4-year-old girl dies after drinking entire bottle of cough syrup in UP
New Delhi: A four-year-old girl died in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district on Thursday morning after accidentally consuming an entire bottle of cough syrup. The tragic incident took place at a relative’s house in Peradi village, where the child had travelled with her family to attend a function.
The child had gone to the village alongside her mother, Rehana, and her grandmother, Shabina Begum, to attend a naming ceremony on November 5. According to the family members, a 70-year-old relative had been unwell with a persistent cough and had taken a dose of medicine from a bottle kept inside the room at around 7:15 pm on Wednesday.
While playing in the room, the child noticed the bottle, picked it up, and drank the entire contents. She then walked over to her grandmother, handed her the empty bottle, asked her to put the cap back on, and mentioned that she had swallowed the liquid.
Child fell asleep after playing
Her grandmother, Shabina Begum, said the medicine belonged to a relative and had been left inside the house. She shared that the child continued playing for a short while after drinking the syrup before falling asleep. The family assumed she had simply dozed off due to exhaustion from the day’s events.
Concern grew on Thursday morning when the four-year-old did not wake up by 10 am. Worried family members immediately rushed her to a local doctor, who examined her and advised them to take her straight to a medical college for emergency care. The family reached the medical college, but doctors declared her dead at around 11:45 am.
Doctors suspect overdose
Dr Amit Anand, in-charge of the medical college’s emergency department, confirmed that the child was brought to the facility in a dead condition, with an electrocardiogram (ECG) showing no heartbeat. He noted that the family reported the child had consumed a full bottle of cough medicine.
Dr Anand said an overdose may have caused her death, though the post-mortem examination will establish the exact cause. He warned against administering or leaving cough syrups near young children without medical supervision, noting that certain ingredients can trigger severe drowsiness and life-threatening breathing difficulties in minors. The girl was the elder of two daughters, and her sudden death has left the family heartbroken.