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Original poster

When did calpol get a syringe?

60 replies

GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 08/08/2023 20:34

Really random question, but does anyone remember when calpol started coming with a syringe rather than a spoon? I need to know because in my Harry Potter fan fiction I’m writing, I want to describe the syringe that the potions teacher is using to feed poisons and antidotes to his pet ferret as like the calpol syringe (so you know, for really important reasons!). Said character (muggle born so would have had calpol) was born in 2007, but doesn’t have any younger siblings she could remember having calpol if this makes her too old.

OP posts:
Weatherwax · 08/08/2023 20:36

Definitely did in 2009 when DS was born! Beyond that I couldn't say.

LizziesTwin · 08/08/2023 20:37

I think it has since my oldest was born in 98

Badbudgeter · 08/08/2023 20:37

DS was born in 2010 and calpol came with a syringe then if that helps.

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GigiAnnna · 08/08/2023 20:41

About 12 years I think. Had first DC in 2008 and back then it was with a spoon but I worked in a nursery at the time and not long after that it was defo with a syringe.

VariationsonaTheme · 08/08/2023 20:41

Definitely by 2004.

mondaytosunday · 08/08/2023 20:43

According to Calpols own website it was 2011, but I'm sure (like PPs) that I used it earlier!

Original poster
GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 08/08/2023 20:43

Thank you all! So definitely a syringe in the early 2010s when she’d remember it. Now to poison the ferret (his name is Ignácio).

OP posts:
Clefable · 08/08/2023 20:43

2009 on Netmums, people are posting about the spoon that comes with Calpol and being suggested to get hold of a syringe to help their DC take it, so looks like after 2009 at least.

Littlefish · 08/08/2023 20:44

Dd was born in 2004. Calpol had syringes then.

Clefable · 08/08/2023 20:44

That 2009 post talks about Nurofen having a syringe while Calpol doesn't, so maybe it's one of those Mandela effect things that people remember it having one so much earlier.

Mousehoel · 08/08/2023 20:45

LizziesTwin · 08/08/2023 20:37

I think it has since my oldest was born in 98

My youngest was born in 2000 and only nurofen had a syringe. Calpol had a double ended flimsy spoon.
By the time my youngest was born in 2011 they had syringes.

Cookerhood · 08/08/2023 20:46

My youngest was born in 2001 & only nurofen had syringes then. I remember thinking what a great idea it was & wondering why Calpol didn't do the same.

JoanThursday · 08/08/2023 20:55

My eldest was born in 2009 and there were definitely spoons for calpol then. I've still got a couple in my cutlery drawer!

northerngoldilocks · 08/08/2023 20:57

My eldest was born in 2011 and only Nurofen had a syringe. Calpol still came with a spoon. Sometime around him being 1-2 I think it changed. Might have been officially earlier but shops had old stock to use up

CurlewKate · 08/08/2023 20:58

Had them in 1995...

PuttingDownRoots · 08/08/2023 20:59

My eldest was 2011 and some bottles had syringes and some had spoons. I know for generic stuff the pharmacist asked if I wanted spoon or syringe (we lived rurally so the doctor would often prescribe for a sick child so we could get it from the in house pharmacy instead of going into town)

CurlewKate · 08/08/2023 21:00

@GetTheGoodLookingGuy Not relevant-but I do wonder how many other fanfic writers there are on here and how we could tempt them out!

Mrburnshound · 08/08/2023 21:01

I dont remember dsib having syringes in the mid 90s. So since then!

Woman2023 · 08/08/2023 21:02

I really can't remember. Children born pre-2000 and it feels like I used syringes with them, although maybe I saved them from other medicine?

The weird purple syringe that comes with calpol now is bizarre, but I've only come across that by buying it for my elderly mother.

kimonoblues · 08/08/2023 21:02

Had syringes in 1995

BungleandGeorge · 08/08/2023 21:03

It might make a difference whether it’s the baby one or 6 plus. I thought the 6 plus had a spoon more recently that 2011

Original poster
GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 08/08/2023 21:08

CurlewKate · 08/08/2023 21:00

@GetTheGoodLookingGuy Not relevant-but I do wonder how many other fanfic writers there are on here and how we could tempt them out!

Totally relevant! Maybe we could start a thread? I’ve been writing this series since ~2011! I picked up Year 4 last year after a long hiatus, wrote about 50,000 words in a few months and am now 8 chapters and 173 pages (I won’t know how many words until I type it up) into Year 5. I have so many notes about all the little things that happen, but no plot as such!

OP posts:
Bookchildtable · 08/08/2023 21:08

Eldest was born in 2004 and when I got prescription calpol they'd often add a syringe to the packet but wasn't a 'calpol' syringe. If I bought it it was a spoon. Youngest born 2009 and I think they were probably toddler age when I can remember them coming with one.

Zwicky · 08/08/2023 21:09

Oldest born in 2002 and I definitely had syringes when he was little but I think ibuprofen had syringes before calpol.

Zanatdy · 08/08/2023 21:10

DD born in 2008 and it wasn’t that early, so 2011 I’d say is correct. Ibuprofen had a syringe earlier I believe, and you could always get a syringe from the chemist, even back when my eldest (30 soon) was little I’m sure

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