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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to give my children Medised occasionally?

80 replies

Diziet · 27/09/2010 13:46

Yes, I know it's labelled '6 years +' these days. But I used to get it when my eldest son (who is now 5) was a baby and he would have it when he had a cold. When both my boys got Chickenpox back in February they had it then (my youngest was 2 at the time, he is now 3). I KNOW the medicine itself hasn't changed, as I kept the old packaging to check. AAArgh!! Am I an Evil Mummy who should turn herself in??

OP posts:

reallytired · 27/09/2010 13:51

I think its a pity that medised was not made a prescription only medicine. Using medised for chickenpox is reasonable. The anti histamine helps with the terrible itching. However you could have given your child piraton which is still available over the counter.

My dd hasn't yet needed medised, but I don't think its evi stuff. The problem is the sheer scale of abuse when it was used as a subsitute for proper parenting. It is far easier to drug a child than to teach them to go to sleep unaided

puddlepuss · 27/09/2010 13:52

I went to a different chemist (where they didn't know the ages of my dcs) and got some. I only ever gave it to them ahem when they needed it - never ahem when they wouldn't shut up and go to sleep. Now I've run out I've found that occasionally they develop severe allergies around bedtime and ahem need piriton.

IneedacleanerIamalazyslattern · 27/09/2010 13:56

The only problem with giving it to children under the now recommended age is that the makers can now change the ingredients in it to ones that are not suitable/licensed for young children and toddlers.
I know you say you have the old packaging and check which is fair enough but people do need to be aware that it could happen at any time.

I did love medised I used it for the first time on the recommendation of the pharmacist when dd (now 7 was small) it is a shame that because of the idiocy of few means the rest of us have to go without.

Maylee · 27/09/2010 13:57

I think it's ok. I gave it to DS when the guidance was still that it was ok for 12mo+. Didn't do him any harm but would just suggest small, infrequent doses.

harassedinherpants · 27/09/2010 14:00

YANBU.

My dd is 4 and been really run down and then got tonsillitis. I used it twice last week to help her breathe at night and she got two nights of good sleep. My bottle is ancient though and she had the last two spoonfuls!!

Incidentally, when I went to the pharmacist to get her prescription they happily sold me a lovely new bottle of Medised with dd there. No questions at all. Haven't checked the label, as know dd's dose, but will have a look later.

Original poster

Diziet · 27/09/2010 14:15

It's the lesser of two evils sometimes, isn't it: risk of Medised(or poison of choice!) or risk of parent crashing car due to a week of no sleep. We only ever give them a 5ml squirt and that seems to be enough. Could be worse I s'pose. Thanks for reassurance everyone!!

OP posts:

miffyjane · 27/09/2010 14:16

Why has it been moved to 6+? I used to occasionally give it to mine if they had a temperature as babies/toddlers in place of calpol.

seeker · 27/09/2010 14:18

Meglet · 27/09/2010 14:22

You can get it on prescription as I have it for 2yo DD. She seems to produce super human amounts of snot when she gets a cold and the Medised dries it up. The GP said it was better to give her the medised than anti-biotics all the time.

ShowOfHands · 27/09/2010 14:36

RunningOutOfIdeas · 27/09/2010 14:37

YANBU if you are careful to not give other medicines containing paracetamol, and you are aware of the risks (a very small number of children died). As others have posted, Piriton can be effective for chicken pox.

For a really bad cold my DD's GP prescribes Otrivine child nasal drops. I think this is better because it just acts on the nose, not systemically. So I think it is safer than Medised. The age range for this has also been changed to 6+ years because there was a blanket change for nearly all cough / cold remedies. This was based mainly on the fact there is little data showing the effectiveness of these medicines in young children (of course there isn't - it is really difficult and expensive to do clinical trials in young children).

If you want to know more about why the age ranges were changed see here

HappyMummyOfOne · 27/09/2010 14:38

Wait for me too seeker

Jux · 27/09/2010 14:51

One of the first threads I saw on MN was a sleep threads; loads of people were saying 'Medised'. That was years ago now.

Original poster

Diziet · 27/09/2010 14:57

Hmmmm, RunningOutOfIdeas, have just looked at the link, and it does have a point. And on the whole, I'd rather not give my children anything: especially as (and I must come clean here) youngest son is on medication for a heart condition so we always leave it until we are TEARING OUR HAIR OUT OMG I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF OR HIM desperate before giving so much as a squirt of Calpol, never mind anything else. Aaargh, it should be black and white, but as ever, in Real Life, when you have an older child who needs sleep 'cos of school and a husband on shifts, it is always going to be various shades of grey...

OP posts:

HRHPrincessReality · 27/09/2010 15:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RunningOutOfIdeas · 27/09/2010 15:02

I would definitely talk to your GP then. Ask about Otrivine nasal drops. My DD has no heart problems but she does get wheezy with a cold and has been in hospital with bronchiolitis. The GP felt that the nasal drops, along with her usual inhaler, were the best way to keep her out of hospital.

Also, I rub Eucalyptus oil on her feet. I don't know why it works but it helps clear her nose and stops the endless night time coughing.

ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts · 27/09/2010 15:11

My DD had a terrible cold and an extremely high temperature and chesty cough and the doctor that saw her told us that medised would be better as it contains stuff to help dry up her nose as opposed to antibiotics.

But then the doctor told us to go and buy it from the pharmacy and not to take DD with us and to lie and say we were buying it for a 6 year old so ensure we'd be sold it. I never understood why we couldn't just have a prescription, instead of lying. Felt like I was buying something illegal.

It did help DD feel a lot better though so I would definitley use it again if she was really poorly so YANBU.

nameymcnamechange · 27/09/2010 15:16

Seeker/SOH - can you give me a one sentence summary on why the guidance on Medised has changed? What are the risky ingredients? What is the problem that has caused the change? Tia.

Concordia · 27/09/2010 15:18

i have used it when DD has a really streaming cold and can't lie down because keeps choking on all the mucus.
it really works a treat then, she dries up and goes to sleep.
i have got through a quarter of a bottle in about a year, so it's not exacdly a regular thing.
i must confess she is just 2 but i feel confident to do this as when DS had it as a baby he was about 8 months or so (legally)
i appreciate some may not agree, and will watch for the change in ingredients.
as far as i understand it's because some people were /are giving medised to healthy babies and toddlers to make them sleep.
agree it seems a much better idea than antibiotics.

comewhinewithme · 27/09/2010 15:21

I thought Medised was changed because there was a risk of children having medised and then parents may also give cough medicine which contained antihistamines in too.

GetOrfMoiLand · 27/09/2010 15:25

When I had dd (donkey's years ago) I knew someone who gave their dd Phenergan just to get her to go to sleep.

Was utterly shocked at the thought of giving a baby something in order to make them drowsy.

DD had a bag snuufly cold and the pharmacist recommended Medised (she was about 2). I gave it to her and she went loopy, like I had given her a litre of blue pop. Never seen anything like it. Gawd knows what was in the stuff.

comewhinewithme · 27/09/2010 15:27

My old neighbour also gave her 5 dc phenergen I didn't have a clue what it was until much later but she had them all in bed for 6.00pm every night .

SloanyPony · 27/09/2010 15:36

Why would an antihisamine dry up snot caused by a common cold? Are you sure they dont have allergies which is causing the snot instead? I accept that anecdotally parents suggest it dries up snot - but scientifically it doesn't make sense unless that snot is caused by an allergy.

comewhinewithme · 27/09/2010 15:47

I have always wondered this too Sloany -but I once took my dd to A&E as I thought she was having trouble breathing it turned out that the snot was just really clogging her up and making things very uncomfortable.
The Doctor on duty told me to go to the chemist first thing and buy Medised as it would be the only thing to help with the snot he also said it would be the only thing he would use on his children when they were ill.

Original poster

Diziet · 27/09/2010 15:51

@RunningOutOfIdeas: thanks, I will try the nasal drops & eucalyptus oil tips: we asked no 2 son's cardiologist about Medised and he said 'you didn't tell me about that' - ho hum!!
@comewhinewithme: Lol, I worked for a well known high street pharmacy about ten years ago on the pharmacy counter and heard about that one. Thing is, there ain't diddly squat you can do to stop people at the end of the day. It's still a pretty bad thing to do though. Could be worse though, I read a story about how this woman, now well into her 50's, can remember her mum sitting her on her knee when she was small and giving her puffs on a cigarette to calm her when she was upset.

OP posts:

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