To think sedating kids for a quiet life is not on?!

[glitterazi]

Really don't want to link to this but going to have to for context as too hard to explain otherwise.
On what planet is it reasonable to drug your kids for a plane ride for a quiet life?
Read the blog post and then the comments.
Seems there are actually people out there that would do this, and not just the blogger. Which is kind of depressing.
I just don't get why you'd drug your kid to sleep when there was no medical reason to and you say yourself it's "because people may look at you with stares" - (look in the comments themselves for that beaut)
AIBU?)

www.jetlagandmayhem.com/destinations/planning-tips/sedating-kids-on-the-plane-with-phenergan/

[SoupDragon]

What is wrong with teaching kids to behave?

Everything! Why would you teach your child manners and how to behave when you can just drug them?

[Spikeyball]

I think giving medication to prevent distress or extreme behaviour is fine. This would also be done with some adults who are unable to give consent. Giving it just to make a parents life easier, isn't.

[schnubbins]

My kids are 18 yrs and 16 yrs .When they were younger we lived in the States and so I did many long haul flights with them .I often wondered how come so many children were zonked out on the plane and mine were awake albeit well behaved because I was always armed with loads of toys, books etc to keep them amused (pre iPad days).We also went on a lot of road trips with friends in the U.S and I then found out that most of the kids were given Benadryl on long trips to make them sleep.It was nothing unusual.

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

I've taken both my sons on long haul flights (22h) every year for about 7 years now. Never drugged either of them deliberately for sleeping purposes. Did have to give DS2 an antihistamine at Singapore once though, when he was 18mo, because he had some weird topical allergic flare on his limbs - the airport clinic doctor prescribed it though, so it was fine. (Didn't improve his sleeping such that I noticed, either).

We're flying back to the UK tomorrow. No plans to drug them then either.

[WellErrr]

My mum gave us this on GP's advice 'to make us sleep through.' She said it worked a treat

[Namechangeemergency]

I was genuinely shocked to find out that GPs are still prescribing this sort of drug to establish sleep routines in young babies.

My DS has been taking antihistamines for many years due to his severe eczema. They don't make him sleepy. They are not a sleep medication, sleepiness is a side effect and side effects don't happen in everyone.

My DD used to have HUGE amounts of antihistamine IV before her blood transfusions. No sleepiness there either.

Its pretty shocking that this method is still being advocated. No wonder they stopped selling the stuff so freely.

[TroysMammy]

My xh said his mother would give him a couple of spoonfuls of benylin cough medicine on Christmas Eve so he wouldn't wake up at stupid o'clock

[MeredithShepherd]

My 2 year old DS has phenergan for travel sickness but no way would I give him more than the 5ml he has the night before the journey to knock him out for a flight!

[whatsagoodusername]

Drugging them at an appropriate time during a long-haul flight would help immensely with jet lag.

I haven't done it because DS slept so badly after having piriton that it clearly wouldn't work on him, but I can see why it would be tempting.

[splendide]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I never needed to as there were no long haul flights when mine were little

I guess this is just about possible but you must be in your 90s?

[GreatFuckability]

I have given it to my child for plane journeys. With my doctors blessing I might add. He doesn't cope with plane journeys well because of his SN. Those who say I shouldn't take him on a plane can frankly fuck off. He deserves a holiday as much as anyone.

[GreatFuckability]

splendide I think that poster might she never took her kids on long haul flights, not that they didn't exist

[Namechangeemergency]

I have melatonin for my DS with SN.
My GP refuses to prescribe it because he 'doesn't agree with drugging children'

My GP is an arse and can kiss mine.

[Namechangeemergency]

I am nearly 50 and we immigrated to Australia when I was 6 months old.

I am pretty sure that wasn't in an air balloon.

[JenniferYellowHat1980]

I had a GP tell me to do this when DD was 2.7 and I was worried about the time it took her to settle at night with DS due any time I know another GP who would (and probably does) do it in a heartbeat. Odd attitude.

[GravyAndShite]

Why the FUCK would you do that to a completely healthy child that you just want to go to sleep on a long flight for a bit of peace and quiet?!

In fairness to the blogger, she does say it was because the child was like to be hyper when they should be asleep. She also said she wouldn't use it on a waking hours flight.

Consent is a red herring in my opinion. Medical consent is required from the parent or guardian at this age.

Not for me, but not willing to clutch pearls over it either.

[SpareASquare]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I never needed to as there were no long haul flights when mine were little

I guess this is just about possible but you must be in your 90s?

I had a chuckle when I read this and THEN I realised I wrote it.
As a pp guessed, I meant that we did not travel when the kids were little.

[WellErrr]

I remember flying long haul as a child and I wished I'd been sedated.

[Aeroflotgirl]

I don't see a problem with it tbh, considering it is supported by a doctor. My friend has a ds with ASD who has high anxiety, and they are under the doctor at CAHMS. He is going on holiday in the Summer, and the doctor is recommending that he is sedated, its the only way. Either that, or they cannot go on a long awaited holiday. With children who have sever sn, it is sometimes necessary. My dd has ASD and high anxiety, and when we were due to go to Italy, her paeditrican recommended a little bit of Piriton before the flight, and it really helped to calm her and make a more nicer journey for not only her, us and other passengers.

I read of a family who was ejected from a flight, because he has ASD and severe anxiety, if sedation prevents this, so what! Don't judge unless you walked in our shoes.

[CakeRattleandRoll]

I took DS (3.10) on a 20 hour long haul earlier this year. He developed a hacking cough the night before our flight. He coughed for pretty much the entire flight, which meant he couldn't get off to sleep. He had about half an hour of sleep total. And the flight left at 11:30pm, so he was already very tired before we even left. By the time we arrived, he was quite distressed from the combo of cough and utter exhaustion.

It didn't occur to me beforehand that he would get so little sleep, and I actually didn't know it was possible to get 'sedative' type drugs for small children. But if faced with a similar situation, it is something I would consider. (And cancelling the flights would have meant losing a lot of money, and being unable to go on a holiday the family had been looking forward to for ages.)

I am interested to know how OP and those who agree with her would act if faced with this situation.

[icy121]

cake the OP and other PPs would step up and parent brilliantly and magically make everything fine I'm sure

Horses for courses. If you don't want your kids to sleep on log haul flights and are happy to make the rest of the cabin endure it too then that's your lookout. One of the comments on the article was very fair and on this point - if she's driving long distances and the kids are screaming she'll let them scream it out and then fall asleep. On a plane with 150 other people, it's a much less appealing option.

That's it really - if parents drug the kids for one off long haul flights for the benefit of the rest of the cabin, that's not 'selfish' in my book. Clearly every night is a different thing, but no one is suggesting that it's reasonable to drug them every night.

[Soubriquet]

Every night got a good nights sleep? No

A one off for a plane journey? Can't see the problem

We make lots of choices about our children without their consent. This is just one of those choices

[bruffin]

Wish they had given phenergen to the poor baby on the new york leg of our flight home this year. Poor thing screamed the whole journey all through the night.
I was giving sleeping tablets as a child, i was an awful sleeper and gp prescribed little blue ones. It really is no fun for parent or child not being able to sleep.
My ds has allergies and has to take antihistamines every day through the summer,it doesnt do him any harm.
As for the poster upthread who said stop giving sweets ., they are being spectacularly ignorant

[dingdongthewitchishere]

Some people are stupid and selfish. It's not uncommon to abuse calpol in the mistaken belief the parents will have a quiet night.

No medication is risk-free. When you chose to give something to a child, you make the decision that the illness is worst than the risk. Drugging a perfectly healthy child is borderline child abuse. You risk his/her health for selfish reason. It has never been easier to travel with children thanks to tablets, computers adding to all the other toys and distraction you can take with you. People use to give alcohol to babies to help them sleep, you can just google why it's so dangerous. Why do people feel that drugs are any better?

CakeRattleandRoll I am sorry, but once you decide to get pregnant, you know that you agree to risk having holidays cancelled or delayed when a child falls ill (adult can fall ill too, but it's easier to decide if you can me it or not). 20 hours is a bloody long flight for a sick child and a very risky decision, the plane will likely make the poor kid a lot worst than if he had stayed home.
That said, if your child is ill, it's reasonable to give him medication to help him, but drugging him to hide the symptoms is a step too far.

[AdoraBell]

I've had this recommended to me, mostly by other expat mums while living abroad.

One friend was complemented on her DCs behaviour on a long flight and asked what she uses. She had to ask, because she wasn't sure what the other woman was suggesting. Other passenger asked her which sedative she uses to get such fabulous results.

She said - unconditional love and consistent boundaries.