I don't want to use Calpol but do I have a choice?

[London7]

Hi

I have had to use Calpol a couple of times when my baby had a temperature. All over-the-counter baby medicines for relieving fever and pain contain lots of E-numbers and I don't want to expose my baby to them. Does anybody know of a more natural alternative? Believe it or not, my GP, health visitor or even pharmacist said they had no idea!

boots own brand paracetamol has less crap e numbers in it. You need to check though, they may have changed the formula. Ibuprofen's alot better IMO, works faster.

Isn't this a case of taking the least worst option? There might be e-numbers (which are actually just additives of various kinds with various functions) in Calpol but it does relieve pain and fever quite effectively. A natural alternative will really be no alternative at all if it doesn't do that.

It'll be fine - don't worry.

calpol WORKS

Is it really going to make that much difference? Calpol or similar isn't an everyday kind of thing, I really wouldn't worry. (Well unless your Dc go mental on calpol lol)

not sure about e numbers, but there are several alternatives to calpol.

There are the chemist's own brand ones as avenap said, there's medised and there's also baby ibuprofen which is actually more efficient at bringing a baby's temperature down.

I do think, though, that if your child is ill enough to need medicine, a few e numbers are going to be the least of your worries. It's only for a short time until they feel better, I really wouldn't worry too much about it unless your child has a specific allergy.

And why do they always have that awful synthetic strawberry taste? Can they not just make it neutral?

oh it's supposed to be strawberry flavour is it?

I tried all the re-hydration fluid tastes, the only one dd would take was neutral, should tell the manufactures something.

It is a bit unfortunate that so many medicines contain colourings/flavours that are actually of no medicinal benefit (a friend of mine had trouble with her ADs because of an additive in the coloured coating on the pills): however, unless your LO already has a serious sensitivity problem, it's better to give the pain relief than not to do so.

My mum used to grind up half an aspirin and dissolve it in basic orange squash for us. We are all strong and healthy.

Argh, someone on that other thread suggested farking homeopathy - don't DO this to children. Homeopathy is bollocks that will only work if you are gullible to the placebo effect, so it won't work at all on under-5s.

Totally agree with avanap,...Calpol did NOT work for my DS but ibuprofen worked very very well,...so quick. Also can buy it in sachet form which are easy to administer and to stick in you bag for emergencies.

Not sure about the e number thing, but as DS1 went to hell and back every tooth he cut it was invaluable to manage his obvious pain and temperature.

And he turned out ok!!

Agree strongly about homeopathy! It is placebo only! Unless you believe in creationism, where anything is possible...

aspirin is a real no-no for young children, please don't be tempted to give it to them

yes bundle but this was in the 1970's

But remember that a mild fever doesn't have to be brought down - it's part of the body's way of fighting infection. Cool (not cold) sponging, cool drinks, and fanning all help to make a hot child more comfortable. Only use calpol if the fever is really high, or if the child is obviously in pain.

Calpol and iuprofen never did much for DD's temp when she had tonsillitis, I found sponging and stripping cooled her quicker with the calpol/neurofen for pain.

Arnica is a herbal remedy, so is chamomile, and both of them used in that way are great for calming and soothing children. This effect is negated if a loony relly is cramming the pill down a frightened toddler's throat .
Yes you can sponge them down, that's effective, but it is also time-consuming and DAMP.
Tbh there are usually times in a young child's life where they feel rubbish as well as running a fever, and the odd dose of Calpol or Ibuprofen helps them get back to sleep during a disturbed night.
We avoid artificial additives too, whenever possible - but not at the expense of the occasional dose of painkillers.

even original calpol contains artificial sweeteners now. I would still use it over anything sugar free as it doesn't have aspartame in it. I wouldn't worry too much as they hardly ever have medicine. If you only give 5ml at a time then its just micrograms of additives.

FGS!! Does it really matter? If you were ill and in pain would you like it if someone said they would rather you suffer because of a few Enumbers/additives!!

You can get non-sugar free Calpol from most pharmacies - I don't mind a few e-numbers but aspartame is a real no-no for me. Easy to avoid too. Ds won't touch anything with aspartame in anyway.

Seriously, give your baby the Calpol, it won't do him any harm. "Natural" alternatives are generally less effective than paracetamol anyway and you can never be sure of the dosage.

@ LL. I hope you rammed the Arnica up her arse!

The ONLY thing about being ill as a child was calpol!! Unless your LO has adverse effects to the E numbers I think it's a bit OTT to be precious about something you give once in a while and helps your LO feel better.