That if you are giving your child medication you should know what is is?

[Anunusualfamily]

Calpol IS paracetamol

Calpol is just a brand name of liquid paracetamol.

Liquid paracetamol comes in different strengths under 6 is 120 or 125mg in every 5ml and over 6 is 240 or 250mg in 5ml. Tablets are 500mg each.

The dose you need is dependent on age (or weight if if in the hospital) and you can take that in liquid or tablet form and it does the exact same thing.

An adult could take 40mls of the under 6 4 times a day and it would (taste foul) have the same effect as taking 20mls of over 6 or taking 2 tablets.

A 6 year old could take half a scored 500mg tablet as it’s the same as 5ml of the over 6.

Multiple times I see people saying that calpol (liquid paracetamol) doesn’t work for adults or that their kid has only had calpol but not paracetamol

To be fair I didn’t realise for a while that lemsip had paracetamol in it. Not sure what I thought was in it though…magic maybe.

dm swears by calpol. If my dc are poorly I give them calpol or own brand paracetamol (whatever I have on hand). Dm won’t believe that calpol is the same as paracetamol (just more expensive).

a conversation goes like this

“I’ve given dd some paracetamol at x time”
“oh but she can still have calpol. Give her some of that too”
”it’s the same stuff!!!!”

Baby aspirin (low dose aspirin) did exist though, @Toddlerteaplease. It's not that surprising that some people still refer to low dose aspirin as baby aspirin, even though it is no longer sold as that.

I've been known to calculate under 6 liquid paracetamol quite often when I have a headache and have no tablets in the house.
However, I'm a nurse so pretty standard knowledge I'm my field.
Although it is scary the amount of people that take lemsip, paracetamol and cocodol not realising it all contains paracetamol.
On the other end of the spectrum I also stand laughing to myself when people spend stupid money on nurofen because ibuprofen doesn't work, even after I've explained it's the same thing.

@WaddleAway id make sure to bring calpol with me to the hospital (and give to the nurses) if my child would only take pink calpol as it’s not always stocked as standard in a&e on paeds wards not ideal I know but saves battling to get the wrong tasting stuff in. I’ve also had patients who refuse pink calpol too

Mixing with ribena works occasionally.

Surely all the things you’ve said in your OP are common knowledge. Who is it who doesn’t know this?

Yes I’d always take some with me in that scenario as I know he wouldn’t tolerate anything other than his ‘normal’ calpol.

There are many stupid people

@WaddleAway, agree with @Anunusualfamily re pink Calpol. Hospitals only stock whichever they were able to get on contract at that point in time. There have been brief periods where Calpol was cheapest and we stocked it but more often than not, it is unbranded. And the stuff given on the ward comes out of the huge 1L+ bottles and is never Calpol. The staff cannot order in based on preference so parents will bring in where there is need for particular version.

YABU.

Anyone who has worked with the public knows that you are expecting too much of people

Yes I didn’t say I’d expect a hospital to provide branded calpol. Just that that’s all he’ll tolerate.

Sorry that was to @prescribingmum

The worst one is calprofen. The number of parents (and junior doctors) who seem to believe that this contains both paracetamol and ibuprofen, when it's just ibuprofen from the same people that make calpol. Putting brand awareness ahead of clarity is so risky.

I've met people who think that calpol is addictive and/or causes drowsiness.

@Queuesarasarah come work on a paed ward to discover how many parents are clueless about paracetamol.

Confusion is the exact reason all children's cold medicines were banned from sale 15ish years ago - parents failed to realise the likes of Sudafed child etc contained paracetamol and would regularly overdose with that and Calpol which led to them all being discontinued

OP, YANBU.

I couldn't be further from being a healthcare professional, but this is basic knowledge. Though you can never, ever underestimate the denseness of the general public.

There are also the idiots who give children Calpol "to make them sleep". Paracetamol does not make people sleep. It might take the edge off pain which would then enable someone to get some sleep, but it's not a sedative ffs.

You are clearly getting a disproportionately dim witted section of the British public, which perhaps isnt surprising given who calls ambulances for ridiculous things or takes their child to A&E with a virus that just need rest….

I was brought up with the opposite extreme which required you to be almost dead to go to any kind of doctor. Hoping to strike a balance and teach my children to only go to the doctor for things they can actually help with, not just because you feel under the weather.

@WaddleAway I have no doubt there are genuine cases like yours where only one will be tolerated. The ones that infuriate me are the parents who insist the unbranded ones don't work. The child happily takes it but apparently if it does not have Calpol written on the box, it doesn't bring down their temperature but Calpol does.

@nocoolnamesleft yes 100% about calprofen. Brands should not be allowed to do this. I have also noticed variations in dose boxing with different brands of ibuprofen so parents can't be blamed for getting confused in all cases

I know a couple of parents who used to give their kids a dose of Calpol before bed every night, for no reason. It was just habit from when they were teething. They kept doing it “just I case”.

Tbf plenty of adults don’t even know what they are taking themselves.
Q ’Do you currently take medication for your blood pressure’
A ‘I’m not sure. I take some tablets, a little white one a pink one’ 🤦🏼‍♀️

I agree! And I always have to laugh at people buying the expensive brand paracetamol because 'it works better'. 19p paracetamol work just the same as the expensive branded stuff!

Am I the only one that buys the cheap liquid paracetamol and makes my toddler have it if she likes the taste or not (only when she needs it of course)

You obviously dont have an autistic child 😂. Not one like mine, anyway. When he had scarlet fever we tried literally everything to get him to take the antibiotics. Put it in milk, yoghurt, basically anything he would eat. No chance. When he did swallow some by chance he instantly threw it back up. Ended up on iv antibiotics. How I wish I could make him take medications.

Elderly people taking "Water tablets" for their "water works" who have absolutely no understanding that they are actually for heart failure. So then when they book on a coach tour holiday they stop taking their "water tablets" because they don't want to be up and down to the toilet on the coach all the time. Then like clockwork on about day 5 of their holiday they back up with fluid in heart failure and finish their holiday in hospital.

They always look so surprised when we know exactly what their decision making has been before they have even told us, we see it so many times!

That sounds like the prescribing Dr hasn’t explained their condition to them properly.