when to believe her???

[nailpolish]

dd1 (2.4yrs) had a cold 2 wks ago and we were giving her calpol at bedtime because she tended to wake through the night with a temp. the cold was short lived and we only did this for 3 nights.

over the past week tho she has asked for her 'special medicine' saying she has a sore head, or sore throat (chin and she calls it) etc etc.

if i dont give it to her she cries and says 'mummy my head is really sore' and taps her forehead.

because she has seemed fine during the day i dont really believe her, but i am worried she really does have a sore head!

what do i do?

Hehe my dd LOVES calpol and I'm afraid comes up with any excuse to have it!

Persistent use of paracetamol based products can CAUSE headaches though (I believe) so I'd lay off it and only give it to her if she is waking a lot in the night, perhaps?

My dd loves calpol too and pretends she is poorly so that she can have some.

Trust your instincts - if you don't think she is ill, she probably isn't

i have been trying not to give it to her at beditme, altho she ends up going to bed crying, but last night she woke up, dh went through and she said ' i want my special medicine' dh said 'ok' went and got it gave it to her, asked what was wrong and she said 'nothing'!!!!!!!!!!!!

was annoyed with dh for just giving it to her without even finding out was wrong beforehand

Hehehe

You could replace it with something VILE (Syrup of figs?) and say "Gosh sorry but this is really the BEST medicine..."

Harsh I know...

ROFL!

prob shouldnt laugh but might try that.

but what if one day she really does feel unwell and i refuse?

DS1 claims illness because he knows that's the only way he gets to watch telly. Grr. We tend to ask, in a caring way, "oh, does your earlobe hurt, too?" (we change the random body part). If he says "yes", then we know he's just trying to convince us or himself, and we don't bother.

I also rely on his energy level and behaviour. Lying on sofa doing nothing = ill, running about annoying me = well.

Ask her 'is your head/whatever hurting because you want some Calpol?' - I bet she'll tell you the truth and say yes if that is all she wants! Or, give her a placebo, anything, and see if that makes her better. If it does, she's lying. Let us know how you get on.

You could kill two birds with one stone. Give her a spoonful of pleasant tasteing vitamin supplement instead (and benefit her nutritionally at the same time). Haliborange do a good one.

Mailpolish: I think you would kind of KNOW when there is really something wrong? Not sleeping/temperature/very grounchy that sort of thing.

Actually I reckon that could go in tip for the day!

hee hee - my two are exactly the same. They also call it 'special medicine'!

Our GP told us that she was one of 4 kids and every time one child was ill, the others would beg for a spoon of 'special medicine'. The father (also a GP) used to give them a spoon and they felt much happier. It was only in her 20's that he told her the 'special medicine' they were getting was actually sugar water! He didn't want them to feel left out and try and get some of the real medicine so fobbed them off with the sugared water.

hmc - that is the tip of the day!

thansk everyone, will give her something else til she gets fed up or forgets

Blimey, np, just caught this thread. I'm beginning to think our dds were separated from birth . We had this a few weeks ago but she's thankfully forgotton about it now. The vitamin tip is a good one though.

thanks bagpuss, im sure my dd will do the same. shes gone to bed now and didnt ask - she probably forgot! if she does wake tonight (she doesnt usually) then itll be the first thing shell ask for, if she remembers

I sometimes give mine ribena in a medecine spoon as a placebo but they have got wise to it and want the real calpol now.