Medised

[Amberc]

Medised used to be available to younger kids right? Is the formula the same now? Why did they make it for 6 year olds and over? It element to unstuff noses is an antihistamine isn't it? Does that mean I could use my children's antihistamine to unblock DS's nose?

When DS1 was born you could give Medised from 3 months. Its great at night as its a mild sedative too. Thn it went to 2 years and now its 6. When I buy it now (for my 4 and 8 year olds) the pharmacist always asks, "how old is the child" and I always say "8", although I haved always given it to my youngest as well.

I use Piriton baby instead. Has the same effect as Medised. Stops them coughing and helps them sleep.

Just looked at the ingredients online and its 120mg of paracetamol per 5ml (same as calpol) and an antihystamine called Diphenhydramine which is in all the over the counter sleep aids. Not the same as Benedryl or Piraton but must do the same job right? Gonna try a combination tonight!

I think I read that the allowable ages were changed after reports of adverse effects. Shame, because I used it for both of mine and it was good stuff.

If you give it to a child below the age recommended on the pack you would have no legal comeback in the event of any problems so it is safer, as you say to give the recommended dose of paracetamol and antihistamine for that age group.

Well I would say there was a reason for increasing the age recommendation - iirc something to do with side effects - so I wouldn't ignore that. I wouldn't feel comfortable sedating my child either if they were sick - I would want to be able to see if they were deteriorating!

I was told they put the age up as people were giving it to babies every night to make them sleep after discovering it's sedatory affects.

I have given it to all my kids if they are too poorly and uncomfortable to sleep if their symptoms are affecting them badly.

My chemist also said that one of the reasons the age was increased was that parents were using it daily to get their dcs to sleep. There may be other reasons too though.

It does help the dcs if they have a tickly cough or blocked nose that is aggravated by lying down at night.
I wouldn't ignore age recommendations on a medicine bottle though.

Parental misuse is often quoted as a factor, but is not the reason for the ban (in any written version I've ever found).

The ban was implemented rather earlier in the Antipodes, and followed research which showed increased risks of certain side effects (including one serious cardiac one) that were excessive compared with the (very small) additional relief above standard paracetamol/ibuprofen.

Doctors can still safely prescribe or recommend it though.

i lie to the pharmacist when I buy it and say dd is 6. she is 18 mo and I have used it when she is troubled by colds, coughs and teething. has never done any harm. i think it was re-aged due to some french study or due to people double dosing with calpol.

As others have said, it's not to do with overdosing the paracetamol or people using it to sedate children, but the side effects (small risk) can be quite dangerous and very, very, very rarely fatal in younger children. So the age limit was upped.

glad i'm not the only one to give it to my ds when he's really poorly lol!

I used to use it on ds when he had a cold. He has large adenoids so is very affected by a blocked nose. I remember it helped when we could use it. It was for 2 and above then but I still used it at 8 months. Ds has a stinker of a cold now and I just want to help him breathe. Have given him antihistamine and calpol and will reort back on effects In the morning!

Well last night - the antihistamine certainly helped his nose a little and didn't knock him out at all. He still woke up at 230 though with ear ache and his nose was completely blocked then but the dose said 2.5ml twice a day. I wonder if the twice could be once at 8pm and once in the night if he woke up. It doesn't specify 12 hours gap...

I recommend strongly that you speak to a doctor or pharmacist to find out what might be appropriate and safe.

The side effects for babies were increased risk of cot death. I wouldn't use it for under-ones for that reason.

A pharmacist told me that using antihistamines for young babies/children isn't recommended as they need to be able to cough when they need to and the antihistamines stop that and make it dangerous.

I really don't understand why anyone would give there child a medication not allowed without the gps say so. If you have to lie to the pharmacist surely that's a sign you should get something else!

Ah well the antihistamine was prescribed to my DS anyway and I only gave the dose stated. I think it's pretty mild. Perhaps the anti-h in Medised is much stronger. I'll ask the chemist today if they don't recommend it for a cold and report back.

It was available for babies when my 2 DS were little (13 & 10), but I was gutted when I found I couldn't get it for DD (19 months).

I've never found anything that works quite as well when they are full of the cold.

Interesting how so many people have been told different things as to why the age limit went up. I wonder why there is so much confusion about it?

dd2 had more than her fair share of the stuff as a baby and toddler, due to serious difficulties in breathing at night whenever she had a cold (she had laryngomalacia, plus enormous tonsils and adenoids). Hospital paediatricians and GPs alike endorsed our using it for her.

What I also wonder is, how did those medical professionals (or any prescribing Medised) know whether she was likely to have that tiny chance of reacting adversely or not?? Was it because she'd had it once and been fine? Am still

I'm in the camp of follow the label. What if your little one did have a reaction or worse?

Talk to a pharmacist about other options.

I didn't know the age limit had gone up!

We use it so rarely, and I bought a big bottle when it was still used for 2yo and I still have a little left. I gave some to DS (3.4yo) just this week because he has a terrible cold.

Are we sure the formula hasn't changed? Am I still okay with my bottle that says 2+ or should I get rid?

link here

"The new advice is that parents and carers should no longer use over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines in children under 6. There is no evidence that they work and can cause side effects, such as allergic reactions, effects on sleep or hallucinations."

Hence they relabelled all of them

Just spoke to my local pharmacist who said that its European legislation and applies to all children's medicines including cough medicines etc. It's not the antihistamine or anything specific. He said he doesn't know why! He said Medised was the best thing on the market but over the counter medicines cannot be prescribed by a doctor.

My GP prescribed Medised for DD as she has awful snotty noses when she gets a cold . He said it was taken off the shelves as people were using it to get their DC's to sleep.

We have it on repeat too, although don't get through that much of it TBH.

doctors can prescribe OTC medicine