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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen

24 replies

cremedelacreme · 07/03/2011 00:13

Hi

DD, 2 yo, has a sore throat, blocked nose and possibly an ear infection. She says her ear hurts.
Anyway, she's in pain and at 8pm I gave her one 5ml spoon of paracetamol (Calpol). She woke up 15 mins ago howling, so I gave one 5ml spoon of ibuprofen because I thought Calpol was only every 6 hours, but it turns out I could've given it after 4.

Anyway, question is, when can I give her another dose, and of what? I'm usually on the ball with this but a combination of pregnancy brain, fatigue, and over-reading of recent threads about using meds to bring down fever (which isn't relevant in this case, obviously, it's about pain) means that my brain is confused!

Sorry if this has been asked before but I've searched and couldn't find an answer to this specific question.

OP posts:
squeakytoy · 07/03/2011 00:15

I used to have chronic earaches as a child, and the best remedy was sleeping with my ear on a warm hot waterbottle that was wrapped in a pillowcase or a towel.. the heat really did help.

Sorry, cant advise on the painkillers as I am not sure about dosage for children. Just wanted to offer an additional remedy in case you hadnt tried that.

Original poster
cremedelacreme · 07/03/2011 00:17

Sorry, posted in wrong section and my tired brain has just figured it out, I think. Sorry!

OP posts:
Original poster
cremedelacreme · 07/03/2011 00:19

Thanks squeakytoy! She's perked up since the Ibuprofen but I'll get the hot water bottle on standby, just in case.

OP posts:
igetmorelovefromthecat · 07/03/2011 00:19

DD2 had a horrible ear infection just before Christmas and a burst ear drum.

On the docs advice I alternated Nurofen and Calpol every four hours.

AnyoneForABaileys · 07/03/2011 00:24

I was going to say the EXACT same thing squeakytoy

I still suffer a lot from earaches and a hot water bottle really does do the world of good.

With regards to paracetamol and ibuprofen, I have always been told to alternate BUT you are still not to give more than the recommended amount (of each) in a 24 hour period (I think that works out at 4 of each IYSWIM).

Hope this helps.

FudgeGirl · 07/03/2011 00:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

allsquareknickersnofurcoat · 07/03/2011 00:35

I was told by the doctor that you could take full doses of both as they do different things? Not sure how it works for a child though...

FudgeGirl · 07/03/2011 00:35

Sorry folks, wrong thread! That'll teach me to have two MN windows open!

Roxyc · 07/03/2011 04:53

You can use paracetamol every 4 hours, but as a rough guide not to over do it, use it four times a day (24h). Ibuprofen you can use every 8 hours: roughly three times a day. You might be using too little calpol if you are giving 5ml and you child weighs more than 10kg.

Original poster
cremedelacreme · 07/03/2011 22:13

Thanks everyone. We had a bit of a disturbed night but the meds did help DD settle better.

Roxyc - yes, you're probably right. I'm a bit over cautious about dosages, hence the panic and this thread!

Smile at FudgeGirl!

OP posts:
ddubsgirl · 07/03/2011 22:23

hope she is feeling better,my neice has just got over an ear infection,poor mite was screaming in pain,sil had to take back to the docs as the 1st doc missed the ear infection and sent her home,
been very lucky with my boys only 1 of them has ever had ear infection and he was a baby then,i had glue year last year lasted about 3 months,was awful.

MCos · 07/03/2011 23:58

You can take ibuprofen and paracetamol at same time. The intervals that they can be given are usually given on the bottle? But Calpol is every 4 hours, and Ibuprofen every 6 or 8 hours (can't remember which.)

outnumbered2to1 · 08/03/2011 00:10

i might be wrong here or remembering it wrong but last time DS2 had ear infection doc said to give Calpol then an hour later Ibuprofen and repeat the dosage throughout the day along with plenty of fluids..... Hmm

Original poster
cremedelacreme · 08/03/2011 07:37

Thanks again everyone. Since DD hasn't been in pain since, just has cough, I think ear pain was linked to teething (molars at very back coming through?). Need to keep watching brief, I think!

OP posts:
Stangirl · 08/03/2011 08:09

I had to take my DD to A&E last week and the doc said that because ibuprofen and calpol do different things you can stagger them so you take one between the other.

buttonmooncup · 08/03/2011 09:02

Ibuprofen is every 4 hours minimum (although they recommend 6 hour gaps) but no more than 3 in 24 hrs. Calpol is every 4 hours and no more than 4 in 24 hours I think but it should say on the leaflets in the boxes. I always find it easier to make a note of the times I'm giving it if I'm giving them together so I don't get confused.

TechnoKitten · 08/03/2011 09:23

Be warned with calpol and relying on mls for the right dose - there are 2 different strengths. If you're using 250mg/5ml then that is too much for a 10kg child (who should have max 200mg in a dose and ideally 150mg).

Ibu normally comes in one strength (100mg/ml); the dose for a 10kg child is 50mg or 2.5ml.

You can use both together but it's better to stagger them so the pain relief is more continuous and less peaks/troughs.

TechnoKitten · 08/03/2011 09:26

Oh and calpol - minimum 4h between doses, max 4x day. Ibu also 4h min gap but max 3x day.

Definitely make a note of what you give & when so you can work out what you can give a few hours later and to make sure you're not accidentally giving too much.

Original poster
cremedelacreme · 08/03/2011 20:53

Thanks again everyone, your advice much appreciated.

OP posts:
zipzap · 08/03/2011 23:03

creme, I tend to stagger them for the dc when they are poorly and just one isn't working. Writing down is a must to keep track, also allows you to work out what is best when.

ibuprofen seems to last for longer (or at least you can only have it 3x a day) so I give that just before going to bed and when waking up in the morning, plus one in the middle of the day if needed.

I then top up with calpol so use that if I get woken in the night when Ibuprofen is wearing off, will usually then get through to waking up time. another dose mid to late morning and then depending on how it is going, another one or two in the afternoon/early evening, aiming to make sure that by bedtime the calpol will be well in the system and the neurofen will top it up so there is maximum pain killing effect when they need to go to sleep, there is no niggly pain to keep them awake.

hope that makes sense!

if she has a blocked nose it's also worth using something like vicks on her chest and putting olbas oil hear her nose to help breathing (I usually just put a couple of dots on pj shoulders). I use it myself (forever coming down with nasty colds) and it really does help to ease breathing. DH has got nasty cold at the moment and have been telling him to use olbas oil but no. finally last night I managed to persuade him -lo and behold he had his first night of good sleep for ages and can breathe again. he has actually said he is going to use it again tonight - a major achievement as he hates taking medicine of any sort and thinks he will just battle any bug out without any help.

And if she has a sore throat - does she like honey? if you can persuade her to have little dibs of honey it can really help to soothe a bad throat. I get really nasty coughs and when they are really bad (and I don't want to be sucking cough sweets because I'm breathing so badly I'm worried I'm going to choke on it), a little bit of honey can really help. To the point that I have one of those squirty bottles of honey to hand wherever I am and just squeeze a bit into my mouth so no need to worry about spoons and contaminating jars of honey. or glass jars breaking. sort of thing that appeals to my dc2 (2) as eating honey directly isn't the sort of thing he's allowed to do usually. Having warm drinks helps too.

hope your dd's feeling better soon...

bupcakesandcunting · 08/03/2011 23:09

My nurse practioner told me today that as long as I stayed within the daily dosage for each then I could give DS (3) nurofen and Calpol within 2 hours of each other. I was a bit Hmm but I trust her and didn't feel like I had much choice an hour ago when he was screaming himself sick with earache :(

hope your little one is well soon, OP.

buttonmooncup · 09/03/2011 09:33

bupcakes that's right if you stagger them there would be a 4hr gap between giving the same medicine iyswim. You just need to make sure you don't give more than 3 times in 24 hours for ibuprofen or 4 times for Calpol.

Casserole · 09/03/2011 09:46

The advice above is right - the two drugs belong to different classes and have different mechanisms of action, so you can give both. You could give them at the same time, most people prefer to stagger them so they can give something every couple of hours.

The important thing is not to give more than the maximum dose stated on each box/bottle. You should check your own box/bottle for what this is, just in case you've bought a slightly different preparation to someone else.

And yes, I find writing timings down really helpful, especially if you're sleep deprived because of it all!

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 09/03/2011 10:11

DS2 (now 3) used to suffer from recurrent tonsillitis (until we had his tonsils out) so we had a dosing schedule on the fridge Shock

It was something like this

3am - Paracetamol
5am - Ibuprofen
9am - Paracetamol
1pm - Ibuprofen
3pm - Paracetamol
9pm - Ibuprofen
9pm - Paracetamol

The logic to the two doses around 9pm was that it reduced the risk of his temp spiking whilst we were asleep and so not checking on him so regularly. He was prone to really high temperatures when he had tonsillitis so we had to stay on top of things.

We got our GP to work out the correct dosage of paracetamol for his weight as there is a formula based on the weight of the child.

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