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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to stop giving my daughter her antibiotics before the 10 days is up ?

47 replies

doley · 31/03/2011 19:21

My little girl (2 and a bit ) has had an ear infection ...

I have been giving her medicine for 7 days now( 4mls 3 times a day) ,I know she is better :)

As I am no medic , this is purely on my feelings .

I know the "you must finnish the course ,for it to work "

But ...what do you all think ?

OP posts:
BluddyMoFo · 31/03/2011 19:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Clytaemnestra · 31/03/2011 19:22

What would you gain from not doing it for another three days?

belledechocchipcookie · 31/03/2011 19:22

No, don't do that! Just because she looks better it doesn't mean all of the bugs have gone. They tell you to finish the course for a reason.

anewyear · 31/03/2011 19:22

Finish the course, its only 3 more days!!

ladyintheradiator · 31/03/2011 19:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GilmoreGeek · 31/03/2011 19:22

No, don't. She is feeling better because the antibiotics work Doesn't mean all the bad stuff in her body is dead. If you stop the medication too early you run the risk of it coming back up and just make her just as bad as before.

GKlimt · 31/03/2011 19:22

I agree with BluddyMoFlo.

RancerDoo · 31/03/2011 19:22

Finish the course. What's the downside of doing so?

hardhatdonned · 31/03/2011 19:23

Finish the bloody course woman!

Psammead · 31/03/2011 19:23

You must finish it.

I didn't, once, and got horrendously ill because the illness wasn't out of my system even though I felt better. And then it couldn't be treated with normal anti-biotics anymore.

ValiumSoltera · 31/03/2011 19:24

Yes, you must finish the course, otherwise you are just giving the bacteria a work out and making them stronger.

GollyHolightly · 31/03/2011 19:24

One of the reasons that we now have superbugs is because people didn't finish their courses of antibiotics and the residual bugs mutated so that they are drug resistant.

Finish the course.

mollymole · 31/03/2011 19:24

you know that you must finish the course - so why aren't you doing this

coccyx · 31/03/2011 19:25

Are you insane, give it as prescribed

EnigmaticMonkey · 31/03/2011 19:26

YABU. Just because she is feeling better doesn't mean all the bacteria have been killed. If you don't finish it she may relapse and the infection will then be harder to shift. Plus, failure to finish courses of antibiotics is one of the things that causes antibiotic-resistant bacteria, so it's bad from a public health POV too.

BarbarianMum · 31/03/2011 19:26

My mum did this (stopped the course early cause I was better) when I had bronchitis aged two. It came back with a vengeance and I ended up in hospital.

I am now 39 and I can still not take antibiotics, or give them to my children, without her reminding me to 'finish the course'.

EnigmaticMonkey · 31/03/2011 19:26

Ooh massive cross-post there, sorry!

prettybird · 31/03/2011 19:27

What hollygolightly said.

YABU.

Don't help promote the development of superbugs.

Northernlurker · 31/03/2011 19:28

Finish the course or the bacteria WILL grow back. The course is ten days long for a reason. When it comes to prescribed medication one needs to place a slightly higher premium on advice and knowledge over 'feelings' Hmm

Original poster
doley · 31/03/2011 19:28

Thanks all ~I guess I lean a little bit to the alternative sometimes ...plus I am in the US at the mo (they tend to still hand out antibiotics easily if you request )

There is no reason I shouldn't , she even likes to take it actually .

But ,strange as I am, I keep thinking of all the unhealthy things antibiotics can mess with in a delicate young thing !

But I am not nuts ,I will continue as I always did with my boys .

Thanks all :)

OP posts:
QuintessentialShadows · 31/03/2011 19:28

Well you say yourself you are no medic, so why dont you follow doctors advice?

The bacteria will grow stronger and come back with a vengeance if you finnish the course early. And then she needs a new course with even stronger medicine, and you will feel really stupid for putting your baby through that.

thinkingkindly · 31/03/2011 19:30

It is fine to stop after seven days, according to a paediatrician friend of mine. If you want to check, just ring the doctor and tell him/her you have followed the instructions religiously for seven days. The problem is when you do two or three days and then stop.

Original poster
doley · 31/03/2011 19:31

and now I have read all your wise words I will continue :)

I am not that well versed on them ,I had never taken them myself till I was 32 and that was because they were wrongly prescribed !!!

Time for her lunchtime dose !

OP posts:
AimingForSerenity · 31/03/2011 19:31

For any infection to cause symptoms you need more than a certain number of "bugs". Your daughter may appear better because the number of bacteria is now below that level but antibiotics need to be continued till the end of the course because the last ones to be killed off are the real beasties, the biggest, strongest and most resistant of the bacterial population.

If you stop when there is even a few left the infection will return in a bigger, stronger as more resistant form as those bacteria reproduce, this is called a superinfection.

Take it from someone who works in healthcare that this sort of stupidity could possibly harm your daughter and others by encouraging antibiotic resistance. It's idiotic!

AimingForSerenity · 31/03/2011 19:32

Sorry OP x-post!

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