Phenegon ..in the 1970s

[Pugsrus]

Did you have a child in the 1970s ,would it of been common practice to regularly give it your child/ baby to make them sleep .

Yep. I am a child of the 70s, my parents regular gave us Phenergan before they went out. They didn’t just leave us to pass out, they got babysitters too. Phenergan was also used for travel sickness.

@GreenPop yes it was linked to cot death in babies because it can suppress breathing

I have my old 'Made in Sheffield' baby book, the local equivalent of today's Red Book given by the HV.

My mother's handwriting carefully documents:

Age - 4 weeks: Roomba is not sleeping. HV advised to consider thicker bottle at bedtime.

Age - 6 weeks: Roomba still not sleeping. GP prescribed Phenergan. Fingers crossed!

It continues it that vein for months, I was given rusk in bottles from a few weeks old too. None of it worked - my mother was almost sectioned after my father walked in on her threatening through gritted teeth to jump on me if I 'didn't go to fucking sleep' aged 7 months! That was after they'd BOTH been to the GP together about my sleeping - GP looked at my father worriedly, noted how exhausted HE looked, and prescribed him sleeping tablets so the 'noise didn't disturb him'!

Mind you, when I had DS in 2005, I was amazed how many at my baby group gave their babies Medised regularly...

Yes, can be bought here as an antihistamine - I've got some, but I only take them if desperate because they make me feel sleepy for 24 hours. I once literally fell asleep on a work conference call (fortunately not a video call) after taking one.

Thinking about it, my mum also used to give it to my little sister before car journeys. She got horrendously travel sick without it - still does and she's 40 now!

yes. i remember it being used. My mother used to joke aboiut it. She was a nurse. When DC1 was a baby we had to fly and she told me to go off to the chemist and ask for it. Innocent me did that and the look I got. I thought they were going to call SS.

I am an 80s child and was given it regularly

It fixed my child couple of years ago. She had never slept. Ever. Our lovely doctor really persuaded me to give it to her for 1 week. It was magic. Reset her clock and now she sleeps well and is rarely ill. She was ill all the time before then.

My child was a non sleeper. 2003. I only gave him medised when he was really poorly but the difference in sleep was phenomenal.

I remember when they banned/reformulated Medised. Tons of Mumsnetters complaining that they couldn’t drug their kids to sleep anymore 🙃

We were on holiday last year and my ds had a, very blocked nose he could hardly breathe and the chemist gave him Dozol, it's paracetamol and diphenhydramine, absolutely wiped him out but worked a treat, not seen it available here.

my mother was almost sectioned after my father walked in on her threatening through gritted teeth to jump on me if I 'didn't go to fucking sleep' aged 7 months!

When I was on the gynae ward in Barnsley I with hyperemisis, there was a lady next to me in her 80s who had been taken in a psychiatric hospital for crying with exhaustion when her baby wouldn’t sleep. I can’t remember which number baby it was, but it wasn’t her first and she had 7 or 8. She spent 3 months in Middlewood Psychiatric Hospital in Sheffield (now flats!). Her husband had to sign to say he would be responsible for her actions when she was discharged. I think she said that he’d had the option not to sign, and to forher to stay there indefinitely. This would have been 1940/50s.

I took Dd on a long flight in 2002, just after her 1st birthday, I'd gone to a big name chemist to ask about cream to put on any bites, and when I told her what I was doing she recommended piriton so Dd would sleep through the flight.
I bought it, but didn't need it.

It's on sale in my local chemist. It's amazing stuff. Dd had a panicky reaction to feeling and worrying about being travel sick on the plane so asked for something that would chill her out too. We only give her the travel sickness dose, not the light sedative dose it also lists on the pack and she's fine.

I was given phenergan in the early 70s as a non sleeping infant. I was in the high as a kite reaction group. My mum is still pissed off that even that didn’t work, I think.

I miss medised

Saved my life when DS was a non sleeping asshole. Used maybe max of 5 times over a period of 6 months when he was a toddler.

Honestly saved my life. Sleep deprivation is torture. Actual torture.

I had it for travel sickness in 70s and 80s vile stuff! When I worked in a chemist in 2000s the pharmacist usually refused to sell it.

My mum gave it to my brother. He slept all day and stayed awake at night. She tried to reverse this but the gp said give him phenergan in the evening and in a couple of weeks it was OK! You can still buy it!

That's my point dementedpixie! That we group drugs by what we want them to be doing as though they're a dedicated tool for that purpose, and call other things side effects. Hardly anyone ever calls quetiapine an antihistamine but it is…

@DramaAlpaca You may be thinking of Phensedyl. It was a compound liquid, and we had a lot of addicts trying to buy it.
The other syrup used to sedate children was Vallergan (Trimeprazine) I worked in a children's hospital and they used it pre-operatively. And yes, it did make some kids hyper.

I remember my brother being given Phenergan as a child, he’s 4 years younger than me. I was a poor sleeper as a child, but I would lie and read, so I don’t think I got dosed.

Brother gave it to his DS on a flight to US, made him hyperactive. I suspect that may be why DB was given it as a child, especially as only 15 months younger than my sister who had medical issues as a child.

Dozol and Teedex are the same as Medised & still available in Ireland (according to a quick google).

I loved having Medised to give to my babies (born 94, 98, 02) when they were ill, it was marketed as containing a decongestant (the sleep inducing antihistamine ingredient).
It was originally from 3 months, then repackaged for over 2 years, then over 6 years before being discontinued due to children being overmedicated. It was strawberry flavoured, worked a treat
Calpol also briefly made Calcold & Calpol Night that also contained the same ingredients before all these sedating medicines were withdrawn.