Unflavoured infant paracetamol vs hens teeth.

[Lunafortheloveogod]

Posting for traffic, as I’ve already waited 5 days for an answer from gp/pharmacist.

DS 7months is allergic to strawberries/citrus fruits and advised to avoid any similar fruits. He’s fine with banana, apple, peach, pear, prune and apricot so far. He’s got a cold, which he’s generally ok with just snotty and combined with his teeth coming through he gets the odd fever. Calpol is strawberry causes a rash and screaming.. haven’t tried orange (citrus) or cherry flavour yet (he hasnt had a drop of cherry anything so after having a near miss with kiwi I’m not the keenest to go bung it into him)

Anyhoo we’ve tried sugar free same reaction.. is there an unflavoured infant paracetamol syrup in existence? Or a banana/apple/pear one? According to my gp there isn’t but alas they also told me they could only get an sma milk for cmpa but paediatrician got a different version in.. so my faith in them isn’t the highest.

No I dont think so as they tend to be flavoured to cover up the disgusting flavour of the meds

I’ve tried google to see if I could help and the only thing I’ve found is suppositories as an alternative. Maybe an option?

Ask your pharmacist. Ours made up a pineapple flavoured one for DD1, who wouldn’t take Calpol as it was the same colour as the vile tasting steroids she had to take.

I thought one should never give strawberries or Kiwis to a child under 12 months because severe allergies to them are quite common. Why would they make medication with substances that are common allergens? Having said that, often the flavors in things like this are artificial and have no chemical resemblance to the original fruit and therefore should not be problematic for someone with an allergy to the fruit.
Most importantly Why are you giving strawberries and Kiwis to your baby who is under 12 months. Or have the guidelines changed since my DC were babies?

How about paracetamol suppositories for babies? Wouldn't think they were flavored .

Sorry @Crocky, X posted.

Sorry I didn't actually answer your question. Your pharmacist should be able to help you work through this by either identifying one that doesn't have these flavors or specially compounding one without them.

Nurofen tastes like banana, but I don't know if that is the actual flavour. Is that any good?

This might be a bit random but you could always try suppositories

www.chemistdirect.co.uk/alvedon-suppositories-60mg/prd-hno

Calpol’s calcough syrup is apple flavoured

You don’t have to use calpol for a cold at all. Some vicks rubbed on the chest is just as effective

Just use Alvedon suppositories instead. You can buy them otc at some pharmacies or else you can order them through reputable UK online chemists.

There is no advice to avoid strawberry or kiwi before 1 year in the UK

I am amazed that any of the medicines have any relation at all to the fruit they're supposed to taste like!

Ds used to have to have suppositories, the gp prescribed them.

Wrt a pp...I don't remember advice to avoid thibgs like strawberries under 12 months?

My DD has had strawberries since she was six months old, along with other allergens such as peanut butter. There's no need to avoid them, just watch for reactions as with every food.

Cherry is actually genetically most like plums, peaches and apricots, so, if he's ok with those, I'd go for it if I were in your shoes.

As pixi said, paracetamol tastes awful so they do tend to try and disguise it with something.

Have you asked at a pharmacy if they have any unflavoured paracetamol that they could make up for you in an infant dose (I see that you've mentioned a pharmacist in your post).

There is adult soluable paracetamol, but it would have to be a fraction of the tablet for a baby.

Hope you find something OP.

The pharmacist here won’t flavour our drugs.. nor will they give over tiny suppositories (gp won’t prescribe them either for an unknown reason) .. I’ll harass the more rural chemist to see if they can flavour anything.

@SofiaAmes both of these things were in Ella’s kitchen pouches.. so I’d assume the guidelines have changed. Going by the booklet the things to avoid now are honey, salt, sugar (until a year) whole nuts for risk of choking till 5 (peanut butter is fine from 6months), shark, marlin and swordfish till your 16 or low fat stuff/unpasteurised dairy.

I'd definitely recommend suppositories (or butt Calpol as we call them) if you can get hold of them. My hubby beings them back when he works in mainland Europe as it seems to be a common way to give paracetamol to children.

You shouldn’t actually use medication to bring down a fever, unless baby is in pain. It just hinders the body’s ability to fight off the bug.

Anbesol liquid is really good for teething - completely numbs the gum. You can get saline nasal sprays to help with stuffy noses. The calpol plug in always works great for relieving blocked nose at night. And there are plenty of unflavoured baby cough syrups to help ease a cough.

I’m a paeds nurse, the only one I have come across is a suspension for an 18 year old boy with complex needs went via peg but was completely flavourless but it’s 250mg/5ml so you’d be unlikely to be prescribed that and also a huge bottle.

The flavourings of these things are really awful but even worse if your child has allergies, you could speak to gp about suppositories but long term as they get older it’s not really appropriate, my children do part tablet now so I don’t buy suspension anymore so that’s an option once your child can have half a tablet but that’s a long way off. Ibuprofen is orange too. Is your baby under a consultant at the hospital, you could query with his/her secretary if they can suggest an alternative - we have pharmacist attached to our ward so can ask re drugs so they may know of something different. Hope you can get a solution to this as it’s handy to have something to give if you need ir

Does Calpol actually have strawberry in it though? Surely it’s an artificial flavouring.

Also have never heard of strawberries and kiwi banned for children under 12 months

Baby suppositories are the norm in france. Awesome, quick and painless for the parent.

I second trying a different pharmacist. Ours asks what flavour 'suspension' we would like the meds to go in. Granted it's for the antibiotics but I'm sure they could make up a paracetamol suspension. We get a choice of strawberry or banana.

@SofiaAmes this has never been a guideline in the UK.

That said, I’m surprised that calpol would have any actual fruit derivatives in it, and it doesn’t actually list it here.

I would speak to a pharmacist about it.

@SofiaAmes ridiculous judgy post. Stick to ops question
I have peanut butter to my kid at 6 months. I must be the devil mum.

There are shop bought brands but I imagine they're strawberry too. However., I assumed it would be flavouring and have no strawberry in
Is your baby reacting to something else in calpol?