to give my 3 year old a dose of piriton before a long flight?

[gemmalovestiggy]

DD 3 is very hard work, stuggles to sit still for longer than 10mins. Whilst getting holiday jabs nurse said "large dose of piriton before take off should do the trick".....kind of thought she was joking but I am very tempted!! AIBU?

Sorry but I'm shocked that so many people would and have drugged their kids to keep them quiet on a flight! Who gives a shit if they are disturbing people? I would sooner hear children play up than know that they have been unnecessarily medicated! What do mums do on long car journeys? When they have to wait a long time at the doctors/hospital etc? Absolute madness. If you can't control your kids on a flight then don't book one. And I don't mean kids with a medical need who would have prescribed medication. You can have a reaction to medication even if you have used it safely before. I am as as ever when I see one of these threads. Irresponsible and lazy parenting. It's done primarily to save parents the embarrassment of having a noisy child whatever anyone says.

We're travelling to Oz next week with our 16m old. I am now very scared. DD doesn't like sitting in one place for very long, and I'm not sure any amount of little toys, books, chocolate buttons or whatever will do it for her for the 20-odd hours of the journey. Am not planning to drug her though, although we may take some Calpol with us. We have no choice about the journey as my mum lives in Oz, is not able to travel and otherwise will never meet her only grandchild.

By the end of a 4 hour flight, our active 2 year old DS is usually miserable at being confined and had exhausted all the different activities that we have brought with us to entertain him. We plan holidays with a maximum 4 hour flight time because it is the maximum he can cope with currently.

We have no plans to take our kids on a long haul flight, but if we did, I would take a sedative in my hand luggage and be prepared to use it. Sedation is usually for the good of the child as much as for anyone else. I would rather that DS was in a chemically induced sleep than sitting miserable for hours. How odd to think that it is always for the convenience of the parents and it is lazy parenting. There will always be people that misuse medication, but occasion use in these circs is fine.

Sorry "occasionAL use in these circs is fine."

Species, if you have, take a small handheld console with. Dh's PSP has been a lifesaver - LocoRoco a favourite game from very early. I take sticker books, tiny cars, story books etc with as well, but these can overexcite a tired toddler in my experience - good at other times though. If you have an Ipad, preload it with a couple of movies, stories etc. I find that easier than relying on the inflight entertainment, and a relaxing movie works really well when ds is tired but not ready to fall asleep. Oh, and take good and comfortable ear phones for dd.

So we should drug are children when they are likely to be bored/miserable or having a paddy? Drugs have side effects. You can have a reaction to a drug if you have never head one previously - that's why they should only be used when necessary - ie a child is ill.
I have a 3-year-old and she wouldn't be happy on a long haul flight with a few crayons (they wouldn't even keep her entertained for a few seconds as she hates colouring) but there are lots of things you can do to entertain/distract a 3-year-old. They would have a meal which would take up a while, there are films to watch which would take up a couple of hours, you could play eye-spy, have conversations, read/make up stories, read and do the activities in magazines, play with small toys, have a snack/drink, play games with pen and paper, listen to music, look out of the window at the clouds and see what shapes they make - the list is endless. They might even sleep a while without being drugged. It would be difficult but people do it. Unless your child has specific needs it should be possible. And if your child does have specific needs then surely something provided by a doctor would be better than dishing out antihistamines yourself?

If it were me and I really expected a problem I would go and see the GP for her advice. That way, I would know what I was doing/giving a child was okay and not going to have any adverse effects.

FWI I have had to sedate my youngest in the past (not on a flight) in order for her to sleep but this was on the advice of my GP and with prescribed medication for a specific reason.

If you suspect they might be miserable, (and I mean very anguished rather than just a bit grizzly) on a long flight and you can't postpone the trip until they are older and better able to cope, then why not have some in your carry on bag, along with all the usual entertainment options. It should be prescribed by GP and tested in advance on the ground. You don't have to use it but it is there if needed.

Being prepared and making a judgement in the situation is being organised and a good parent. Genuine mental anguish is treated with medication, as is physical pain. Yes drugs can have side effects, which is why you as a parent must make a judgement call on whether to use drugs, as you do when your child has a physical pain. I fail to see why this approach is so controversial.

We won't fly long haul until the children are old enough to cope with a long flight, but not everyone has that option, particularly those that have family abroad. Please cut them some slack.

YANBU.Some people have just no sense of proportion - don't seem to see a difference between doing it once for a long flight and doing it regularly.It's a one off which save you ,the fellow passengers and probably your DD lots of anguish.As long as you've used it before and are keeping to the prescribed dose for that age then it is really a no brainer as far as i can see.

No prob whatsoever if it's prescribed by a GP - which it would be if it was needed. I do have a problem with mothers dishing out drugs with a sedative side effect just to keep their kids quiet on a plane. Same as the mums who give their kids Calpol at night because they think it has a sedative effect on them.

I travelled long haul with my 2 young children and the excitement of being on a plane meant they were absolute angels for 9 hours. But they didn't sleep. DD then starting throwing up through absolute exhaustion/motion sickness.

So will I use Medised next time we fly longhaul, if they need to sleep and won't settle? Yes. It is an anti-histamine so helps with nausea, clears and congestion in their ears and nose so helps with discomfort from air pressure, and the side-effect is drowsiness. The paracetamol helps with aches/stiffness from fatigue or sitting still.

Not comparable to gin etc. We very, very rarely have to use medicines at home, but if one of my children is uncomfortable, I'll give them an appropriate medicine.

And if a child is screaming for 4 hours, I'd guess they are over-tired, unwell or uncomfortable, not just bored or in need of choc buttons!

' I do have a problem with mothers dishing out drugs with a sedative side effect just to keep their kids quiet on a plane.'

why?

Thanks MisSalLaneous, we haven't got a PSP or an iPad! [scared emoticon]! Am hoping the tv/films on the Emirates flight will interest DD, always fly them to Oz and it's usually pretty good (fingers crossed). Flying Business so hoping the cabin crew will be amenable to some distractions as well .

YANBU at all. Even slightly.

My parents both worked for British Airways and once on a flight back from Sydney there was only one space in first class which my mother took as she was very unwell so my father slipped half a (strong) sleeping pill - none of this piriton shiz - into my drink. I slept all the way home, woke up refreshed, so did he. Everyone won. To be honest I think they drugged me regularly for long flights and we laugh about it now - no harm was done. Why make parenting more hard than it has to be?

To all those judging the OP who have mentioned 'bribing with chocolate' - why do you consider this okay but not giving an antihistamine? Too much chocolate is proven to be bad for you, no? So why is it okay to use it as a means of shutting your child up, even if it will lead to tooth decay, diabetes, obesity in later life?

As a child who was allowed to eat a lot of chocolate, I can tell you it's done me more harm than the odd dose of piriton would have done.

I suspect the majority of the 'I'd never do that' school haven't flown long haul with their DCs.

If you have, you know that it is quite cruel to allow a child that is unable to settle in an unfamiliar, noisy plane to stay awake for the entire journey, with jet lag to deal with at the end, on the basis of some misconceived idea that giving a dose of children's medicine is harmful or constitutes abuse (!).

It is much better for a child, emotionally and physically, to be as rested as possible when they arrive. And it is nothing to do with not wanting to play snap for 15 hours, and everything to do with looking after your child properly and trying to avoid them being overtired an distressed.

And as for the 'if your child can't sit still, don't travel...'... No-one can sit still for 15 hours, and there are ways of coping with discomfort caused by traveling, including Medised or other travel sickness medicines, so why not make use of them?

I don't see anything wrong with it!
DS has to take it often as he has allergies and the specialist has assured me there are no side effects.

If it makes you LO slightly sleepy then is can definitely be a good thing. If you know the flight would be difficult otherwise then it is probably a sensible thing too. A medical professional would not suggest it if it was dangerous.

I agree maryz, the comparisons to adult sleeping pills, a child's 'choice' as to whether to take medicine, and gin, are slightly off point!

So do most people do this or is it just most people on this thread? Cos I know no-one in RL who would drug their child on a plane. And of course I wonder whether mothers do it in other situations too. What is special about a long haul flight what about on a long drive/train journey. My SIL drives down from Edinburgh to visit us which takes about as long as a long haul flight - should she be drugging her child to make sure he sleeps and doesn't make a fuss in the back of the car? And as it's completely safe why not a bit at bedtime if they won't settle or a little dose if they're having a whingey day - I mean why make parenting harder than it needs to be!

I think the reason that flights are special circumstances is that they are cramped and you can't get off. Driving on the motor way you can pull over, on a train you can get off and get on the next one, on a plane, you are there for hours - 12 hrs if you are going to NZ and it's hellish if they are overtired, screaming and can't get comfortable to go to sleep. If all it takes is small dose of very harmless drug to calm them down and make them happy so they can rest, I don't think it's a bad thing.

No, on a long haul flight you can get motion sickness, ear pressure, and you are crossing several time zones. Alleviating the side effects of that - primarily reducing fatigue and the impact of jet lag - is appropriate.

Drugging your child to drive from London to Liverpool is entirely different - you can stop, get fresh air, break the journey, recover when you get there in the same time zone, for a start! Flying is much harder on a young child, physically, than long but relatively local journeys by car or train.

It is very easy and comforting to categorise people as bad parents, opting for an 'easy' option to keep their kids quiet. But as I said earlier, I suspect that people who are critical of using Piriton or Medised haven't flown longhaul with young children. That's why they are equating an 8 hour flight with an 8 hour drive and from that leaping to a conclusion that because I'd use Medised on a flight to the US, I be willing to give it to my kids every night 'for a quiet life'.

Personally I would rather deal with my three year old knowing how he always is, not chancing that something might go wrong with the medication once up in that air. Its not like you can just pop into A and E or ring NHS direct when your dealing with a hyper and possibly very poorly child when your at 20,000 ft!
I really dont agree with those that feel it right to drug their children, but thats my opinion