to the animal data it's extrapolated from.
Amoxicillin: corrected/updated — original's flat 40-50mg/kg/day is the older standard dose, correct only for strep pharyngitis; AAP now recommends HIGH-DOSE 80-90mg/kg/day for AOM, sinusitis, and CAP specifically due to resistant S. pneumoniae.
Cephalexin (replacing cephradine): cephradine (Velosef) is no longer marketed in the US; cephalexin (Keflex) is the current FDA-approved US-standard first-generation oral cephalosporin and was substituted for the same indications.
Domperidone — removed entirely: confirmed via FDA.gov and LactMed that domperidone has never been approved for any human use in the US; it is accessible only through a restricted Expanded Access IND program, and that program's supply was recently discontinued per FDA. Combined with the earlier finding that the original compilation's dose was itself roughly 5x the EMA safety maximum, this drug was removed rather than corrected. Metoclopramide (Reglan), the FDA-approved US alternative for the same indications, was added in its place with its own boxed warning noted.
Drotaverine and hyoscine butylbromide — removed: DrugBank confirms drotaverine (Nospa) is not approved by the FDA, EMA, or Health Canada. FDA/DailyMed records confirm hyoscine butylbromide (Buscopan) is FDA-approved only for veterinary use in the US (Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health) — there is no human-use approval. Both removed with no direct US substitute added, since their indications (general antispasmodic use) are typically managed differently in US pediatric practice.
Ranitidine — currency update: withdrawn from the US market in April 2020 (NDMA contamination), but FDA approved a reformulated, NDMA-free ranitidine in November 2025 per FDA's own Drug Safety and Availability page — it has returned to the US market. This reversal postdates most people's understanding of ranitidine's status and is worth flagging explicitly.
Documented off-label pediatric uses: added throughout the database where well-established (azithromycin's anti-inflammatory role in CF, oral vancomycin for C. difficile, furosemide/dexamethasone in evolving BPD, fluconazole NICU prophylaxis, ondansetron for cyclic vomiting, aspirin for Kawasaki disease being guideline-driven rather than FDA-labeled, and others). Drugs with zero legal US availability for human use (domperidone, drotaverine, hyoscine butylbromide) remain excluded regardless of how they're used elsewhere — off-label still requires the drug to be a legally marketed FDA-approved product in the US for some indication, which those three are not.
All 104 entries in this database have been individually checked against a primary or authoritative source. Cross-check against a current US formulary (Lexicomp Pediatric, current FDA labeling) before clinical use, particularly for narrow-therapeutic-index drugs, off-label uses, and any IV push medication.