Medised everynight to get children to sleep is this healthy?

[Runnerbean]

A friend of mine told me she was concerned about a freind of hers who gives her two children (3 and 18 months) Medised or Nurofen every night to get them to sleep! This has been going on since the oldest was 12 months. She is concerned that it is unhealthy for the children, the are drug dependant aren't they? Does anyone else give medicines to help children get to sleep?
Is she creating problems for the future?
I was horrified personally but didn't want to alarm my friend. Wondered what anyone else thought.

Taking paracetemol every day will probably not cause any harm, it is one of the most researched and tested drugs available and is surprisingly benign in small doses. The kids are probably fine and not damaged at all - at this stage.

Administering a medicine daily for no particular reason however is wrong and shows a very peculiar mindset. I would be worried that this woman is doing other bizzare things to her children as well, she is obviously not right in the head.

Triceratops - Thats a bit harsh!! Maybe she really believes this is the only way to get a nights sleep???

Wrong though it is I don't think she's "not right in the head" and I wouldn't look at it as a basis for assuming she abuses her kids in other ways.

It has obviously started for a reason. Probably because she was at the end of her tether with lack of sleep. I know I was when ds was a baby a still woke up 4 times a night when he was 18mths old.

And as some MN'ers have posted they have been recommended sedatives for their children when things have been really bad! So how do you know this didn't start off as Doctors Orders?

ibruprofen can cause stomach bleeding. It should in no circumstances be given to small children every night. Except maybe when the child has chronic arthritis or something and under special medical supervision. This is clearly not the case i suppose.

and i think the lack of sleep is a fairly universal problem when one has small children. She should not be relying on drugs, obviously. Does sound like a doctor should speak to her.

Im horrified too.

or maybe someone should recommend she talk to her doctor about it...

when my son was 11 months old, he was going thru a bad sleeping thru the night stage (i.e.- he wasnt. and he was waking and crying a lot.) after my GP checked him for anything medically wrong, he gave me an RX for a sedative!!!

needless to say, i was a bit taken aback by this...

've suggested that my friend talk to this girl and advise her maybe to talk to her health visitor about it.
But it's very difficult to seem to be critisising a friends parenting methods.
Apparantly the older child has never spent a night in it's own bed, just cries and then is let into bed with the parents. (Puzzles me how she keeps getting pregnant!!)
The second child has never had any problems sleeping, she just gives them both medised as a matter of course. I've been told she used to put it in the babies milk every night.
I hope my friend can convince her to seek help, especially as there is another one due in 8 weeks!

I feel really sad for these children now.{sad}

This is dreadful, it can't be doing the kids any good and might be doing them actual harm.

oops!

I can not actually believe what i am reading i am totally ed!

I think someone needs to advise her that this is not right before baby number 3 comes along and she starts doing to this baby is well

I'm horrified reading this.

My DS is autistic and has severe sleep disturbances, but I would never have dosed him up like this. I put up with virtually NO sleep for 3 years, before he was prescribed melatonin by his Paed.

I don't know the long term effects of giving nurofen/medised every night to young children, but nevertheless it's totally wrong.

Message withdrawn

putting drugs in children's milk i'm afraid does verge on abuse i think.

Haven't read all of this but the idea that Neurofen promotes sleep (don't know about medised) is BS. It is a pain killer, not sleep inducer iyswim. It prob helps someone sleep who is in pain but otherwise its an old wive's tale and more to do with how the parent feels. Terrible thing to do imo. Many of us with children with SNs who have awful sleep patterns wouldn't do this and certainly not in children so young.

very wrong and very sad thread

My friend has questioned this girl further and this girl doesn't seem to think she is doing anything wrong!! In fact the husband of this girl couldn't believe that my friend didn't do it as well!!.
This girl seems to think that giving the children calpol or nurofen every night soothes them, get this, just in case they might happen to have a pain!!!
Can't work the logic in that!! We think this girl may not be quite 'right in the head'!!
Unfortuneately we don't feel there is anything we can do. My friend doesn't want to interfere.
To be honest I wish I didn't know because I've got quite upset about it.

Irrespective of what medicines are for, if they are adictive or not, I think is plainly wrong to sedate a child if there's no medical reason behind it.

RB - Get me her number.... I'll have a quiet word.

Thankyou Chandra. That's exactly what I think.

you could suggest she give them a spoon of honey that way children still have something from mum but not harmful poor kids are probably addicted in someway to having something before tehy go to bed

She definately shouldn't be giving these medications every night. You can actually call her doctors surgery and make her gp aware that she is doing it. They won't say it was you or that they have been called but next time she goes the doc will subtly advise her/sort her out.
Poor kids. DS has a cold at the moment and I was looking for something to help him sleep but I can't imagine that someone could give it if they weren't even poorly!

ooh! phew! I thought i was borderline (probably am) for giving mine medised 4 or 5 nights in a row if they've had a really rotten head cold or bad teething.

I would see if your friend cant approach her and advise her subtly.