Four times A DAY

[questabellatreetop]

My DS has tonsillitis, he needs four doses of medicine a day. I take this to mean he needs four doses in a 24hour period, to me it's painstakingly obvious, DH says only during the day, I think that is absolutely ridiculous. Who is right?!

I would always it to mean 4 doses during waking hours - 8am, midday, 4pm, 8pm.

I wouldn’t be waking a child in the middle of the night.

I have always spaced them across the 24 hours, so every 6 hours they have one dose although you could extend the night “gap” a little to 8 hours to get some rest?

4 in 24 hours maximum. At least 4 hours between each dose. No more than 4 in 24 hours

If agree with your DH. You'd be bonkers to wake your DS up in the middle of the night. First thing, last thing and twice in between.

Not through the night, 8am, 12noon, 4pm and 8pm for example.

The most effective way is to make them evenly spaced across the 24 hours of a day, but you need to balance the need for sleep with the meds - doing as the pm said won't hurt, just might take a little.longer to take effect

lol, you are. What classes as ‘during the day’? Dawn to dusk? At what longitude/time of year? or perhaps it is office hours, between 9 and 5, or is it 8 and 6, offices can vary these days....

4 times in 24 hours. Every 6 hours (or as close as possible allowing for normal sleep).

Your husband is daft.

I'd , not if.

Yes 4 doses in waking hours.

Thank you @DinahMo!

My mum always woke me for medicine when I was little!

DD had an infection recently and had medicine to be given 4 times a day. I asked chemist if that actually meant every 6 hours, i.e. did we need to wake her up in the middle of the night. Chemist said no, just spread them out evenly through the the day. Check with chemist if you're not sure.

My son had amoxicillin for tonsillitis and he started taking doses at 7am to 11pm, so we had to keep him up late. Every 4 hours. Maybe shave some time off by doing them closer together?

I’d probably space them as near to 6 hourly as possible, but just do one as late as possible at bed time and one as early as possible at breakfast so he isn’t being up in the night.

Depends on the child’s age and routine.

DD is on a ten day course. Every six hours. We aren't waking her in the night. Sleep will get her better as much as the medicine will imo.

My mum always woke me for medicine when I was little!

She didn’t need to do that. It is quite sweet though. I have oddly nice memories of being looked after at night when unwell. But sleep is important!

4 doses spaced equally across waking hours. I definitely wouldn't wake a baby/child to give medicine; it's unnecessary.

I've very rarely in my career advised a parent to wake a child overnight for antibiotics. Sleep is so important when they're I'll.

You know their schedule, give first dose as soon as they wake up, and last right before sleep. Spread the other 2 evenly throughout the day. It'll be fine.

Your dh is right, sorry.
8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm. After 48 hours, he will be feeling much better anyway and that is in no small part down to being able to sleep. Keep well hydrated and calpol as needed.

As a GP, I'd tell you to give it during waking hours as spaced out as possible. We always used to write it that way on hospital medication charts too. 7am til 10pm would be ideal, but 8-8 would be fine.

@Notevilstepmother
DS is four but is a very good sleeper, he'd wake up, take his medicine and go straight back to sleep.

I wouldn’t (and don’t) wake in the night. I space evenly over the hours the DC are awake (7-7)

There's no need to wake up in the night unless the medicine states a certain number of hours apart. When DS had antibiotics before, I gave them at 7am, 11am, 3pm & 7pm

Per 24 hours, fairly evenly spaced. If antibiotics, they won't work otherwise. I agree that your DH is being silly.

If she has an infection that needs antibiotics, what she also needs is sleep. Don't wake her. So 4 doses well spaced out in a 24 hour period - but they don't have to be equally spaced to fill the 24 hours. 8, 12, 4 and 8 sounds spot on.

Yes, 7-11-3-7 is the schedule we followed for antibiotics