to not give medicine to my ill child?

[fruitstick]

Bear with me on this.

DS1 (7) has this nasty virus going round. High temperature & headache. I really want him to be well enough for his nativity this week.

What he really needs to do is rest & sleep but the merest whiff of Calpol makes him leap of furniture and demand to go out on his scooter.

If I don't give him any he can lie on sofa & feel awful but at least he'll be resting and recovering.

Good idea or cruel mother?

I would give him lots of fluids and paracetamol/ibuprofen before bedtime so that he gets a good night's sleep.

YANBU. But you might want to give him soemthing tonight so that he has a more restful night.

I think if he has a high temperature then you need to get it down. I would give him Calpol personally. And then make him stay put!

Yabu gets some medication in him, high temp can be dangourous.

Would a different (less coloured!) version of calpol stop the pain without the bouncing off walls?

As long as he isn't in a lot of pain then I would do the same I think

We give DD1 a dissolvable paracetamol tablet that is especially for children. It might be called Disprol but Im not sure. Anyway, it gets dissolved in juice and would be good for kids that get hyper on calpol.

Have you tried a different type of paracetamol suspension? My kids tend to get hyper with Calpol too. Or Medised is best for one of my kids (Do they still sell Medised?)

has he the same reaction to ibuprofen?
maybe try this for the headache.
fever is good, a sign that his body is effectively fighting the virus. just watch out that it doesn't go too high. this is what nhs says about it

The liquid paracetamol from independent chemists and the pound-type shops seem to have less additives. I would try for the best of both worlds.

I can sympathise. Calpol makes my ds hyper too. I've found it's a matter of timing. If I wait until he's exhausted then I can give him Calpol just before he goes to sleep. Likewise if he gets it just after breakfast then he seems to miss the jumping around stage.
However, if your ds is complaining of a headache then I think it is unreasonable not to try to alleviate his pain. My other worry would be that temperatures can spike quite quickly if they're not being treated.

No it's not just calpol. He is very energetic most of the time so his natural state is 'lively'.

Think I might give him a half dose this afternoon (5ml) just to take edge off temperature then give him full dose at bedtime.

Ibuprofen or a different brand of child paracetamol. Calpol has the same effect on my DS2, but the Tesco own brand doesn't!

Try Medinol, it has not the the additives that Calpol has in it so less hyper inducing. I can understand what you are saying but would feelna bit mean doing it.

Our GP practice no longer recommend paracetamol for a fever. Cold flannels and less clothes.

I thought cold flannels were advised against now as they only lower the skin temperature which makes you shiver and can raise the temp (or something like that!)

I do agree that just a fever doesn't always need medicine though, I only give DS calpol when his temp goes above 38.5 and that's only becuse that normally means he has pneumonia so is feeling ill with it.

YANBU, I don't routinely give calpol for a fever. Pain yes, really bad cold with headache, sinus pain etc yes, ibuprofen when dd's glands are the size of melons but not a fever. Hope he feels better soon though.

Fever is the bodies way of fighting pathogens, a high temperature does not necessarily warrant medicating. With high temperatures you should always pay attention to other symptoms see NICE traffic light guidance. If he is green according to traffic light then keep him hydrated, lots of rest and he will be fine without Calpol. If the headache is really bad you may want to give him something, but distraction can work well if not too severe.

Cold flannels not advised due to them causing vasoconstriction which raises core temperature by reducing the surface area of blood vessels near the surface of the skin and also sweating both of which result in heat loss.

Try Nurofen or some other form of paracetamol.

you don't need to medicate a temp, on the whole, it isn't dangerous in itself.

Cold flannels are discouraged as they cool the skin and make the body respond by trying to warm it, this exacerbating the temperature.

Oops sorry, maybe not cold flannels then! They definitely say no calpol though.

When did your DS start to feel ill? My DC have both had this flu-type virus and DD was off school for a whole week. DS shook it off after about 3 days, but was left with a hacking cough.

I kept both of them dosed up on Ibuprofen or Calpol because they were feeling so rough. I caught it too, and still feel bad now (week 3). I can't imagine how rough any of us would have felt if we hadn't had flu remedies. I would give him something. It doesn't mask the symptoms, but takes the edge off them. He needs to be on strict instructions not to leave the sofa - plenty of DVDs, or else bed. Hope you don't get it OP - it really is unpleasant.

High temps can occasionally cause febrile convulsions however there is no reliable evidence (that I'm aware of) to show that paracetamol or ibuprofen will prevent a febrile convulsion anyway. I avoid giving paracetamol for temps unless DC are feeling really grotty ad I think it'll help them sleep. So no, YANBU.

Calpol so that you get a good night's sleep.

I don't medicate a temperature for the DC unless it's very high, over 39.5C at least. My DS is like yours and is very active, he rests much better if I don't medicate. If I do medicate he tries to run and play in the normal way and stresses his body too much so that he feels worse later. I do medicate at bedtime though as he's a good sleeper normally.

I would medicate DD as she is quite whingy and upset when she's ill, but she won't take anything (the time she needed to take anti-biotics was a flipping nightmare). I have paracetamol suppositories for her just in case she needs them.