Fake Calpol recipe...

[emdude]

My 2 year old DS has been poorly for the last couple of days - temp, cough etc. He's been having regular Calpol, he loves Calpol.

Had his last dose 2 hours ago as his temp was up again, now in bed screaming for 'Caaaaalllllpolllll'. I've tried cuddles, books, water, more cuddles.

Am I crazy to be thinking about mocking up something and pretending it's 'Calpol' - and what would one use for such a thing?

Not* not it

You can take both together yes but it’s a good idea to alternate a few hours apart for ‘breakthrough pain’

Thank god for that I was about to phone nhs direct in a panic thinking I've been slowly overdosing myself!!! Its just general cold/flu type ache and pains.

DogMamma Can I just check that it's not been more than 4 doses of paracetamol and 3 of Ibuprofen a day? (4000mg total and 1200mg total respectively)

The ibuprofen matters less than the paracetamol as higher doses are occasionally prescribed for ibuprofen but still wouldn't recommend it!

Ive given my toddler cough syrup as it’s just sugar. I’m afraid I’m a calpol for pain only and this latest cold is just miserable rather than pain so the cough syrup seems to be placating them because mummy is doing something to make them better and also stopping the tickly cough.

@Nacreous its been 2 500mg paracetamol 4 times a day and at the same time 2 200mg ibuprofen 4 times a day around 6am, 12pm 4pm 8pm and then about 11 ish I'm taking 20ml of night nurse no5 those exact times but always 4 hours apart in between I'm just having lozenges and s throat spray no Lemsip or other medications

@dogmamma

I think you can, but for children I like them to be dosed as frequently as possible!!

So calpol says every 4hrs and nurofen every 6 so calpol and Max x4 in 24 hours and nurofen max x3 in 24 hours so if you take them together every 4 hours you could overdose.

I’ve had two sick kids for about 2 weeks now so I’m an old hand now.

8.00am - calpol
11.00am - ibuprofen
2.00pm - calpol
5.00pm - ibuprofen
8.00pm - calpol
11.00pm - ibuprofen
2.00am - calpol

Depending on how well them sleep those last two doses can often get missed.

I used to give dss staggered doses one Calpol then next dose ibuprofen when little so I'm not worried there. Sorry op didn't mean to hijack xx

DogMamma That will be 1600mg of Ibuprofen a day then when the max dose is generally 1200mg. So best to cut back to 3 doses a day of Ibuprofen really!

Night nurse also generally has paracetamol in it. So check whether yours does, and make sure your total daily dose doesn't exceed 4000mg. (Aka the equivalent of 8 500mg tablets). This is really important with paracetamol as the liver damage threshold is close to the maximum dose.

I was relieved to see two voices on this thread saying that they wouldn’t do this. I have always gone down the medicine is medicine approach

This. You don't have to give (or pretend to give) a child something just because they scream for it. At some point they need to learn that medicine is strong stuff and should only be taken when needed and in the right dosage.

Sorry that should be @DogMamma - potential overdose discussed in my above post.

I've used glycerin syrup "special medicine", about £1.50 in boots, as a placebo in similar situations. It won't do any harm at all but helps a poorly and tired toddler feel better enough to sleep which is what they really need.

If I have a horrible cold I take paracetamol / decongestant so I'm not going to let my dcs suffer if they can have something that will help (even if it's just a placebo).

@Nacreous thank you...I think I've been taking too much of each... I will drop it down tomorrow. Xx

DogMamma Good plan! Shouldn't do you damage in the short term, but it's easy to do and worth knowing!

Sorry for the derail OP

Bleurgh I no longer do this now DC a bit older and can understand. When tiny and we were muddling along (ie trying to stay sane...!) we did it a couple of times. They understand that medicine is medicine now. No harm done at all.