Paracetamol/Ibruprofen

[evangelinelily]

Hi, hope someone on here can help enlighten me. I really don't understand the difference in effects between the two. When would you give one over the other? I'm talking about in an 8mo with a high temperature and a nasty cold. It seems some people use them interchangeably, i.e. One in the morning then the other for the next dose! My mum suggested giving both plus a cough syrup and drops for blocked nose throughout the day (spacing doses according to packet instructions). It just seems like an awful lot of medication to me.

I would only ever use both if the temperature was very high and not coming down with just calpol/paracetamol. In those circumstances, I would take baby to the doctors to be checked out. If it is just a cold, and only a small temperature, I would stick to just calpol. How high is her temperature?

The temperature is not actually that high anymore, but she still has other cold symptoms and is just feeling rubbish.
Also pain from teething

Hi evangeline the reason people use both I start they have been shown to have a synergistic effect. This means when you need to bring the temperature down the best idea is to give calpol, and then give ibuprofen 2 hour later and then continue like that.

Unless the temperature is really high just stick with calpol. If your baby doesn't seem any better after a couple of hours try ibuprofen too..
Obviously this depends on the age of the baby. Try and avoid either in the really tiny.

Also as for their effect, paracetamol is for lowering temperature and pain relief, and ibuprofen is for lowering temperature and reducing inflammation.

Ok that helps. And what about the cough medicine? Can that be taken alongside? Contains no paracetamol or ibuprofen

If it doesn't contain paracetamol or ibuprofen then you should be able to use the cough medicine alongside. You need to make sure you get one tat is suitable for her age though. Some formulations contain an antihistamie that had it's licence withdrawn for use in children under the age of 6 years.

If you are in any doubt, just pop into a pharmacy and ask to speak to the pharmacist to see what they recommend.