DD has only ever slept through the night with painkillers

[Yadhap]

Expecting to get flamed by some for this but would really appreciate anyone who could help me make sense of this.

DD is 14 months old. Was a decent sleeper from birth but all went downhill at 3m and she was absolutely dreadful until 12m when she started sleeping bigger chunks each night (maybe only waking once).

We give her calpol/nurofen before bed when we think she’s teething. She has 8 teeth and currently has two molars coming through. They are halfway out but not all the way out despite the fact they first little sharp edge appeared over two months ago. She always seems to be teething - I think hers take a while to move but I’m always hesitant to blame everything on teeth.

In the last couple of months she’s slept through the night a few times but ONLY when she’s had calpol/nurofen before bed. So for example, in the last seven days she’s slept through the night after having calpol before bed but the two nights we didn’t give her anything she took ages to go to sleep and also woke in the night for 1hr and we ended up having to give her calpol to get her back down.

Can anyone help me make sense of this? Surely if she was in that much pain she’d wake again when the calpol wore off? Can teething really cause this? Or is it a complete coincidence?

I feel like I give her too much calpol. I don’t have an issue giving it to her if I know she’s in pain but if I gave it to her every night she’s teething I would have had to give it to her every night for the past two months as that is genuinely how long these molars have been coming through.

Wow so quite a lot of debate here. I knew I’d get a tough time from some and that’s fine. I will try and cover everything off here.

I do not expect my child to sleep through the night. She’s been a rubbish sleeper most of her life and I’m fine with that. I’ve not sleep trained her - it’s not for me - so I feed her to sleepy and encourage her to fall asleep on her own in the cot which works fine for me and I accept she absolutely may wake in the night and that’s fine.

My question was, if the ONLY way she seems to sleep through is with a dose of calpol before bed, could she possibly be in pain all the time? (I know it doesn’t have sedative effects ) so it’s not a question of me wanting her to sleep through and this is how I achieve it; it’s a question of, if this makes her sleep through, why?

She does struggle with her teeth - she dribbles all the time, she regularly bites and chews things (especially during breastfeeds ) so my natural conclusion, a lot of the time, is her teeth are bothering her too much to sleep. If she seems okay we don’t give it to her... we don’t give it “just in case”.

She was at A&E not 3 weeks ago when she spiked a very high temp - they checked her over for signs of infection and that was fine so I don’t think it’s her ears but will speak to GP anyway as many have suggested.

She does have CMPA which we manage well - I think she often has a bit of tummy ache. It’s hard to know at this age isn’t it

We haven’t been able to use powders because they contain lactose but we do use anbesol during the day if she’s suffering and apply before bed but it’s not enough. When I asked the pharmacist some time ago he recommended calpol/nurofen. If you had a toothache as an adult and couldn’t sleep because of it, you’d reach for the paracetamol surely?

We don’t use calpol brand every time - mostly we use boots own. We always get the sugar free one and aim past her teeth and brush after but yes, I do worry about her teeth.

I do struggle with the idea she’s psychologically addicted to it and to try a placebo. She’s too young for that surely and she hates taking it most of the time anyway. We also don’t give it at exactly the same time each evening; sometimes it will be downstairs after dinner, sometimes in the bath and sometimes in her room during story time.

We only ever give the one dose before bed and occasionally she has a second dose in the night if (after hours of trying other things) she can’t settle without. I think we’ve only ever given it in the daytime when she had her vaccinations. She has never had more than the stated dose.

I’m going to speak to the GP. I don’t want to give her as much as we do but until then, if she’s clearly in pain I’ll try a half dose and see how that goes. As one PP said there’s guilt on the other side of knowing she’s in pain and not treating accordingly.

Thank you to those who have been kind.

The australian leaflet alludes to several Preparations of paracetamol including brands containing codeine. Codeine can certainly cause drowsiness, but it is not a component of infant paracetamol preparations in the Uk The leaflet isn’t clear which preparations these side effects refer to

Thank you, that makes more sense now. I know that one of the reasons I was left in agony after my c sections was because I was only allowed paracetamol and the reason given was that it doesn't make you drowsy.

OP I think you need to ignore most of the posters on here and speak to your GP. Those criticising you for being too quick to use paracetamol could equally be criticised for withholding pain relief from their children.

@wellthatsunusual

no clue how so many of you think it's not a sedative when it's clearly listed as the most common side effect.

I have just spent ten minutes googling patient information leaflets for both Calpol and adult paracetamol because I'd never heard of it causing drowsiness but I couldn't find those listed as side effects on any of the leaflets that I found.

Indeed. No meantion by the BNF (used by pharamacists and drs etc).

bnfc.nice.org.uk/drug/paracetamol.html

Where did you find the reference to drowsiness and fatigue @fallfallfall ?

See your doctor. You can’t give a baby this many drugs without a health professional discussing it with you.
Could it be that she’s just not a great sleeper yet and you have to accept that?
None of mine slept through until 2.5-3.

If she has CMPA have you tried cutting out soya? My dd was the same and it turned out she couldn’t tolerate soya or dairy, and it was causing her to have a sore stomach through the night. There’s a link between the two allergies. Might be worth a try!

JaJaDingDong Completely agree! I do wonder if Calpol( which is paracetamol)
has a slightly addictive side effect . Different thing but after 2 months on strong painkillers ,I find it hard to sleep without one at night too! Have managed to get to 2 a day from 8 daytime.Also without wishing to alarm you ,long term use can indeed damage the Liver ,and also some studies have linked Hearing Loss to long term paracetamol as well(think it may damage sensitive nerve endings in the ear?)

Calpol doesn't have a sedative effect but being pain free means they can go off to sleep so it seems like it does. May be in the minority here but one dose of calpol before bed isn't going to cause long term damage, My eldest had terrible teething issues and I used to give calpol before bed for months. Teeth grew in, calpol stopped. Slept through again.

Terence Stephenson, professor of child health at Nottingham University, told the Telegraph: "Paracetamol doesn't have any sedative properties whatsoever and neither does Nurofen. "It's a widespread misconception that Calpol helps children to sleep.

Look she seems like she is in pain so give her the calpol. We used a generic version, a) much cheaper b) nowhere near as sweet. I can't remember which one but we bought Asda, Tesco and Sainsburys own brands. My children are now teenagers so just take a tablet instead.

Ds1 cut teeth fast, Ds2 cut teeth very slowly. It is of course painful as it is cutting its way through the gum. Ds1 lived on "calpol" at one stage, spoke to GP who said clearly he is in pain etc give him pain relief.

You are the one who has to make this decision, see your GP if you need reassurance about frequency but it isn't like you are giving her the maximum dose every day on consecutive days. It is just nights where she hasn't got a distraction to take her mind off it. Don't be so hard on yourself.

I agree with Sunflower that you should investigate other allergens. My DS3 was diagnosed with an egg allergy at 6 months but nobody suggested there could be other allergies so he wasn't diagnosed with CMPA until 15 months when he first had cows milk. He also turned out to be allergic to soya. Like your child he was always in pain at night and we got through a frightening amount of Calpol. As soon as we had cut out the allergens he became much happier and smilier and the night pain stopped. He was still a terrible sleeper though but at least it wasn't because he was in pain.

DD1 was the same as a toddler. Would sleep with painkiller but not without. We put it down to teething at the time. We got through a lot of Calpol and occasionally Nurofen.

Then we found out age 3/4 that she has a mild degree of cerebral palsy , so she probably WAS in pain a lot due to tight muscles, especially during growth spurts (which is also when teeth come through).

OP I am not suggesting your child has CP, but there may well be something going on that is causing her discomfort, if there always seems to be a correlation between sleep and Calpol. It may simply be that she is very sensitive to teething pain, or it may be low level ear infection as a pp suggested, or tummy pain (not sure if Calpol helps with that?). Either way, if you find she can sleep with it but not without it, that would be good enough reason to keep giving it in my book, as long as you are staying well within the dosage rules.

With both of my children, there was a time somewhere between 12-16m when it felt like we were giving calpol virtually every night, for about 6w. Every time we stopped, we had a grumpy, crying baby still awake at 11pm, and when we eventually gave in, and gave the paracetamol, they were asleep around 30 minutes later. We tried giving half doses, and it was difficult, but not as bad, we tried cutting it out, and again, all hell broke loose.

By the time it got to nearly 6 weeks, we were both times starting to feel really down about us medicating so much, feeling like terrible parents etc. But about that point with both, the tips of the molars started coming through, and we then tried without calpol, and it was absolutely fine.

I don't think we'd have gone for much longer, but it was one bedtime dose, and very occasionally a second in the night if inconsolable. In the months/years since, we've used very little.

Neither of my children still sleep through (3.5 and 1.5). The youngest is often up for hours at a time. But for that 6 week period for those molars, they needed that nightly medication, and nothing else worked.

They've had no I'll side effects of it.

As someone who has suffered in the past from long term pain, pain that can stop you from sleeping won't necessarily stop you from staying asleep - that's up a further level. When my toddlers woke in the night, they werr usually in a semi sleepy state, so could be fed back to sleep, without waking enough to need a further dose.

If she hates taking it then, ignore my suggestions about trying a placebo or bait and switch, she's obviously not asking for it because she likes the sweet treat. It could still be worth decreasing the dose though.

Mine has never accepted calpol at all, so we have to use suppositories on the very rare occasion that we've needed to. It's impossible to get any liquid paracetamol to stay in, even the nurses in hospital couldn't do it. I could not recommend suppository paracetamol more though, babies/toddlers don't mind at all, you know they are getting a whole dose and no-one gets frustrated or sticky. You'll need to find an understanding pharmacist, only the Polish one here will give them, or stock up when in maninland Europe.

Good luck with it all, it's clear how much you are trying to do the right thing.

@Yadhap please do try teething powders and granules as well (obviously check the label) they did make a difference to our DD that really suffered.

Your poor DD

Teething? Constant medication for teething. You do know if you have to go to the doctor with this its a safe guarding issue.

Just stop. That’s really terrible.

Please stop an see a doctor. Calpol is paracetamol, adjusted for age. Too much of it damages the liver.

@FabbyChix

Seriously shocking. I only read the title and its pretty horrific its come to that to be honest. I never gave my children any medication only as a last resort. Seems you've been using calpol to not parent

So, you’re happy to leave your children in pain?

Disgusting.

*So, you’re happy to leave your children in pain?

Disgusting*

That’s ridiculous.
Any normal person would take a baby who is continuously in pain, to a doctor. Before choosing my to attempt to medicate them to sleep.

You’ve got lots of advice OP, I just wanted to say from reading your first few posts you sound like a lovely mother and are obviously doing your best for your child. I had a terrible non sleeper too years ago, so feel your pain. I hope things improve and you get to the bottom of it.

I really am truly grateful for all the advice, suggestions and kind, supportive words from some of you. I really am just trying my best for her.

For those who are on the other end of the argument - that’s fine and I don’t blame you. I guess it reads to you like I can’t be bothered to parent but I can honestly say that’s far from the truth. I love her with all my heart and I’ve been up with her most nights since the day she was born. No one is a perfect parent and I’m just trying my best.

If you need to take painkillers over a certain amount of days then you should ideally speak to a pharmacist or Dr.
If it was teething she would need pain relief in the day. Could you speak to your health visitor?

You can distract a teething baby with granules, biscuits, something cold. I know when mines was teething he liked to gnaw on raw carrots from the fridge (I peeled them first!)

When you're nodding off aches and pains come to the forefront as there isn't anything else to distract you.

www.weleda.co.uk/shop/baby-child/teething-teeth-care/chamomile-teething-granules-15g-207002?returnurl=%2fshop%2fbaby-child%2fteething-teeth-care%2f

Lactose free teething powder