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Original poster

Medised

32 replies

Wrenner · 11/03/2012 10:43

Please can people give me their honest views on if they use medised for their under 6's! Me and my friend were having a discussion and she still uses it for her daughter and always has! Her daughter is 5 but she had used it since very young! I'm aware age has changed but not ingredients, am I right to be dubious about using this once in a while??

OP posts:
Nagoo · 11/03/2012 10:47

I do. Mine is 5YO.

I have got through 1 and a half small bottles since he was born.

It's my decision, when he is unable to sleep through cold and fever, to give him 5ml, so he can get to sleep.

I wouldn't tell anyone else what to do, but since I used it with him from teething at maybe 6-7 months, I do not feel uncomfortable with keeping a bottle in the cupboard.

I think that piriton does the same thing, and is still suitable, but I don't know, I haven't got any

mrsnesbit · 11/03/2012 10:48

i used it.
I used it without any guilt whatsoever.
the age changed afetr my boy was older and easier.

Bought the last bottle when he was 3ish as i recall. i only used it sparingly though i have to say. not routinely.
calpol/brufen were better (without the sedative side effect) medised tasted vile and i couldnt be arsed with the battle to get it down him.
gave it at bedtime if he needed anything to help teething/ sore throat or anything like that.

seeker · 11/03/2012 10:52

This will get nasty.

My opinion? Age restrictions are there for a reason. Giving a small child anything that has a sedative effect when it is not supervised by a doctor is irresponsible and unnecessary. And giving something that is reccomended for 6 years and up to a 6 month old is Shock

Elibean · 11/03/2012 11:17

dd2 had it when under 2, but a) the GP (and an A&E doctor) knew, and were fine with it - she had additional breathing problems, so major snot episodes were a big deal and b) in those days, it wasn't labelled as 'over 6' anyway.

She never had any problems with it, and it allowed her - and yes, us, which mattered over a 2 year period of horrendous nights - to sleep enough to manage.

But I think every parent has to weigh up all the odds, the info, and the risks, and make their own decision. Since dd had surgery, we've not bothered much with medised (though she is nearly 6 now) as not needed - but when she had, for example, chicken pox and was going mad with itching, I would probably have given it if I'd had it in the house and no piriton. Then again, she'd had it before and I knew she had no adverse reactions to it.

mnistooaddictive · 11/03/2012 11:54

When dd1 was little it was from 6 months and she had it at 6 months. Just before she was 3 it changed to from 2. It seemed sill y to stop Gor a few months so we kept going. They then changed it to 6 plus when she was 3. She had taken it safely so I wasn't going to stop.

I ought to point out she only had it when very unwell and calpol/ nurofen weren't enough. It was an occasional use not a frequent one. I have discussed it with my gp and he agrees with me.

PoptartPoptart · 11/03/2012 12:14

I used it when DS was 4 on the direct advice of the doctor. I was hopeful it would help him get some sleep when he was poorly as I'd heard such wonderful things about it, but to be honest it didn't really help him anymore than calpol or nurofen. The weird thing is, I used it again recently, he is six and a half now, and it worked like a dream and helped him get a good nights sleep without coughing all night. I think I remember reading somewhere that the reason they changed the age limit advice was that there was no evidence that it worked on the under 6's and the risk of possible side effects outweighed the possible benefits. I don't know if this is true, but from personal experience it didn't work on DS before he was 6. All I would say is that you should do what you believe is right as a parent. Everyone will have different opinions but you are the only one who can decide what is right for your DC.

blackoutthesun · 11/03/2012 12:19

i've used it with my dd and she has just turned one.
its the best thing ever for a snotty nose, it doesn't make it sleep tho so i've never used it for that.

i've used about a 1/4 of a bottle

jubilee10 · 11/03/2012 12:21

I have never used it - but them I'm seriously precious, especially with ds3. I gave him Ibuprofen the other night for a croupy cough (he often vomits with calpol!) and I had to keep getting up to check he was still breathing. Smile and he's 5.8

Nagoo · 11/03/2012 12:25

seeker he is 5 now. At the time medised was from 3 months.

seeker · 11/03/2012 13:40

2007/8 it changed to 2 years, I think.

Sluttybuttons · 11/03/2012 13:47

When dd1 was little i used it instead of calpol as that made her very sick. I used it from about 3 months (shes nearly 7 now). I asked the doctors and pharmacist if the ingredients had changed and they said no. I have used it (very occasionally) for the twins and they are 19 months now.

The reason they increased the age is because people were using it to sedate their children and make them sleep.

Original poster
Wrenner · 11/03/2012 15:10

Thanks alot for all your comments! I think it's true what many of u have said that it's down to personal choice but I still find it really interesting how me and my friend can be so different. I don't think I could ever use it without thinking my 1 year old was going to stop breathing or something! I know that's insane though! I do get tempted though when he's been up 10 times a night and I want to scream because he's teething! Grin

OP posts:
Elibean · 11/03/2012 15:20

I do'nt think it would help for teething - thats certainly not what its meant for!

It changed to '2 years plus' in 2008, iirc. dd2 is 5.5, and it was 'from 3 months' when she was a baby - not that we used it that young, but I do vaguely remember it changing when she was somewhere between 1 and 2.

By which time, she'd had endless antibiotics, sleeping potions (in HDU), calpol and nurofen by the bucketload, and god knows what else. So occasional once-per-24 hours doses of Medised, which helped her breathing when lying down, didn't freak me out.

With dd1, who was stonkingly healthy, and with whom I was much more anxious (being my PFB), I would have felt like the OP Smile

jezebelle · 11/03/2012 15:31

i used it for dd and ds1, they are 12 and 11 now, way back then it was fine from 3 months and great if they had a cold and couldn't sleep, the ingredient thats sedative actually helps dry up snot :) i now have a ds2 who's 9 months, and have recently brought 2 bottles but not used any yet, but would if he was very snotty and unable to sleep because of it. Its rumoured though that its being discontinued, something to do with the makers no longer having a licence to produce it !!! In my local chemists its being discontinued and i was unable to buy it in asda chemist too.

Newtothisstuff · 11/03/2012 17:00

It was over 6 months when my DD was little I use it and will continue to use it when DD2 is born. It's better than calpol. My doctor advised me to use it on DD1 as she was a very poor sleeper and used to make herself ill with not sleeping. He advised me to use it to get her into a sleeping routine when she was around 2 it worked like a dream and shes been fine since

Nagoo · 11/03/2012 19:16

OP you will find a massive difference in opinion between us that bought our first bottle for a baby with a stinking cold at 6 months old, when the label said from 3 months, and the people who's first DC was born after the change to 6 years.

There is no way I would concieve of giving a 6 mo baby calpol 6+ for example. But since I had given DS the same medicine at 6 months, it does not seem odd to give him it at 4 years, IYSWIM?

blackoutthesun · 11/03/2012 19:18

but on the side of the box it says it can be used for teething pain

ReallyTired · 11/03/2012 19:24

I think its a real pity that medised is not available on prescription. Medised is good for chickenpox as the anti histamine helps with the itching. My son at the age of five also told me its better for ear ache than calpol. However I think for normal colds and teething calpol is just as effective.

Its a real pity that medised was so badly abused.

Original poster
Wrenner · 11/03/2012 21:18

What does my ds1 and dd meen?!

OP posts:
bubbles1112 · 11/03/2012 22:17

It will help teething pain as it has paracetamol in it! I think the ages were changed as people were overdosing their children on paracetamol as they were giving medised and calpol which both have paracetamol in them. At age 6 a child can have a higher dose of paracetamol.

Nagoo · 11/03/2012 22:18

welcome to MN wrenner Grin

acronyms

Elibean · 11/03/2012 22:35

Yes, exactly, it could help teething pain because it has paracetamol in - which means Calpol would work just as well for teething pain!

I would only use Medised for streaming/snotty/coughy cold type situations, where snot requires drying up - because that, Calpol or Nurofen can't do.

Actually, when I have that kind of virus I tend to prefer Medised (a 12 year old's dose) for me, as opposed to heavy duty NightNurse type stuff Smile

Original poster
Wrenner · 12/03/2012 06:59

Help me nagoo! Not up with the lingo! Xx

OP posts:
Nagoo · 12/03/2012 08:21

if you stay here long enought you'llkthink in it.

baby goo hepling e type :)

seeker · 12/03/2012 08:51

"I think for normal colds and teething calpol is just as effective."

Why do you need to give them anything for a cold? if they are pain or have a fever that's making them unhappy and which you can't bring down any other way then of course give calpol, but why for a "normal cold"?

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