FORT WORTH, Texas — A runny nose or annoying cough is usually not enough to send 5-year-old Huston or his baby brother, Hogan, to the doctor's office.

But they do prompt their mother, Heidi Bryan, to visit the medicine cabinet.

"I'm one of those people who won't call the doctor until we're dying," said Bryan of Fort Worth. "Over-the-counter stuff usually does us pretty well, and I feel safe with what I'm using."

Parents have long relied on fruit-flavored cold medicines to relieve the sniffles. But concerns about the over-the-counter medications marketed for children have led the Food and Drug Administration to study safety and effectiveness of these products.

Pediatricians and others want the government to require labeling that says these medications should not be given to children younger than 6.

"Parents are unaware that many of the medications that they use on their older children have not been tested for their younger children, and that's what dangerous," said Dr. John Podgore, professor of pediatrics at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth. "There are some hazards definitely, especially for children under 2."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in January that over two years, 1,519 children under 2 were treated in emergency rooms for adverse effects and overdoses associated with cough and cold medicines. The medications also were fatal to infants who were found dead in their homes. The babies, all less than 6 months old, had levels of the decongestant pseudoephedrine that were 9 to 14 times the dosage for children 2 to 12.

There is no real "recommended" dosage for children under age 2, said Dr. Vincent Iannelli, UT Southwestern Medical Center associate professor of pediatrics. Many of the drugs have been on the market for decades and were never tested for effectiveness and safety in children under 6, he said.

Labels on all cough and cold medicines for children direct parents to contact a physician before giving them to a child under 2.