Photodisc/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Many parents are giving their children incorrect dosages of medicine, according to researchers.

In a new study published in Pediatrics, researchers tested roughly 2,100 parents to see if they could accurately measure out a dose of liquid medication using two common measuring tools — dosing cups and dosing syringes.

They found that 85 percent of these parents made at least one dosing error when dispensing liquid medication. The researchers found that 68 percent of the time, the errors would have led to an overdose. And of these parents, 21 percent made at least one large error – measuring more than twice the recommended dose.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend that parents use dosing tools with standard markings, such as oral syringes, droppers, and dosing cups, and leave the spoons in the kitchen.

The authors of the study also recommend the use of oral syringes over dosing cups, which were associated with a four-fold increase in dosing errors, especially when measuring small dose amounts.

But are parents to blame?

The researchers said that most children’s medication is in liquid form, and the wide range of measurement units and variation in labels and dosing tools for these medicines can lead to confusion and errors for parents.

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