to give medised/calpol night even though the age has changed?

[banana87]

DD is 2.11. I have given her Medised as needed from 1 year, as well as Calpol night as needed from 2 yrs. AS NEEDED means if she's ill, we've not given it to her just to get her to sleep. I was a nanny when Medised was ok from 3 months which is why I have given it after they changed the age.

I've told the GP this and they agree that it's fine if she needs it, but I've been made to feel like a really irresponsible parent by friends who say I shouldn't give it to her as she's under 6.

AIBU?

Risk benefit ratio:

Major benefit gained by using the medication (eg cancer chemotherapy, patient would certainly die without treatment)---> worth risking major side effects (eg hair loss, vomiting, poss. infertility with chemo)

Minor benefit to be gained (eg child with sniffle needs antihistamine to knock it out so it stops whinging dry up the runny nose) ----> NOT worth risking the possible side effects (eg allergic reactions, hallucinations, death by accidental overdose) so they changed the licence to over 6's.

But of course, your child your choice.

YANBU. I have checked out the risks associated with Medised and on balance think that they are small enough risks for me to take by occasionally give to my children (two currently under 6).

Some people will judge - but people judge you for everything.

Well done for deleting your 'friend'.

For those of you judging parents who have the help of a sedative from time to time, you've obviously never experienced a truly pained and restless child.
DD3 for 14m would never sleep more than a couple of hours, and even that seemed like a miracle at 6m!
She suffers from severe acid reflux and gastric disturbances, has meds to reduce and neutralise acid, also sleeps on an incline wedge to keep her head elevated. She would wake every couple of hours, scream blue murder and be unable to settle again for some time. She cannot self settle, I have tried to help her but twice a day unless in the car she screams herself to sleep in my arms. This used to happen a few times a night too.
She was constantly tired and grizzly, all the other DC's were affected, I was totally exhausted as was DH.
My GP prescribed an antihistamine based sedative, whilst it doesn't knock her out, it helps her stay drowsy enough to stay asleep even though she still cries out a few times a night. We don't want to use it long term, but she hopes breaking the waking cycle and giving us all a break for a couple of months will be beneficial.
DD is a much happier girl during the day now and has the energy to try and stand & progress even with her low muscle tone and hypermobile joints, wobbly jelly baby emoticon needed.
Still feel like judging?

fiveis that is slightly different from medication with OTC medication for a short term illness. Your DD was suffering from a long term condition and her medication was prescribed and hopefully she was being monitored by her GP.

Not judging people whose children have medical need to use antihistamines.
Judging people who ignore current medical opinion because 'it was ok for xyz in 1940/1972/1988/2001 so I'll damn well do it now if I want to...'

Actually not slightly different, its a lot different.

I used to give my twins medised in their bottles of milk at bedtime when they needed it. They would never take it otherwise, it tastes disgusting!

It worked a treat.

When ds was small you 'were allowed' to use it from 3 months and I did so. So when the twins were born almost 7 years later, despite the '6 year old rule', we still used it for them when they were babies.

I do think some people get rather het up about some things.

Poppy ell, I presume that post is a joke?

Five is- that's a completely different scenario- a sedative prescribed by a doctor in those circumstances is obviously completely fine.

A sedative medicine bought over the counter by someone lying about q child's age to medicate a snuffly nose is completely different matter.

And the elephant in the room of course is the suspicion that it is being given for the parents' benefit rather than the child's.

Sleep is absolutlely the best medicine you can give you child when they are heavily congested, so I am happy to give a little of these medications to my boys when they are unwell.

Some people throw good milk away when it goes past the expiry date and similarly some people feel incapable of using thier own common sense and discretion when it comes to the use of these medications.

There's no point arguing about it. Your GP says it's fine, my GP says it's fine - judgeypants say it's not fine.
YANBU

Medised is great stuff when a child is bunged up and struggling to sleep. I will give my 3 year old it if necessary, maybe once a year. There are risks with all medicines, my choice

What Minus273 said earlier.

Add to that the new evidence coming out that treating the fever associated with a snotty cold may in fact be the wrong thing to do and I rarely even use calpol or nurofen in my children these days. I strip them, put the fan on them if their temp goes above 39 or put them into a tepid bath if it goes above 39.5. A vicks steam vaporiser in the room and the head of the bed elevated helps with breathing overnight.

I would never recommend sedating a child at home for any reason (including long haul air travel) - I just don't see the potential risks outweighing any benefit.

I agree there's no point arguing about it, each to their own parenting choices. However I do happen to be a doctor so I do have slightly more knowledge at hand than just a pair of judgeypants.

Thank goodness for poster such as Ite and Minus who are posting based of Facts rather than, 'me nan always used to give us some medised back in 1890, and it never did us no harm'

Coming from this from another side - can you imagine what this change meant, financially, for the pharmaceutical companies who make Calpol Night and Medised? You can bet your bottom dollar that they would not have just sat back and let this happen but will have carefully had all evidence checked by lawyers and doctors. This decision was not taken lightly, and it was taken against much opposition from parents.

Who am I to then turn around and say, 'scientists around the world have said that this medicine is not suitable but I know better and will give it to my child'.

I've heard that a drop of brandy in a bottle helps them sleep too.

If it's being a judgy pants to want to put the health and safety of my children firlst then I'll wear the badge with pride.

Celadon, so eons has chucked a tablecloth over the elephant and put a copy of Hello magazine and a vase of flowers on it!

Someone. Bloody predictive typing!

Just to clarify the age limits/dosage limits for products available over the counter from a pharmacist can vary widely for those applicable for the same drug prescribed by a GP.

A GP is well placed (most of the time) to make a much more informed decision on benefit/risk then a pharmacist as they have full medical backgd to hand. So GPs recommending Medised to little ones for use in a particular situation are not been stupid, behind the times or irresponsible.

Also the real risk re sedation/breathing was associated with parents dosing children on several medicines at once and essentially overdosing them. Hence the need to limit access from pharmacies, but the licence for prescription hasn't necessarily changed too.

I forgot to add the licences for Medised might have changed for GP/Prescription use too. I just wanted to point out there is not necessarily a change to how GPs can prescribe versus what we can buy from a pharmacist.

All of that said I wouldn't use these things to make a kid sleep. Three cheers for the Dr Mum using tepid baths etc first - these remedies work wonders.

" they are small enough risks for me"

I assume this poster is either a) joking or b) hasn't actually read the linked information or c) is including only the likelihood of the event and not its impact. The risks include (as explained up thread) respiratory depression and heart arrhythmia - those can be FATAL. Yes, it is very, very rare. But please do not think that is synonymous with non-existent.

five no judging from me of prescribed antihistamines here (see my earlier posts).

Prescribed use of any medication is completely different from abuse of OTC medicines by ignoring the OTC safety information.

BTW: doctors can prescribe medicines not licences for OTC sale - they do so every day. They can also prescribe medicines not licenced at all (though this may have to be on private prescription as any parent who has arranged a single measles jab since 1998 will know). Availability OTC is completely unrelated to safe use when directed by a qualified doctor.

Calprofen works better anyway.... anti-inflammatory so reduces the mucous lining inflammation and is better at reducing fever.

Cigarettes were reccomended by gps for asthma & calming the nerves. And cocaine was used for teething and toothache. Then some annoying do gooding people did some research and decided it was probably a bad idea.

Having weighed up the pro's and cons, I think the risks are small enough to try giving dd coke for her sore teeth, I'm sure others are doing it. And I let Ds have a quick smoke as he was nervous about starting year 4.

Thank goodness for some sense honeydragon, now as I have been up all night with DS and his teething am off to buy some of this magic stuff you speak of. Will of course lie about DS's age so it is acceptable!

I agree with seeker on this, and HoneyDragon makes a very good point. I'm not saying I have never used children's medicines but I would never give more than the instructions say, - I really have never understood why anyone would take this risk. Personally eucalyptus oil and propped up bedding has worked far better for a more restful night.

A friend's DD was a terrible sleeper and she used to give her Medised every bedtime hoping that this would mean she would get a good night's sleep. She was very open about it, and yes I did talk to her about it and we don't talk anymore, - she didn't appreciate me pointing out to her that she was routinely drugging her child instead of dealing with her sleeping pattern.

I've never been so outspoken about someone else's parenting choice but I just couldn't watch her do it.

Ok, so a question for those of you going on about the (indeed very very rare) risks. Do you vaccinate your children? Have you thought about the very published risks in vaccinations? What's the difference?

The difference is that vaccination is not an OTC medication, and I have never had one performed under the standard age (though I might have considered doing so had a qualified doctor recommended it to me on the basis of a trained analysis of the risk/benefit equation).