To suspect my nanny is drugging my child?

[Bambooshoot]

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?

Calpol do individual satchets of 5ml doses. If you don't feel confident in asking her directly if she has given calpol and forgetting to tell you, then replace the bottle with satchets. Job done. All you have to do is have 1 emergency dose available, in the change bag maybe, and check in each day. It's a very simple question after that. Why did you give the emergency calpol yesterday, I noticed the satchet is gone. You didn't tell me anything was up...etc start a conversation with her, good nannies are hard to find (I assume)

OP, have you spoken to your nanny?

Ask her and you'll have your answer.

I take calpol myself for headaches, as it's far more effective. Lots of people do and she could be one of them.

Definitely just ask the nanny.

I can't remember Calpol ever making my DC'S drowsy. When they were babies, someone I knew with children the same age, used to give hers a Calpol type liquid called Medised. Iirc, she said it made them drowsy, so she would give it to them before flights or if she wanted a quiet night. I was. Even the name suggested that it had a sedative effect.

Powerpantsrule - read the leaflet again. Yes 'becoming unusually tired' is listed - note it tells you to tell your doctor immediately if this happens, this is because it is not a normal reaction to calpol, but would be related to overdose or a very unusual blood dyscrasia. As stated on here many times calpol does not cause drowsiness, it kills the pain or reduces the temperature, which in turn will possibly allow your child to sleep and recover.

Lelloteddy. 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

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

Or you could just read the OP's posts. But that's not as much fun as acting superior, getting frothy & accusing others of being idiots is it?!

It is a 140ml bottle of 140mg/5ml sugar free suspension, it is pink and I would say since I noticed it had been disappearing the level dropped by 2.5cm before I took it away

Please do explain how approx 2.5cms of liquid medicine equates so accurately to eight doses I promise to update our medicines management policy once you do so and shall insist that pharmaceuticals changes their directions for liquid medicines for kids to cms rather than mg/kg

Genuine question, everyone that's saying they take Calpol for headaches etc instead of tablets, do you take 40 mls? Or 20 of the 6+? As that's the adult amount in liquid.

Alorsmum calpol doesn't have an adult dose on the box. That's why I was wandering as all the posters saying they take calpol, if you only take 5 MLS it's not going to do much! You need to take 40 (41 to be precise).

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

Calpol baby is 120mg/5mls or 250/5mls for the 6+. In all my years of nursing I have never seen another strength and that includes generic brands. Bottle size is irrelevant as the strength is the same.

There is however much confusion over Calprofen as some parents think it contains paracetamol, it doesn't it's ibuprofen.

Calpol 6+ does have an adult dose on the box/bottle. I took some the other day because we'd run out of paracetamol. It was 20ml and it tasted rank.

6+ is rank, baby calpol still smells the same as I remember.

I would also expect a nanny to not carry her own stash of paracetamol in her handbag. Kids get in to bags so easily it is a very real danger that many parents and carers overlook. Throat sweets have drugs in them too and antacids are regularly kept in handbags/coat pockets.

As a nanny she may well have been trained/contacted not to carry her own and has had a crafty swig of calpol recently.

Just ask her!

I think people are missing the point. The nanny has an agreement to note down and report use of medications (quite reasonable) and she hasn't done this. She is breaking the trust put in her by the OP. It's not about the odd dose of calpol for teething.

Anyone leaving their precious child in the care of another person needs to have 100% trust in that person.

Ask her. My nursery has given my sons a lot of calpol and I don't mind as long as they let me know. He has suffered really badly with teething (could it be that?) and there were many periods when a bottle was lasting 1-2 weeks. Less than a whole bottle in 8 months is not a lot.

Pp are right though, it is not on for her to administer ANY without letting you know.

I hope you've managed to get to the bottom of the missing calpol, really hoping it's just a case of her spilling it or something, although she would have had to have the lid off to get some for your son to do that.
I think you just need to ask her straight and see what she says.

Just ask the bloody woman??? Or am I missing something? Do you just enjoy the drama of it all?

I reckon that the nanny has slipped some into the OPs tea and that's why they haven't been back

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:) :) :)

OP why don't you trust your nanny to medicate your child without your permission? So she had to ring you before she can relieve your child's suffering? Do you not trust her judgment? What a shame. I understand a book to record the dose etc.. but to have to ask permission! I couldn't work for someone who didn't trust me to look after their child.

Disclaimer - haven't read through the whole thread. Just the first half

Is there a chance that she didn't tell you about giving your child some because

1. She thought as it had been left out that you were happy for her to administer and
2. It was more than 4 hours ago when you came home, so there was no chance of double dosing?

Just a thought.

Think this is probably a wind up thread, or as PP said OP has overdosed on calpol herself in a bid to prove its harmful effects

Well that escalated.