How soon can I give paracetamol?

[TheBabyAteMyBrain]

2 year old has a nasty cold, has a fondness for extreme temperatures and ambulance rides.

He's had a coughing fit at 8.10 and vomited, most likely disposing of the ibuprofen given at 8pm. Temperature isn't coming down, how soon can I give paracetamol? We need to avoid a spike if at all possible.

Help!

Now? Doesn’t sound like he’s had any so not sure why you wouldn’t?

Because at last admission we were told at least 3 hours in between the drugs. It's not been a hour yet since he had ibuprofen.

Ring 111 for advice or find an out of hours chemist?

It’s fine to give paracetamol now assuming that he hasn’t had any within the last 4 hours.

Go ahead with the paracetamol

You need to follow the advice, or try and talk to an out of hours doctor/pharmacist.

Have you done cool flannels/thin clothing etc?

If he vomited 10 minutes after the ibuprofen I'd give paracetamol now since he's unlikely to have absorbed much of it if any - also I'd never heard of this 3 hour rule.

Do the posters saying go ahead with the paracetamol know the advice is different in children under 16 compared with adults?

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/can-i-give-my-child-paracetamol-and-ibuprofen-at-the-same-time/

Yes .

Because at last admission we were told at least 3 hours in between the drugs. It's not been a hour yet since he had ibuprofen.

So what are you asking us for? Did you want us to do the maths? 11pm.

A small amount.. of any of the ibuprofen is likely to have been absorbed.
If it were me, I’d be giving the paracetamol.. to deal with the temperature issue then waiting the 6-8 hours to repeat the ibuprofen... if it is needed based on symptoms at that time.

To me the threat of febrile convulsions.. and an emergency ambulance...as op suggests has been an issue in the past vs a dose of paracetamol that may prevent this, I know which option I prefer.

Yeah he's stripped down, wet flannels aren't advised anymore.

No paracetamol since yesterday, last ibuprofen was yesterday bedtime.

Temperature seems to be playing games. He got bad Sunday night, no temperature Monday morning, medicine given to ease sore throat and headache Monday afternoon /evening. Been coldy but okay all day them temperature started rising after dinner/bath time.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat I'm asking because I'm unsure on the right thing to do. Surely that's obvious, I would rather avoid my child getting seriously ill again. I've had a week of no sleep due to this cold going through a teething baby and now the toddler, I'm on my own, running on low and to be honest running out of brain power. But fortunately I can still add 8+3. Thanks though 👍

From my twins admissions they seem to advise this to give a more consistent level of cover.

Likelihood is he’s absorbed very little of the ibuprofen. If it were me I would give it and wait six hours before giving any more ibuprofen as if he’d had the full dose, but if you’re concerned about doing so I’d call 111.

From the NHS advice If you give them one of these medicines and they're still distressed before the next dose is due, you could try the other medicine instead. Doesn’t specify a time frame for this.

Give him the paracetamol now if he hasn't had any since yesterday. Then 6 hours from the ibuprofen give him that again if he's still feverish and uncomfortable. Obviously if you're worried about him call 111

Used to work at nhsdirect so gave this advice out all the time

You can safely give him paracetamol now

On Our last admission for convulsions the nurse said it was fine to give together if need be. She suggested it was more to give the child a constant relief as opposed to being dangerous for them

Op you have had a rough week, paracetamol for little one then cake & a brew for you xxx

Thanks all, paracetamol has been given and notes of timings have been made on my phone to remind me for the night.

Sorry for being snippy.

@SinkGirl we usually operate on a 3 hour schedule to avoid any peaks and dips as advised by the hospital. 6 hours between each medicine but 3 hours between doses. Apart from Sunday he hasn't had a temperature just been showing signs of discomfort in his throat and head so was using for pain relief rather than temperature control. He just started to climb again this evening and it was raising fast really hope this doesn't set the tone for the rest of the season.

He's Had calpol now at say 9.30 so i would go again with calpol at 01.30 am and then i would do nurofen at 04.30am and more calpol at 07.30am and thats you back into the 3 hours alternating
its unlikely he has absorbed any of the ibuprofen we have had multiple hospital admissions in fact ive lost count it was literally at least twice every month from september-june for 2 whole years and the ambulance rides are into the 10's now with chest infections and high temperatures usually accompany these and anytime shes thrown up a dose pretty much straight after or within 10 minutes of it being given the hospital have just repeated the dose. but i wouldnt do that at home myself without advice from the GP out of hours !

fingers crossed you have a settled night

The advantage to doing it the 3 hour way is that you get more hours of coverage almost covering the complete 24 hours with the 3 daily doses of nurofen and 4 of calpol (in 24hours) if u are just using calpol then what will happen is you will be giving it every 4 hours so you will actually not have enough doses in a 24 hours period to cover 24 hours ! so u are left with about 4-6 hours of not allowed anymore calpol doses especially if they have been awake needing dosed up in the nighttime hours !

Fingers crossed for you. It’s awful to be so anxious of bugs and things getting out of hand, we have the same here for different medical reasons.

I currently have an awful bug with a raw throat, high temps and pain everywhere so it may be the same thing - hopefully it passes quickly

Very true Heinz - when DT2 had chicken pox we had a night where we couldn’t give anything as he’d already had max of calpol (and needed it) plus no ibuprofen. He screamed literally all night, it was horrific.