DD has accidentally had too much Paracetamol

[MyNameIsNotSteven]

I'm leaving this here for info because I just tried to find the answer to this. It might be useful to someone at some point.

At about 6pm I gave DD 7.5ml of Calpol 6+. She went to her dance class and came back still feeling rough. DH didn't realise I'd given her medicine already and DD didn't know about the time limit, so she ended up having a further 5ml within two hours. I'm sure that sounds ridiculous to a medical type but it made me uneasy.

DH has spoken to NHS direct who will call back in a couple of hours and advise that since she hasn't had any more than that recently and isn't feeling sick she should be fine.

Tip: always communicate when you've given your kid some Calpol!

Sticky label on the bottle next time, and write the dose time on it

Or whiteboard on the fridge if you have an upstairs and a downstairs medicine cabinet.

We write it down on the fridge, even for ourselves and our (older) children do the same. It’s easy to forget.

Absolutely no probs at all. Preop and intraop they often double dose

We write it on the calendar if we give medicine, it’s so easy to make a mistake, I hope she is ok x

Thank you lovestuck. It's easy to panic and DH feels dreadful. She seems ok.

NHS direct have been very thorough - insisted on having us wake DD up, checked toxic dose etc. DH was on the phone for about 15 mins.

I always message my dh when I give Calpol, mainly so I can note the time as I am likely to doubt myself later. But useful so he knows too.

Glad all is well, can see how easily it can happen.

Absolutely no probs at all. Preop and intraop they often double dose
This shouldn't be taken as general advice though, that it's fine to ignore the limits on the container.

DH didn’t realise that DS was now on 6+ calpol, and gave him a dose whilst I was at work. He did it on autopilot as just saw the box and went ‘ooh, calpol, the dose is two syringes worth’ and accidentally gave him 10ml instead of the 5ml it should’ve been. We didn’t realise until 2 weeks later when he saw me give him some calpol for something else and said ‘why are you only giving him 5ml, not 10?!’ When I explained he was as he’d accidentally overdosed him. Thankfully no harm done.

You were very sensible to take it so seriously. It can be really dangerous. Glad all is well!

The total amount ingested over 24hrz is more important than time between doses.
It's to do with the half life of Paracetamol in the body.. Sorry cannot remember more than that.
But basically if she has not had more than the total dose allowed in twenty fours hours then it's OK.
In adults it's eight tablets or 4gm total in. 24hrs.
In children exact doses can be worked out by weight. If you look it up and can do the maths you can work out exactly how much she can have

We have separate "medicine" WhatsApp groups for each DC, and message it with the time and dosage every time we give calpol etc. Then each of us knows what they've had and when.

Thanks Anticyclone great idea.

For Child 6–11 years
20–30 mg/kg (max. per dose 1 g) for 1 dose, then 15–20 mg/kg every 4–6 hours, maximum daily dose to be given in divided doses; maximum 75 mg/kg per day; maximum 4 g per day.

This is what bnf says... Bnf is drug bible for health are professionals.

Average six yr old weighs 21kg, so even if you gave max allowed you can give 1.75gm per day.
That is 7 x 5ml spoons of 6+ calpol

DD now 21 but when she was 1 we went to Canada and she got an ear infection. We gave her Calpol, then later the same day took her to the local doctors (cost us 36CAD, how do I still remember that?) He obviously asked the 'what have you given her' question. Took one look at the Calpol packet and almost burst out laughing. From what I could gather it is a very conservative low dose and whilst obviously we have to be very careful about over dosing its an over the counter medicine and the advise is targeted accordingly.

You have done everything right, you've double checked with NHS direct. I'm sure all will be well. Hope she feels better soon.

Thanks for all the reassurance. She's absolutely fine today. I did set an alarm to check her in the night though! Love the idea of messaging to keep a record of time and dosage.