about the syringes they've started putting with medicines?

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The ones you get with Calpol etc these days.

I'm sure the reason is supposed to be to make sure the dose is measured accurately but I'm not convinced it actually helps on that front, it really isn't that hard with a spoon and does the difference between 5ml and 4.75 ml really matter?

The syringes are difficult to clean, it's more plastic for landfill (because how many do you really need?) and they're fiddly and messy to use. I'm sure they lead to more waste too as I end up with medicine down the outside of the bottle.

AIBU or does anyone prefer them?

Oh I love them. And definitely need one in every box as can never find the buggering things at 2am!

To clean I fill with soapy water and squirt a few times!

Bertiebotts, it's possible to remove the plastic stopper from top of bottle...handy at 2am and can't find syringes! Been there...

Love them. Loads less wasteful than a spoon. Dead easy to use.

I bung em in the dishwasher.

I don't like them.
I much prefer spoons.
Americans use syringes, but also little cups. I prefer those.
Mind you, none of my three have ever refused medicine.

Massively prefer them; have never been able to spoon medicine into either of my children without it being spilled everywhere either by their flailing or my own clumsiness. And Bertie you can take the syringe-shaped opening off the bottle if you want to use a spoon!

I prefer them too.

Less mess, more accurate dose, easy to clean with warm water and good bath toys once the numbers have starte wearing off!

I'm a fan. I know it's extra plastic for the landfill, but equally they're fun for the older kids to play with in the water table and squirt each other.

I hate them - find them hard to use as you need several hands

Why do you need several hands? I dispense medications most days to children. I really do prefer a syringe. Once it's drawn up up I only need one hand to gently use the plunger.

Also the children that are able at my place are encouraged to use the syringe themselves once we've drawn the dose up for them so it gives them some control.

My 15yo and 13yo still like Purple bottle Calpol (though DH tries to convince them to have paracetamol tablets)

I like them because I can draw up a dose of liquid and leave it beside them if they need it.
If they have a night dose and wake up during the night for example

I do think you are being a bit unreasonable.
evidence here

If you have a healthy child and are giving calpol you will probably be OK. If your child ever needs something more serious than calpol insist on a syringe.

Love them, life is much simpler at 3am with a squirmy baby and a syringe. (oh god I sound like a junkie.....)

I fill a mug with soapy water, squirt about, refill with plain water and rinse, then refill with boiling water and squirt about a bit more. Probably overdoing it with the boiling water tbh.

I don't find them fiddly or messy tbh.

If giving 7.5/10mls do you clean before sticking back in the bottle? I use them and don't but the hygiene issue pops in my head every now and then!

The makers have taken dosing far more seriously due to an increase in paracetamol overdose in children which causes slow but irreversible damage. Just a bit more on a regular basis can equal a significant overdose and paracetamol is not harmless

Best practice would be to measure up using syringe, and then transfer to a spoon. You need to be very very careful squirting a syringe into somebody elses mouth, as you can't control the speed or amount very easily and the person or child on the receiving end risks choking on it.

YABU, I and my DD prefer them to spoons. DD loves them and sometimes uses the spare ones in the drawer to syringe her drinks she is 7.

Much much prefer them. I use my medicine spoons for cooking measurement now!

For 7.5ml I use 2 syringes -we have quite a lot.

I think they're a massive improvement. It's so easy to spill sticky calpo lol everywhere on a spoon.

Much easier to dispense too.

Grumpy,I measure into two string a dose bigger than 5ml.

My children aged 5 and over happily control the squirting themselves after I measure it out and supervise them taking it,

For a toddler a spoon is a nightmare just asking for spill ages of gloopy pink sticky goo, and completely missing most of the dose! It is very easy to syringe slowly down the inside of the child's cheek.

My son had to have medicine which was dissolved in apple juice - heaven knows how I would have managed that with a spoon, but with the syringe, you just suck a bit up and shake it about without any mess or fuss.

They are also much easier if you have horrible tasting medicines as you can shoot them towards the back of the mouth past the tongue, so as little as possible is actually tasted on the way down.

We use 2 syringes if we need to dose more than 5ml

( have a drawer full)

I really like them. Just take them apart and bung them in the dishwasher

I much prefer them and since working at the school I've been begging parents to provide them with the medicines/piriton that I am administering every day, because I've got shakey hands and my office carpet is already looking trashed.

I prefer them so does the 4yr old even the 18yr old has used them to take medicine.

Find them more accurate than a wobblely spoon in hand aiming for the mouth. Infact I chucked all the spoons in our plastic recycle