Calpol overdose 😩

[Mummiessss]

my child is allergic to ibuprofen so I cannot give him that but I am abit thick and I am not sure if I overdosed him. It says 4 doses in 24 hours. Did I still follow that
Calpol 17:15 yesterday 19/02/2025
at night 3am? 20/02/2025
12:32 calpol morning 20/02/2025
20;00 calpol evening 20/02/2025
1am calpol 21/02/2025

I haven’t read all the replies as I got bored of the really unnecessary rude comments. But you’re fine OP. Just jot it down on a piece of paper and set a timer on your phone for the next dose to be 6 hours after the last one. Hope LO feels better x

Unless he is in discomfort there’s no need to medicate specifically for that temp.

I didn’t compare it with any scientific evidence behind it, it was compared in that morphine is a very very strong painkiller and calpol isn’t…of course you should follow the instructions that goes without saying doesn’t it? But at 4 in the morning when OP was worried she’d overdosed her child, my comment was to remind her that if you gave your child 1 or 2 over the correct dosage (not a bottle) then it’s highly highly unlikely anything would happen.

What you suggested was that you didn’t need to worry about overdosing on a medication. You do. One isn’t better or worse than the other.

I'm pretty sure your midwife was wrong and it's risky to post stuff like that on Mumsnet where there will be people who don't question what they read. Overdosing on paracetamol is a serious issue.

OP was absolutely in the right to want to double check the timings if she wasn't sure. Some of the replies on here have been horrid. People can be so narrow minded!

Correct. Agree set a timer as the fact you’re doubting yourself means your maths might not be great and will prevent worries and worries in the future. 4 doses in 24 hours is a dose every 6 hours - set a timer.

That's absolute rubbish. It's paracetamol, that dosage would be equivalent to an adult taking around 40 paracetamol tablets depending on dose for age.

The most important thing to remember about paracetamol poisoning is that there is a cheap and highly effective antidote that needs to be started within 8 hours of the overdose in order to protect the liver from being destroyed.

After 8 hours the efficiency of the antidote decreases, the liver will be damaged, and although the patient appears to recover the liver damage progresses and can be fatal.

If you suspect someone may have overdosed on paracetamol, never decide to sleep on it in the hope that they will feel better the next morning. Starting the antidote in time is 100% effective.

Also...how strong a painkiller is isn't necessarily related to the safety margin (i.e. the difference between a therapeutic dose and a potentially toxic one). Paracetamol is a really useful drug, but the safety margin is comparatively narrow, especially compared to other OTC painkillers. Unfortunately there is a dangerous miconception that has been repeated on this thread - that because a drug isn't "strong", a "little" bit extra wouldn't matter. It doesn't work like that. There are much stronger drugs than paracetamol with a significantly bigger safety margin.

/soapbox (but no apologies for soapbox because this is important).

Thank you! It is risky because the chances of death from taking a bottle of acetaminophen is quite great. It won't kill you like opiates. Instead, it is symptom free at first, until the liver damage starts. Then you end up in "shit creek without a paddle" territory. People have ODed on it, on purpose and by accident and it can lead to death unless it is found in time and if the damage is bad enough, a liver transplant is done.

Official journal of the American College of Gastroenterology | ACG

Heartbreaking Case of Acetaminophen Poisoning | Circulation

To me, it's a much more dangerous drug than ibuprofen. You can also OD on ibuprofen, but they make prescription doses of it, and they do not of acetaminophen.