Not all parents are confident in offering effective healthcare to their children, with 19% saying they don’t feel confident knowing which non-prescription remedies can be used together. This signals a need for brands to provide more guidance to empower parents to give their children the best care possible.
The primary threat to the category is the declining birth rate, reducing demand for products in the category in the long-term. This will mean brands, and the category, will struggle to grow.
However, brands have significant opportunities to evolve products and marketing to align with consumer needs. For example, 55% of parents who have used a pain relief product for their child have done so to ease an exercise-related ailment. Marketing and topical analgesics that tap into this unmet need can drive spending.
This report looks at the following areas:
- How to offset the negative impact of a declining birth rate on the children’s healthcare category
- The impact of trading down behaviours on the category
- Ways to respond to parents’ desire for holistic healthcare and lifestyle advice
- Claims and innovation that could encourage parents to spend more in the category
- Opportunities for brands to pivot into the VMS category
The children’s healthcare category faces a declining birth rate, forcing brands to pivot and innovate to manage the impact of reduced demand.
Georgia Stafford, Beauty & Personal Care Analyst
Market Definitions
For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:
Children are defined as those aged 0-15.
As well as reviewing general attitudes and behaviours towards children’s health, this Report covers the market for children’s OTC and healthcare products, including remedies for the following ailments suffered by children:
- Cold and flu
- Fever and pain
- Head lice
- Allergies
- Skin conditions (including nappy rash)
- Teething pain
- Gastrointestinal upset (ie colic, diarrhoea, constipation).
A market size has been produced based on children’s OTC remedies for the above ailments, excluding products for head lice, skin conditions, and teething pain.
OTC medicines are defined as products with either a ‘P’ or ‘GSL’ licence, issued under the Medicines Act 1968 and related EU (European Union) legislation, and enforced by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) and the CHM (Commission on Human Medicines). They are defined by the Proprietary Association of Great Britain as being:
“Specifically designed to treat the symptoms of common, minor and self-limiting ailments that do not require a medical diagnosis.”
The two categories of OTC medicines are:
- P – Pharmacy-only products, which can only be sold in a premise when a pharmacist is present and under their supervision
- GSL – General Sales List, which can be sold in any premise.
Excluded:
- POM (prescription-only medicines), which are prescribed by an appropriately qualified prescriber, usually a doctor, and dispensed by a pharmacist.
- Vitamin and mineral supplements.
- Products such as homeopathic and other complementary medicines.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- Opportunities for the children’s healthcare market
- Combat the impact of trading down
- Relieve parents’ stress through technology
- Provide holistic health support
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Children’s healthcare market size and forecast
- The outlook for the children’s healthcare category
- Value sales will struggle to grow beyond inflation
- Graph 1: market forecast for children’s over-the-counter healthcare, 2019-30
- Cough cold and flu rates support demand
- Analgesics brands benefit from decongestant sales
- H&B retailers can assert their expertise
- Graph 2: retail value sales of children’s over-the-counter healthcare products, by retailer type, 2024-25
- Prepare for social, political and economic factors
- What consumers want and why
- Help parents create toolkits for treating ailments
- Graph 3: infectious ailments experienced by children aged 0-15 in the last 12 months, 2025
- Graph 4: non-infectious ailments experienced by children aged 0-15 in the last 12 months, 2025
- Provide clear advice on effective home remedies
- Graph 5: treatments sought for children’s ailments in the last 12 months, 2025
- Develop apps to guide parents
- Graph 6: sources of guidance used for children’s OTC remedies, 2025
- Parents prepare for the worst
- Graph 7: usage of children’s healthcare products and services in the last 12 months, 2025
- Convenience can win over consumers
- Graph 8: interest in children’s healthcare products and services, 2025
- Address the impact of unhealthy lifestyles
- Graph 9: attitudes towards children’s health, 2025
- Innovation and marketing
- New launches appeal to parents looking for value
- Calpol advertising helps assert its expertise
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MARKET DYNAMICS
- Market size
- The children’s healthcare category is not expected to grow in 2025
- Budgeting parents impact the category
- Market forecast
- Forecast – note on US trade disruption
- The impact of US trade disruption for the children’s healthcare market
- Long-term growth is set to be weak
- Graph 10: market forecast for children’s over-the-counter healthcare, 2019-30
- Competition from value brands is rising
- Market segmentation
- Cough liquids set to outperform the wider category
- Brands can boost growth in the gastrointestinal remedies segment
- Market share
- Market leaders lose out due to savvy shopping
- Budgeting behaviours benefit own-label
- Channels to market
- Discounters expected to fare best in a declining category
- Health and beauty retailers can stress their expertise
- Market drivers
- Parents’ financial situation will guide their purchases
- Graph 11: financial confidence over the coming year, 2025
- Manage the short- and long-term effects of norovirus
- Offset the impact of a decline in the number of live births
- Graph 12: number of live births, 1998-2025
- The impact of US tariffs and the Critical Medicines Act
- Prepare for the influence of AI on the category
- Rates of ailments and illnesses
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WHAT CONSUMERS WANT AND WHY
- Infectious ailments experienced by children
- Colds far outrank other infectious ailments experienced by children
- Graph 13: infectious ailments experienced by children aged 0-15 in the last 12 months, 2025
- Provide treatment advice alongside remedies
- Use on-pack labels to ensure parents use the right remedies for chickenpox symptoms
- Warmer weather could trigger more lice cases
- Non-infectious ailments experienced by children
- Help parents create ailment toolkits
- Graph 14: non-infectious ailments experienced by children aged 0-15 in the last 12 months, 2025
- Create headache toolkits for parents of teens
- GI remedy brands can extend their expertise to children’s health
- Get ahead of the curve with hay fever remedies
- Treatments used for children’s ailments
- Provide clear advice on effective home remedies
- Home remedies rival OTC solutions
- Respond to first aid purchase priorities
- Graph 15: attributes considered most important when purchasing first aid products, by parental status, 2024
- Launch toothache products for older children
- Sources of guidance on children’s non-prescription remedies
- Sources of guidance for children’s OTC remedy
- Graph 16: sources of guidance for children’s OTC remedies, 2025
- Leverage brand expertise using apps
- Fact check advice from parents’ peers
- Parents trust the experts
- Make in-store pharmacists more accessible
- Usage of and interest in children’s healthcare products and services
- Parents are forward-thinking about their child’s health
- Graph 17: usage of children’s healthcare products and services in the last 12 months, 2025
- Parents seek out easy to use formats
- Graph 18: interest in children’s healthcare products and services, 2025
- Help parents take a preventative approach to health
- Boost usage of easy-to-ingest formats
- Introduce parents to the benefits of tech
- Attitudes towards children’s healthcare product and services
- Empower parents with further guidance
- Graph 19: attitudes towards children’s healthcare products and services, 2025
- Embed remedy advice into healthcare apps
- Sponsor young athletes to show the relevance of analgesics to parents
- Parents’ concerns regarding their children’s health
- Address the impact of unhealthy lifestyles
- Graph 20: parents’ concerns regarding their children’s health, 2025
- Help families disconnect with pop-ups
- Look to food and drink to make health advice engaging
- Raise awareness of microbiome health
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INNOVATION AND MARKETING TRENDS
- Launch activity and innovation
- A rise in relaunches shows a need for true innovation
- Graph 21: new product launches in the children’s OTC healthcare market, by launch type, 2021-25
- Piriteze relaunches, now targetting a wider audience
- Private label innovation offers parents affordable remedies
- Children’s healthcare launches are steady year-on-year
- Graph 22: share of UK healthcare launches in select segments* carrying a babies, children or teen claim, 2020-25
- M&S targets family shoppers
- Take learnings from the VMS category
- Graph 23: launches of VMS products with a babies, childrens or teens claim, by top 10 claims (by 2024), 2023-24
- VMS launches focus on holistic health
- Advertising and marketing activity
- TV continues to dominate adspend
- Calpol continues its partnership with the NSPCC
- Boots focuses on expertise and value
- Partner with parent influencers
- Prove the benefits of novel formats
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APPENDIX
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Market size and forecast
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value)
- Forecast methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Market definition
- Abbreviations and terms
- Consumer research methodology
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
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