Any doctors / pharmacists about? General question

[iklboo]

I was wondering (at about 3am the other day - insomnia does strange things)....

Paracetamol, Corsodyl etc state they aren't suitable for children under 12. What makes 12 the magic age? Is it to do with liver maturity?

Would there be a big risk in giving, say, a 11.5 year old a one off dose of paracetamol in an emergency - e.g. 2am, headache & mild fever, no junior pain relief in and no 24 hour chemist or supermarket available?

(Disclaimer - NOT thinking of doing this, nor have I done it, I was just wondering).

[feelingAncient]

12 is just the average age where people weigh enough to take 400 mg also when a lot girls start there periods and yes the liver does become more developed between 10-12 so it just works for a number of reasons.

[feelingAncient]

You could give it to 11 year olds as a one off now a days doctors give all kinds of things no matter what the age limit if a child is really ill. If you think Americans are using weed in some states for medical use paracetamol won't hurt. (Going against everything I've learnt here)😂 but really my own girls have taken paracetamol at 11 maybe even 10 nothing happened just got to make sure about allergies and all.

[scaevola]

Paracetamol is the active ingredient of ordinary calpol.

So it is both licences for and safe to use in children.

The OTC dose for paracetamol (see for example what is on Calpol 6+ Fast Melts for 9-12 year olds) is up to two tablets up to four times a day.

Each Fast Melt tablet contains 250mg paracetamol.

A typical paracetamol tablet sold for adults will contain 500mg. So giving one to a child is exactly the same as a 2 tablet dose of Calpol.

[iklboo]

Thank you - that's really helpful & useful to know