BCG. To give calpol before or after?

[readyforno2]

Ds 1 (5) and ds 2 (11 weeks) are getting their bcg jags tomorrow. Dp works in Africa in a high risk area.
Should I give them calpol before or after?

I don't think you're meant to give Calpol at all tbh. Something to do with it interfering with the immune response. Probably not what you wanted to hear - sorry!

I thought someone might say that. Hopefully they won't need it. Thanks anyway

My ds got calpol before and after (at the required dosage for age and time since previous dose) I did this for all immunisations, swear by it.

Prophylactic Acetaminophen Before Vaccination in Infants Reduces Vaccine Response

Hopefully not readyforno2. Maybe just lots of cuddles (and some chocolate for your ds1? :) )

Have already promised ds 1 McDonald's .
Doesn't happen very often...

Well neither do BCGs - thankfully! :)

I've only ever given calpol to my DS when there have been symptoms i.e. high fever. He had a fever of 38.4 in the evening after his last lot of vaccines - it normally takes a few hours for a temperature to develop anyway. One half dose of calpol was enough to bring it down in an hour...much better than having a kid ill for real! He was just fine the next day, like almost all children.

You may find the article interesting too LeBFG.

My DD had her BCG at about 5 months and I didn't give her any calpol before or after, she was absolutely fine. She does still have the scar 7 months on hopefully it will go soon.

I think the scar is there for life Bling :( mine is HUGE (it was a pretty nasty, pus-filled thing) and still there 20 years later. It doesn't really bother me though, most people my age have them. Although mine is larger than most.

Oh no, its not very big at all and never pussed or scabbed over, it's like a little red dot. Maybe it will fade over time, if not DD will have a little dot on her arm, it could e worse.

bm: read the article yourself! 'I don't think you're meant to give Calpol at all' is NOT what the study shows.

I did, thanks. :) I hope reducing your child's fever didn't impair their immune response. Have you had it checked?

"If a child does develop a fever and is very uncomfortable, then you can give it. That?s a common sense approach anyway. Why would you give drugs unnecessarily?"

I agree. Don't you bm?

Another interesting quote from the link: "However, the rate of effective seroprotection in both treatment groups generally exceeded 95% for each vaccine component."

And an interesting concluding statement (emphasis added): "The current study finds that prophylactic acetaminophen can reduce minor fever after vaccination among young children, but it does not reduce rates of significant fever and may be associated with reduced vaccine immunogenicity."

This is clearly an interesting bit of research but should be taken in context. It is only ONE paper. The results are not conclusive. How can this lead you to advise: ''I don't think you're meant to give Calpol at all''?

Just remembered. Bm's link doesn't work for me. So I copied the title and I'm commenting on the following link which was the top hit.

urm, perhaps this will work better (it's the top hit)

Well, they both got their jags yesterday and the nurse said there was no problem giving them calpol if necessary. As it happens they've both been fine and didn't need it. Thanks for all the replies

Glad it went ok for you :)