Mumsnet Talk

for example, when it says 5 mls every 4 hours, can you give 2.5 mls every 2 hours? (not prescription medicine)

no, 2.5ml probably won't do anything, it needs to be the recommended dose at the recommended time so it's more effective.

That's what i thought but i was pondering while dosing up DC3 with neurofen before!

Neurofen works quite quickly, it's better at reducing a temp then paracetamol, you can use both together, just alternate them, neurofen first, then paracetamol.

We only had Neurofen in and it's got a wierdy dosing syringe that got melted in the toaster (don't ask!) so while i was waiting for the drips to drop onto the spoon i was pondering whether you could half dose things like Neurofen and paracetamol based meds.

no you cant split the dose to every 2 hours as it is takes 8 hours to break down in the blood and you would cause an overdose situation in the blood. Alawys stick to proper regime. Nurofen 3 times a day with or just after food and paracetamol 4 times a day. as belle says you can alternate if you want but stick to the correct dosages and times.

NICE (national institute for clinical excellence) say not to alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen for fever (it is OK for pain).It is also the advice NHS Direct will give as its part of their script. However this latest research says
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7592585.stm

It appears NICE says this because it thinks mums are too thick to remember what they've given and may overdose?

Personally for a mild fever and a relatively well child I would do 4 x calpol and 1 dose of brufen (provided both worked) then full cover is given over a 24 hour period. For a high fever and an unwell child I would def alternate and to hell with what NICE say.

Just to clarify: I did not split the dose. Nor did i give neurofen as well as calpol - only neurofen. And i write the times down and stick them to the bottle so that there is no confusion over timings.

thats what i have to do portrait otherwise i loose track of times

Ijust thought i should come back and clarify for future thread readers!

I also name the post-its and have diff colours if more than one child needs meds.

Anal i know but i do worry about overdosing them!

good mum