Why on earth are these Enumbers in Calpol?

[nickeldaisical]

just looking at the ingredients, and googles the E-numbers on the calpol bottle.

found this

calpol has got:
e420, e218, e216 and e214.

all of the 2s are preservatives recommended not to be used in children's food, so why medicine?

they're banned in some countries!

Infant Disprol?

As an aside, please don't throw out old medicines. Take them to your local pharmacy where they can dispose of them properly and safely. Thanks!

oh, yes, that's a good point Trazzle :)

Custard seabuckthorn? Wtaf!

the colours/flavourings/preservative/sweeteners contained in calpol are a real problem for us.

dd1 cannot tolerate any colours/flavourings/sweeteners (sweeteners beig the worst offender, but the other two are bad too) at all. they really do send her loopy (think child climbing the walls all night (literally) after a single half dose, when usually she asks to be taken up to bed at 7pm and is asleep shortly afterwards), and also cause regressions and setbacks like loss of continence.

what a choice for her - take a pain killer and be incontinent for up to a week, or stay in pain marvellous.

which leaves us without pain relief options for her, as finding one without sweeteners is all but impossible.

Looks like infant disprol has artificial sweeteners too which are a pet hate of mine.

Found this- www.diaryofafirstchild.com/2010/04/20/calpol-what-every-parent-should-know/

Apparently you can get infant paracetamol without all the gunk in some countries?

No way I'd make my own like the blogger I just linked. Paracetamol doses for babies= no room for error. Don't do it!

i don't see why it needs to be sweet and strawberry flavoured anyway...

Have you tasted paracetamol??

Personally, I think the quantities they will get through medicines is negligible.

I usually go for colouring free paracetamol syrup, but I do have an issue with the sweeteners, most of which have a laxative effect. DS1 needs to take antihistamines through the summer and he always ends up with the squts from the syrup, after a few days. We've had much less of that since he's learnt to swallow tablets - he can just swallow half a teeny tiny tablet instead of a spoonful of foul tasting syrup and no longer ends up with a tummy ache from trying to abate his snottiness.

Why shouldn't it be sweet and what's actually wrong with sugar to sweeten it?

Err, the calpol I have is colour and sugar free.

I know mummy I pretty much told him the same thing. He didn't seem
to get it. Yet funnily enough when I call up to make an appointment no one seems surprised when I ask not to see him.

(I made an official complaint about him)

It's getting harder and harder to get medicine that does not have artificial sweetener in it.

Yes, madmonkeys, but it will be loaded with sweeteners.

Hate the sugar free thing. I would far rather dd had sugar than artificial sweeteners. It's the same with squash - really hard to find one with only sugar in.

Good for you seabuckthorn!

Did anyone read this? (slight thread hijack but relevant)

drugs don't work grauniad article

First world problems much?

There are children in the horn of Africa dying for want of fresh food and water (I'm sure their parents would kill and die for some e numbers to stop the putrification that's killing their children) and you're getting fussed about a negligible quantity of harmless additives which Daily Mail-ish websites, like OP's link, like to do ridiculous beat-ups on. Numerous placebo double-blind trials have shown that sweeteners/colourings/preservatives are harmless and do not send children 'loopy' - said children are, however, aware to some extent that their parents believe it will, so it gives them licence to fulfil the prophecy.

I'm putting my flame-retardant suit on now, but I'm also giving my baby some Calpol. He's extremely unhappy and uncomfortable with a cold. The sleeplessness and discomfort, which a four month old cannot understand, would do him a great deal more harm than trace amounts of benign chemicals, and without the sugar and sweeteners there's no way I could get it down him. I will also consider myself extremely lucky to live where I have easy access to such medical advances.

There are more important things in this world to get het-up about.

mandinga what a ridiculous post. Numerous placebo double-blind trials have shown nothing of the sort.
And in the case of azo-based colorants, the evidence linking them to allergies, asthma etc is fairly robust which is why they are banned in a number of countries. I am a scientist (chemist) and not prone to knee-jerk reactions about this sort of thing. I don't generally have an issue with food additives, but in medicines for very small children, colours simply are simply unnecessary. And when you are advised to avoid allergens in infants before 6months, it makes no sense to introduce them completely unnecessarily in a medicine.

Like you, I also give calpol when necessary. I would just prefer it wasnt bright pink. Hope that's ok with you.

I used to get given soluble disprin in an entire cup of water growing up. I would have given anything to be allowed calpol instead!

Ds gets so little calpol over the course of a year I have no problem giving it to him. A spoon full of sugar and all that.

(However of course I understand the concern of anyone whose dc has allergies/reactions to the additives in medicine. I don't mean my post to sound like I'm brushing your very valid concerns off sorry.)

Anyone who has faith in pharmaceutical trials should read the Guardian article I linked below. Why are we all so naive about how capitalism works? Why do we trust multi million dollar corporations whose overriding principle is to make money?

I suppose dd1's loss of continence after consuming sweeteners is also a product of her awareness at my concerns, mandinga? do you know many 8 year olds who wet and soil themselves due to an awareness of parental concerns? souns unlikely to me

I can assure you that she does indeed go loopy post colourings and flavourings - she also has physical reactions as well as behavioural ones. she follows a medically recognised diet which excludes all colourings/flavourings/preservatives/sweeteners (amongst other things).

dd2, however, is fine when she (rarely) has calpol - she is just as aware of my concerns as dd1 is.

But should just suck it up, silverfrog. Children are dying in Africa, dammit!

does it make a difference if I casually drop in the fact that even when we lived in Africa, I didn't like giving dd1 calpol?

I do wish there was an easily available pain relief option for dd1 though. just because she isn't dying in a developing country, doesn't mean she should suffer in suburbia...