BNF for Children aims to provide prescribers, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals with sound up-to-date information on the use of medicines for treating children.

A joint publication of the British Medical Association, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group, BNF for Children ('BNFC') is published under the authority of a Paediatric Formulary Committee.

Many areas of paediatric practice have suffered from inadequate information on effective medicines. BNFC addresses this significant knowledge gap by providing practical information on the use of medicines in children of all ages from birth to adolescence. Medicines for Children (RCPCH Publications Ltd) and the British National Formulary itself form the basis for BNFC. Information in BNFC has been validated against emerging evidence, best-practice guidelines, and crucially, advice from a network of clinical experts.

Drawing information from manufacturers' literature where appropriate, BNFC also includes a great deal of advice that goes beyond marketing authorisations (product licences). This is necessary because licensed indications frequently do not cover the clinical needs of children; in some cases, products for use in children need to be specially manufactured or imported. Careful consideration has been given to establishing the clinical need for unlicensed interventions with respect to the evidence and experience of their safety and efficacy; local paediatric formularies, clinical literature and national information resources have been invaluable in this process.

BNFC has been designed for rapid reference and the information presented has been carefully selected to aid decisions on prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines. Less detail is given on areas such as malignant disease and the very specialist use of medicines generally undertaken in tertiary centres. BNFC should be interpreted in the light of professional knowledge and it should be supplemented as necessary by specialised publications. Information is also available from medicines information services.

This website includes additional information of relevance to healthcare professionals. BNFC is also available on other digital platforms.

BNFC aims to provide information suited to the needs of the clinician and recognises that, although this edition represents a considerable advance in the content and presentation of information on the paediatric use of medicines, further changes will be necessary. Comments from healthcare professionals are therefore very welcome. Please read the guidance about submitting comments on the Contacts page, and then, if appropriate, send your comments and constructive criticism to:

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