Make your own Calpol?!?

[Liv83]

I need calpol at the moment for my 14 month old baby.
He has a slight temperature and the shops are completely empty due to the coronavirus worry. I expressed my frustration that people had bulk bought for 'just in case' and I need some right now for my unwell baby.
Someone I know just had a go at me telling me to not be so stupid and to "make my own Calpol as it's only paracetamol."
That sounds like the most terrifying idea! How on earth would you know the exact amount to use etc and I understood that crunching up paracetamol tablets was dangerous as they are designed to release slowly.
I was under the impression that medicine manufacture was a scientific art! Maybe I'm wrong!!!

You only need to give him calpol if he's distressed. A fever helps fight the infection.

Up to a point. I've rarely been as frightened in my life as the time my 2yo daughter went in a matter of hours from being a bit under the weather with a cold to having a burning fever and having convulsions. She ended up in hospital on intravenous antibiotics with a pneumonia diagnosis, fan at the end of the bed, tepid sponging at regular intervals all through the night to get the temperature down as it wasn't safe to give her any more paracatemol. (Fortunately she recovered very fast after that with no ill effects.) The high temperature can get out of control, especially in a very young child, and do harm.

Paracetamol. I always get that the wrong way round! Calpol is much easier. Hope OP manages to get hold of some.

My 3 year old has chicken pox so can't have Nurofen, which I normally favour for her illnesses, and I had to call around places to get Calpol. The only thing I managed to find was a local Londis with the packs of 12 sachets. She won't take Tesco or Asda own brand paracetamol for some reason. Fucking nightmare.

Saw a post on how to make your own formula.
With evaporated milk

@puds11 There is NONE on amazon. I tried for my child as we're running out and he came down with a massive cold, nothing around in my local places, my partner found one last bottle in some godforsaken pharmacy near his work

Some people won’t buy anything but brand calpol

This is where shops own brand can come in handy

Also look at the fast melts and powders.

They get overlooked too.

But yes this is very dangerous advice. Scary someone is actually saying this

You can make homemade calpol by mixing super strength paracetamol with raspberry vodka. All perfectly safe

I’m scared that some people wouldn’t take this as a joke!!

Don't be a dick. Get an appointment and a prescription.

If you're near Peterborough I'm happy to help out. Haven't been able to get any 6plus for the older dcs but have a bottle of 2m plus.

@RuffleCrow sorry, who is being a dick?
I have stated that I think the suggestion made by the man is outrageous and dangerous and is not to be attempted under any circumstances.
I have stated I will be getting a prescription as well as the half bottle my mum is bringing me from her house.
The doctor has stated they cannot give an appointment at present due to the current status of things.
So, who is the dick? So polite.

This is exactly why mass hysteria needs to be avoided, if the amount of paracetamol is got wrong it can kill a child or baby

I heard this conversation today at Tesco pharmacy
Dad-have you got any calpol?
Assistant-no sorry it's out of stock
Dad-oh (complete look of shock on his face)
Assistant- how old is the child?
Dad- 4
Assistant looks at pharmacist who nods and she gets a bottle of own brand from under counter-here you can buy this

I think some pharmacies do have some bottles under the counter for genuine need rather than the stockpilers.

@MonaLisaDoesntSmile oh right. On mine it lets you put it in your basket. Does it then say out of stock?

As they should really.

But it won’t stop people lying about their 6 month old baby who is at home sick with other parents

It is still available, you just have to go out more often and to different shops. My local aldi had none on Saturday tea time but plenty yesterday tea time.

I was at Tesco at 7.30am this morning- there were 3 bottles of calpol and one box of the sachets. I got 1 bottle for my friend who had asked me to get one if I could as she'd searched high and low all weekend with no luck and her son is poorly. A woman behind me took the last 2 bottles and the box. Maybe an early morning trip if you can?

Do you have any friends you could ask?

If not, try Pharmacy2u

Can't you just ask your friends via social media if they have some? We always have a few bottles in (just through being out/away and needing some so buying a new bottle not because we have been buying lots of it recently!). If you ask, someone will have some in, most people do if they have kids.

A woman behind me took the last 2 bottles and the box.

And would have had to put one back at the tills. I saw it the other day, woman arguing the toss at the checkout when she had a load of bottles.

Superdrug had loads yesterday. I went in for regular paracetamol but ended up leaving with the six plus stuff for my headache .

I'm so glad your mum had some. I was prescribed two huge bottles for my 3yo when he was recovering from surgery, so it's the only thing I have plenty of. It's not calpol though, I expect it's the cheapest formula and it tastes like raspberry syrup with added sugar cubes... ugh.... mine don't mind it luckily!

I cannot believe people are stockpiling kids pain relief like this it's so dangerous and disgusting behaviour.

OP - if you need more, try smaller 'local' sainburys/Tescos, petrol stations or minimarts. Our local Sainburys and garage shop both had calpol this week when the big supermarkets had been stripped.

Yes it’s a bad idea to crush up tablets to make your own Calpol.

Paracetamol tablets are not designed to be slow release. They have a break line so you can take small portions. However only or medical professional advice.

when I was a kid we didn't have the liquid, my Mum always crushed tablets.
I'd have to double check but I think the dose for a 14 month old would be 120mg, which is a quarter of a tablet.
I would do this if i couldn't get the liquid. I'd crush it and put it in yoghurt or something.

I’ve had to give my 3 year old 6 plus calpol, but I had to calculate the dose ( halve it) I wouldn’t make her one from pills though. I would be too nervous! You could probably get away with soluble paracetamol for an older child, but I wouldn’t with such a young one.