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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To suspect my nanny is drugging my child?

314 replies

Bambooshoot · 13/11/2016 22:29

I have a nanny for my son who is now eighteen months old, she has been with us since he was ten months old. I recently noticed that the level of the emergency bottle of Calpol had gone down dramatically and I know we have not given him any. I put a mark on the bottle to see if it would go down any further, and sure enough, it has. She is the only other person in the house. Is it possible for Calpol to evaporate over time, or is she giving it to him and not telling me/writing it in the book? If so, would IBU to sack her on the spot for endangering his health, in that we could have come home from work and given him another dose without realising? I suppose she could be taking it herself, at a stretch - I just think this is a pretty serious allegation and I don't want to upset the relationship by suggesting she is giving it to him if it can just dry up anyway?

OP posts:
AChristmasCactus · 14/11/2016 17:22

I am sure it does happen but Calpol doesn't make a child quiet and compliant unless the issue was pain related. It is a non drowsy or sedating medication and a very weak painkiller.

The placebo effect still applies. If the parent thinks the calpol will have a certain effect, the baby will pick up on that through their behaviour, tone of voice etc. And if it's a child who can understand that "the medicine will make you better", all the more so.

I don't see a way around this other than trying to educate people against using it in that manner.

FuzzyOwl · 14/11/2016 17:31

AChristmasCactus a child who is ten to eighteen months won't understand this and I think it is a little far fetched to think it will work as a placebo effect for a baby to be quiet, compliant, drowsy or sedated because the parent is optimistic it will happen!

FarAwayHills · 14/11/2016 17:35

I would expect anyone looking after my child to let me know if they were unwell enough to need medication while in my care. What if the child was to be ill when the nanny wasn't there and then you are totally in the dark about earlier symptoms or how much calpol they've had.

As it sounds like this has happened more than once I would raise it immediately rather than sneaking around marking the calpol bottle Hmm Probably best not to go all guns blazing and actually accusing her of something that there might possibly be a good explanation for.

FarAwayHills · 14/11/2016 17:36

*their care

Patriciathestripper1 · 14/11/2016 17:43

Ask her.
Calpol dosnt evaporate we have the same bottle in our bedroom for 12 months and it hasn't gone down a drop.
If you have marked the bottle and it had gone down she has obviously either taken it herself or is drugging your son to make him sleep. If you are in any doubt that she is lying sack her.
I would put up a hidden camera in every room.

PotteringAlong · 14/11/2016 17:48

or is drugging your son to make him sleep

Calpol is non-drowsy; it won't make him sleep.

UnGoogleable · 14/11/2016 18:24

Are you going to ask her OP?

Daisiesandgerberas · 14/11/2016 21:32

Disclaimer: I haven't RTFT

Is she Ofsted registered?

They have to keep a written record of administration.

They also have to provide accident forms that you are to sign after she has completed it stating the incident & the treatment given.

You shoukd have bith of these documents printed off, ready for signing at any time.

I worked as an Ofsted nanny & this was a stipulation when I was paid a visit.

Lelloteddy · 14/11/2016 21:37

'A bottle of Calpol is ten doses for your DS's age and since the. Little was obviously already open as otherwise you would know how much has been used and isn't yet empty, that means she has given him a maximum of eight doses in eight months'

FFS this is why Mumsnet need to be idiot proofed. You do realise that fucking calpol comes in at least two different sized bottles? And at least two different dose/volume combinations? And that's just the branded stuff. Generic infant paracetamols made by different pharmaceutical companies come in a variation of bottle sizes.

The ignorance and misinformation on this thread is staggering. OPs concerns aside, it really beggars believe that people trot out medical information as fact.

Check the dose, check the bottle, check the volume and CHECK AGAIN.

I need to hide this thread before my head explodes. Now where did I put the fucking calpol?

whyohwhy000 · 14/11/2016 21:37

It's not only Calpol; paracetamol overdose can be very dangerous.

whyohwhy000 · 14/11/2016 21:39

Hidden cameras?

PowerPantsRule · 14/11/2016 21:42

many of you are being completely unfair. It's not about the bloody Calpol it's about the nanny giving it to the child without telling the mum. We have a notebook for our nanny and she notes down when she has given out medicine. Otherwise you might double dose? See?

And yes, my child gets sleepy having had Calpol. If you look on the bottle it is listed as a side effect.

Bluntness100 · 14/11/2016 21:44

Oh my, this thread is crazy,

Ask the nanny, seriously just bloody ask her.

LouBlue1507 · 14/11/2016 22:02

OMFG - The nanny might have spilt the calpol! Or she might not have even touched it at all!

You can't just assume things!

brasty · 14/11/2016 22:03

This thread is why being a nanny can be a shit job. No proper employer would act like this.

teenyrabbit · 14/11/2016 22:06

It's not just mums forums who say to take calpol before jabs, I've been advised to do that by my GPs, nurse and hv.

No it's not just calpol but if it's a few spoons that have gone it's not anywhere near overdose amounts is it, she might not even be giving it to the child.

But op would know this if she bothered actually having a conversation with her.

Binglesplodge · 14/11/2016 22:27

Just ask the nanny. This is cancel the cheque all over again. Surely you've seen her by now. Until you've spoken to her this is just speculation.

kali110 · 14/11/2016 22:40

LouBlue1507 i think firing the nanny would be best for the nanny Confused

Steppenwolfe · 14/11/2016 22:52

🙄ask the Nanny !

Ilovenannyplum · 14/11/2016 22:56

Oh good lord, OP still hasn't asked her? Hmm

UnGoogleable · 14/11/2016 22:59

Fire the Nanny!

Then ask her

Then down the rest of the bottle of Calpol yourself!

HarryPottersMagicWand · 14/11/2016 23:02

Given her job states that she write it down if she has given medicine to your child and the medicine has been reducing in the bottle and nothing written down, I wouldn't be happy and I'd be having a conversation with her.

MrsFogi · 14/11/2016 23:07

Ask her she's probably drinking it herself. I couldn't have got through the last 10 years without a great deal of Calpol (I even cracked open the bottle I'd bought during my lunchtime at work today) Shock my day at work was a great deal easier after that shot of sweetness. The placebo effect is incredible, I'm still on the baby Calpol even though the dcs have graduated to 6+.

MadHattersWineParty · 14/11/2016 23:09

This reminds me of when an OP wasn't sure if her nanny had hit her child and instead of asking her just had her at work wondering what to do Confused Hmm

BaronessBomburst · 14/11/2016 23:22

Calpol works wonders on a sore throat. That's when I take it.