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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to think I can be trusted with suppositories?

99 replies

solveproblem · 26/07/2013 22:53

Why, why, WHY can't I buy paracetamol suppositories for children?

DS2 is asleep with a very high temperature that needs to be brought down, I have now had to try to wake him up and give him oral paracetamol. He point blank refused as he is poorly and tired. It would have been so much easier with suppositories and I wouldn't have to worry about him not taking his medicine.

Does anyone know what the reason is behind these not being on sale in the UK?

OP posts:
sallysparrow157 · 27/07/2013 00:59

Yep, always blunt end first as it basically makes your bum hole want to keep them in rather than spit em out!

Nacster · 27/07/2013 01:21

DC3 was given them in casualty when he had pneumonia. 3 days of a temp of 40 with oral meds, and the suppositories got it down in 10 mins!

Original poster
solveproblem · 27/07/2013 06:27

Morning, in hope one of you lovelies can help me. DS has still got a very high temp and I can't even get calpol down him using force.

Is there any way I can get a prescription on a Saturday morning or will I have to pay £20 for them?

OP posts:
Montybojangles · 27/07/2013 06:33

There should be a walk in centre somewhere near you that you can visit. Where do you live?

There still might be an issue with the pharmacy having them in stock though.

Hope he is on the mend soon.

Imnotaslimjim · 27/07/2013 06:35

Solve, you could try calling out of hours and getting an appt, they may be able to prescribe them

However, latest WHO advise is to leave them with the temp as its the body's natural defence and will actually help him get better quicker. You don't have to worry about febrile seziures (unless he's had them in the past) from a prolonged temp, its a rapid rising temp that causes them

WorrySighWorrySigh · 27/07/2013 06:44

Used to be the standard in the Netherlands - sit pillen (sit tablets) if memory serves.

You can get alvedon from Chemist Direct for £18.30

FourArms · 27/07/2013 06:48

I've had a prescription issued over the phone & faxed to a pharmacy by OOH GP. However, we have had them prescribed before as DS2 is an oral medicine refuser. I chose pharmacy for fax to go to having already checked they were in stock.

I was helped with first ones by a friend who is a paediatric nurse and she did pointy end first so I always have. Lying on left side is easier. I hold until first expulsion urge goes & then it stays in. Fab things :)

Maybe more expensive here because they're less common?

Interesting about suppositories for ABs - I was told there weren't any for DS2. He ended up having to be held down by two adults to take them :( That was a dentist though so maybe less familiar?

youarewinning · 27/07/2013 07:27

DS used to have these. He was born abroad. He'd projectile vomit cal pol have febrile convulsions but a suppository prevented all this.

Have also administered rectal diazepam for seizures. And yes - the nozzle is huge!

Fakebook · 27/07/2013 07:45

My German colleague tried to find some for her little boy and said the pharmacist looked at her like she was a paedophile

What kind of a look is that then?! Confused. Unless she took out a pitchfork and gathered a crowd shouting "paedophile" I really doubt the pharmacist thought she was a paedophile. It may have been a look of confusion. I'd never heard of suppositories for children until last year on MN.

Hope your dc gets better soon OP.

Rosa · 27/07/2013 07:54

Solve problem very long shot but where are you ? I have some carry them always and I am on hols in the UK right now.
They are a complete godsend IMo no sugars colours etc hit the spot faster and fantastic when there is a temp and vomiting.

ipswichwitch · 27/07/2013 07:55

Suppositories should be more widely available, and as a nation we really need to get over the squeamishness. They don't hurt (I speak from experience), and are a more effective way to get medication into ill kids without ending up wearing most of it (again, voice of experience). The other issue is how can you expect a child who is vomiting to keep oral meds down long enough to be effective? Iirc suppositories are more quickly absorbed than oral meds.

Branleuse · 27/07/2013 07:59

i occasionally stock up when in france

curlew · 27/07/2013 08:09

I wonder whether it would be better if we had a national education campaign about raised temperatures?

Obviously if a child is in pain or distressed the they need painkillers. And if a child has extra medical issues then thingsnare different. But a raised temperature in a child that's normally healthy it's just evidence that the body is fighting an infection and doesn't need to be brought down. There are lots of ways of making a feverish child more comfortable without medication. There's no need to wake a sleeping child with a fever- jus keep them cool and let them sleep off whatever it is.

coffeeinbed · 27/07/2013 08:17

I have been flamed here because of this, but thus us what I do with high temperature if there moth

coffeeinbed · 27/07/2013 08:21

Bugger.

On phone.
... Nothing else.
Soak cotton socks in cold water with lots of vinegar, put on child's feet.
You might need to chagr then a couple of times - they will dry out quickly.
Also, protect bed with sometjing, otherwise the vinegar smell will linger.
Temp will go down.?

PoppyAmex · 27/07/2013 08:30

Just when I think Brits can't surprise me anymore! Grin

Suppositories are THE main way to medicate a child in most European countries.

People suggesting it's "wrong" are actually creeping me out.

Seabright · 27/07/2013 08:37

I'm in France at the moment and would like to stock up. Do you know what they are called?

I really don't want to have to resort to mime!

curlew · 27/07/2013 08:43

"Suppositories are THE main way to medicate a child in most European countries. "

It's a cultural thing. And if it's what everyone does and it's what a child is used to, then fine.

In my experience, parents reach for medication much more quickly in continental Europe than they do in the UK.

StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes · 27/07/2013 08:46

question... can you put calpol in a small glass of milk for a toddler to drink? if I recall calpol tastes like strawberries so would make the milk taste like a milkshake wouldn't it

Original poster
solveproblem · 27/07/2013 08:49

Phoned 111 for an out of hours appointment but got told to go to a&e (he's got other symptoms as well) so sitting here waiting to get seen now.

(I've got a thread in nurseries about what happened two weeks ago. This along with the temp and a new rash is worrying me.)

OP posts:
PoppyAmex · 27/07/2013 08:51

Curlew, sure but to imply that "it's wrong" is startling at best.

AppleYumYum · 27/07/2013 08:51

The reason I was searching for some was the additives and E numbers in the oral paracetamol, banned in other countries but not in UK etc, they aren't added to suppositories as no need to look pink and taste sickly sweet: www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/08/calpol-its-paracetamol-jim-but-not-as.html?m=1

TwuntingCrow · 27/07/2013 08:53

Ask for Doliprane Seabright .You need to know the weight of the child in kg - another reason that they work better is purely because dosage is done by weight :)

WaitingForMe · 27/07/2013 08:58

Is it the same brand in Spain? I'm going in a couple of weeks and will get some.

Can't wait to see DHs face when I tell him they're on my list of must-buys along with smoked pimenton and those huge salted almonds Grin

Eve · 27/07/2013 08:58

Common in Italy, had an interesting moment when we took ds to GP as he had an ear infection which we used what DS's refer to as 'bum tablets' when in Italy.

He told GP that mummy stuck things up his bum to make it better. :-)

So much easier than trying to get calpol in. I think I have a stash in the cupboard somewhere.