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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if you are considering giving your children over th counter cough medicine to drug them on a flight...

84 replies

Greythorne · 16/12/2011 00:02

...you should seriously think again?

Two friends both about to fly home (longish flights) had a detailed debate about which cough medicines to dose their children with in the departure lounge. Yes, they were apparently very serious.

Toplexil and Benadryl were both debated.

Their children range from 3-8.

AIBU in thinking this is very poor parenting?

OP posts:
ThePoorMansBeckySharp · 16/12/2011 02:48

I know a paediatrician who does this. I really don't see it as a big deal.

RealLifeIsForWimps · 16/12/2011 02:48

It depends. If they are giving the correct dose of a product licensed OTC for a child that age, then not a problem. If they are giving children a medicine which is not licensed OTC for that age group then that may be an issue. However, if they've discussed it with a GP beforehand and the GP has okay'd it and given them the dose, then again, not an issue.

I don't think Benadryl as sold in the UK still contains the sleep making ingredient anyway. I think they changed the formulation. In Asia it still does and is prescription only for under 6's. Medised does contain what benadryl used to contain, but is now licensed OTC for over 6's only. However, doctors will prescribe a generic version of Medised for children under that age.

alarkaspree · 16/12/2011 02:58

I know a paediatrician who uses this kind of medication for jet lag for her children. I have heard of it backfiring horribly as described by someone above though, so I think you should test it beforehand if you're thinking of using it on a flight.

Dh would strongly disapprove though so I wouldn't use it myself.

sleepywombat · 16/12/2011 03:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

iscream · 16/12/2011 03:12

I knew someone who gave their kid decongestant before flying, as they had ear pain otherwise. She took it herself for the same reason.

IteotYEARawki · 16/12/2011 03:51

YANBU. If your kids can't cope with a long haul flight then you should think seriously about not travelling.

And yes, I've done lots of long haul flying (family in uk, we live in nz) with my 2 boys from the ages of 18 months to 5. Have never once resorted to doping them with any form of sedative and would never ever consider it.

Why on earth would I want to expose my children to the risks of a sedative purely to make my life easier? No medical indication = no drugs.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 16/12/2011 04:53

Guess that's why the GP wouldn't give me sleeping pills - hey ho

coolascucumber · 16/12/2011 09:13

Things children should do on a long haul flight: watch the movies, cartoons, play with a DS, draw, play hangman, noughts and crosses, chat, eat snacks, read books, magazines, play snap, chat, tell jokes from a joke book, have a nap, moan about the in flight food, draw something else, colour in, etc.

Things they shouldn't do: accept medicine from their parents to shut them up because their parents either don't enjoy their company or can't be arsed to interact with them.

hackmum · 16/12/2011 09:17

I think it's not so much about "Is it safe?" as "Is it ethical?" Drugging someone else without their consent to make them drowsy - urgh. And of course, children can be a bit annoying on long flights, but don't most aeroplanes now have tv screens on the back of each seat? And as cool said, they can read or play games.

HollyGhost · 16/12/2011 09:22

disclaimer: I've never done this

But I've also never taken dc on a long haul flight. Medised etc are decongestants, that has massive advantages for small children who might have ear pain otherwise. If it makes them drowsy it could prevent a huge amount of distress and discomfort. In much the same way that it helps with a bad cold.

Assuming they would only give medication at safe levels, what is your objection? Do you think that mothers parents must martyr themselves?

Trills · 16/12/2011 09:22

I take medicine to drug myself on long flights. It makes the journey nicer if I can make myself more drowsy so I can sleep a bit and ignore the fact that I'm in an uncomfortable seat in a metal tube with hundreds of strangers thousands of miles above the ground.

If a child is not old enough to make that decision, but you think they would make that decision if they could...?

buttonmoon78 · 16/12/2011 09:34

If it's long haul then their body clocks are likely to be screwed by the time they get to their destination.

What's wrong with using a little help to manipulate their body clocks so they can maintain a normal 'schedule'?

Adults do it all the time - take pills to sleep on the flight, take pills so they can go to bed at local time even if its 'their' breakfast time etc. We do it because not doing so makes you feel pants.

Therefore, yes, I would do it for my children, under certain circs, so they don't feel pants.

And I am a very fine parent indeed Wink

ChristinedePizaTinsel · 16/12/2011 09:39

:o at 'can't be arsed to interract with them'

I would do this for sure. And I would tell them. I take a valium so I can sleep, why deny them that?

FootprintsInTheSnow · 16/12/2011 09:49

People are far too blase about OTC medicines. They are still drugs, with the full potential for adverse reactions and just general 'not very good for you' aspects. The point is just that they are particularly suitable for treating minor self-limiting ailments, that the NHS doesn't really want to see you for.

Cough medicine in particular doesn;t have a great reputation. Iirc, a lot of brands were withdrawn from sale a few years ago. Even before that, my GP told me to only use OTC cough medicines with Dd if she was coughing so severely that it was making her vomit or waking her very frequently.

A news story from when childrens' cough medicines were partially withdrawn from sale

BBC news story on 50 years of Ibuprofen (& the downsides of it being available OTC)

OldeChestnut · 16/12/2011 09:52

dont care as long as they dont annoy me on the flight Grin

FootprintsInTheSnow · 16/12/2011 09:53

Having said that - I wouldn't dream of medicating myself to fly either - so I guess people have different attitudes to this kind of thing.

laptopwieldingharpy · 16/12/2011 09:58

A couple of drops of rescue remedy is harmless and does the trick

cory · 16/12/2011 10:09

coolascucumber Fri 16-Dec-11 09:13:51
"Things children should do on a long haul flight: watch the movies, cartoons, play with a DS, draw, play hangman, noughts and crosses, chat, eat snacks, read books, magazines, play snap, chat, tell jokes from a joke book, have a nap, moan about the in flight food, draw something else, colour in, etc.

Things they shouldn't do: accept medicine from their parents to shut them up because their parents either don't enjoy their company or can't be arsed to interact with them."

I was a master interacter: I sang and talked and kept 2yo dd happy non-stop during the 17 hour train journey to Berlin. My parents and my db both managed train journeys from Sweden to Athens with toddlers using the same technique.

Which is fine. Interaction is fine. But it is not a one way process; it also depends on the child you have. If I had had a child who was very hyper, suffered from sleep disruption, was highly sensitive to strange surroundings and was simply going to be desperately unhappy for a long period and so highly charged that they couldn't wind down afterwards, then I might well think differently about it.

I can imagine a situation where being unhappy on a plane is actually a worse situation for a young child than having a cough or a bad throat, and most parents wouldn't think twice about medicating for those. Medically indicated is a loose term. If by that you mean "necessary for recovery" then cough medicine or painkillers could hardly ever be medically indicated: it is something you take to make life bearable, not to get well.

Trills · 16/12/2011 10:20

it is something you take to make life bearable, not to get well.

Exactly. Lemsip doesn't make you get better faster, it just makes you feel better while the cold runs its course. (and tastes like medicine so you feel as if you are doing something to combat the horribleness)

tigermoll · 16/12/2011 10:24

I don't think it is at all U to give a child a safe dose of a medicine with the idea of making them sleep through a flight. My mother was v keen on giving us sea sickness tablets when we went on holiday, - a happy side effect was that my brother and I found it far easier to drop off to sleep in the 'reclining chairs' we had for the 26 hour journey.

But I consider it a bit U to even take a small child on a long haul flight, without a VERY good reason. I know I am risking a flaming, but I think it is a bit selfish of the parents, - the child may enjoy the holiday, but, let's be honest, an under five enjoys time with its parents, lots of playing and a 'holiday atmosphere', - everyone being more laid back and available. I don't think they are fussed about where that takes place. They won't even really remember it all that well. Taking a child on a long-haul flight so that the parent can have a posh holiday doesn't seem to have the kid's best interests at heart.

Trills · 16/12/2011 10:27

Obviously there is no such thing as a medicine that is 100% safe - we take them because we believe that the chance of a side-effect is low compared to the benefits we will get.

Essentially here the OP values the benefit of being able to sleep on a plane less than she values the benefits of relieving a cough. Other people think that being able to sleep on a plane is a very good benefit and that it is worth it.

kelly2000 · 16/12/2011 10:30

It is very irresponsible to give children medicine (which contains paracetamol) they do not need in the hope it will make them drowsy.

merrymonsters · 16/12/2011 10:31

I met a nanny, who flew to LA with her charges and their parents (the parents were in first class and the nanny was in economy with the children) and the parents drugged the children with something 'natural' (as my husband said 'belladonna is natural'.) Anyway, one of the children couldn't be woken up at the end of the flight and had to go to hospital.

I don't think children should be drugged just because they might be annoying.

valiumredhead · 16/12/2011 10:33

getorf it made me ds high as a kite too!

kelly2000 · 16/12/2011 10:34

There is also the issue that if a child is so drowsy they do not move on a long haul flight they are more at risk of dvts, especially if the medicines contained ibupofen which can rarely cause dvts.
If the only way you can control your child is by drugging them then you should not be taking them on the flight to begin with.