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Original poster

Medised overuse

66 replies

enolagay · 22/11/2006 15:46

Hi all i am new to this and i joined to get your opinion because i am so worried. I am pretty sure that i am overusing medised. My baby has always been a akward sleeper and i have a very impatient husband. She is one now and there hasn't been a night when she has slept through. I tried to talk to other mums, but to be met with blank faces as their little treasures sleep from seven till seven every night.
I work full time, i had too as finacially i cant do part time work, but i have found a briliant nursery which i am extremely happy about.
the problem is this because bedtime is a hasstle, my husband always insists on using medised to get my baby to sleep. The most we use is about 1ml, If we don't use it we will be awake about five times. As it is i am only getting four hours sleep stints.
I have tried evrything- GF, bedtime routines- which we still follow, but she still wakes up about twice or three times.
Please don't think i am a bad mother because i love my baby so much but does anyone know of any long term effects and has any one know of any advice of how i can come off medised?

OP posts:
bigknickersbigknockers · 22/11/2006 17:52

never heard of medised, why is it diferent to calpol? My middle child is almost3 and still wakes once a night and my third child wakes 2 or 3 times a night (she is 11 mths old so i havent had a decent night sleep for a long time but I have never used or considered using medication.

Lilliput · 22/11/2006 17:52

Why would this not be a genuine thread?

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 22/11/2006 18:00

coming from a slightly mad scientist lol?

LIZS · 22/11/2006 18:01

Medised does have sedative properties due to the antihistamine while Calpol has "just" paracetamol as its active ingredient. The is due to another thread(s) a while back over the longterm misuse of Calpol and similar on other sites.

lulumama · 22/11/2006 18:01

wasn't enola gay the name of the plane that dropped the bomb on hiroshima?

MrsJohnCusack · 22/11/2006 18:03

I think historically there have been similar threads on here which have turned out to be a hoax. memory is failing me for the exact details but I don't think people are just being horribly suspicious of a newbie - it's just very similar to things which have turned out badly before and which have been posted by someone with a hidden agenda.

Still if it is not one there is some useful advice on here.

MrsJohnCusack · 22/11/2006 18:04

and yes I did find the name interesting

misdee · 22/11/2006 18:12

i know of someone who used to dose their child o0n medised everynight to 'help' them sleep. in the end they had to wean the child of it, and do sleep training.

how about replacing the medised with somethign else of a spoon/syringe, it could be that she has become used to getting medicine before bed now, as i doubt the 1ml of medised would have much effect tbh.

i am treating this as a real thread as it is known to happen.

Norash · 22/11/2006 18:15

Hi enolagay.

Please stop if this is true, maybe one day your child may learn to sleep through and maybe they will be one of those people who just never manage to all their lives.

I have a DS 19 months and I can count the number of times he has slept through on one hand. I was in final year uni when I had him and now work full time he wakes up at least twice a night on a good night.

Find other ways of coping.

Lets not be too hush coz if this is true she already feels bad and wants to stop and if it's not lets say our piece and move along to the bar lulu is waiting to serve

LIZS · 22/11/2006 18:31

Agree if you are doing this, stop now and offer something else such as a revised wind down routine perhaps with milk or water, as a cue to sleep. Don't buy it ! That amount may be small itself but if you do it each time she wakes it may have an accumulative effect but is unlikely to actually be helping to get her off initially other than as a habit/cue. She is will continue to wake if you give her such attention - be it just something on a spoon - so if you need help with an alternative sleep training regime ask your hv if there is a sleep clinic in the area ro if she can give you advice. When you actually do need to use Medised it possibly won't be as effective.

Forget the other mums - they will all tell you that ther darlings sleep through , true or not !

Norash · 22/11/2006 18:40

Here here LIZS everyone elses child seems to sleep through the night but mine.

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 22/11/2006 19:10

Mine didnt either, tis a myth

Original poster
enolagay · 23/11/2006 10:52

As a first time mother, i was sure some of you would sympathise with me. Thank you all of you who gave me constructive advice, i think i will go and see my GP and HV about the sleep issues. I do want to stop as i hate myself for doing this. i already feel like a failure as a mother and i thank all of you who have been negative about the posting as you have just backed up my feelings.

OP posts:
Nemoinapeartree · 23/11/2006 10:59

she just might not be a sleeper..my ds is 3.1yrs and has never been a sleeper. He didnt sleep through until he was 18mths and even then and now often wakes in the night..not because he wants or needs anything just because he is not a good sleeper. DD is 11mths and complete opposite bed at 6.30pm and I wake her up at 8am. I would not recommend using medised as a sedative.

colditz · 23/11/2006 11:01

my constructive advice is this. stop allowing your husband to drug your child. It is no use you deciding not to drug your child if you are going to turn a blind eye to your husband drugging her. Your husband's impatience should not be turned into your baby's health problem, and you need to tell him that. He cannot insist that a child is drugged because he doesn't like noise.

Practically, speak to the nursery staff, a lot of them are trained in early years developement and might have some real advice.

Berries · 23/11/2006 11:05

I've been there DD2 had severe exzema and was continually scratching all night. She used to sleep about 5 hours a night, but never for longer than an hour and a half. By the time I (or DH) had settled her down again we would get about 1 hour before she woke herself up again.
In the end we were prescribed a sedative/antihistamine from the doctors. This finally allowed her to sleep for longer (though not nec all night). We also had to go through a lot of trial and error on treatment during the day but wwe managed it. DD2 took this medicine for about 3 months! I was not happy about 'drugging' her to sleep, but I honestly believe that if we hadn't either dh or myself would have walked out, it was touch and go a few times. We eventually did manage to 'wean her off' it, and she did start sleeping, not all night, but in chunks of about 3 hours. Waking 3 times a night is nothing compared to what she used to be like. I send my sympathies to the OP, don't feel bad. The fact that you want to stop doing it now is good, and probably reflects the fact that you have managed to get enough sleep to function now.
I'm not advocating drugging children at all, just think sometimes there isn't enough understanding of the other side of the coin.
BTW there is a light at the end of the tunnel, dd2 is now 9 and sleeps very well, and shows no after affects of the medicine either.

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 23/11/2006 19:32

You are not a failure as a mother, having a bay is a minefield of potential mistakes and everyone makes mistakes some big some small, so don't take it so hard, it sounds like you are going to sort it all out and get advice and then stop the problem so as long as you stop doing something you know is not right long term, it is just a blip. once this is sorted you will feel much better and you are not a failure

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 23/11/2006 19:33

having a baby i mean not a bay lol

JennyLeevesmilkandcookiesforSa · 23/11/2006 19:36

Berries i see what you mean , but there was a specific reason that you did that your child was itching and it was doen so your child could sleep without suffering too much and was not long term. I did it myself gave my 6 year old at the time piriton when he had chicken pox to help with the itching so he could sleep, but was only a few days while the itching was bad, is just that it is not a long term solution to grumpy Daddies

opinionsrus · 23/11/2006 21:21

I don't know why you are all being so harsh to the OP??

I personally would never give my child medised every night, but I can understand how some people do. Especially if you work full time, that in itself is exhausting enough, I work 2 half days I cannot imagine having to work full time with a small baby.I think some of you need to wise up a bit. NO I don't agreee that this is right but I do find it all very believable.

Eno - two things that spring to mind.

Have you ever thought that the nursery are allowing your child to sleep to long. You need to tell them.If your baby is asleep for most of the day it is easier for them of course. I know that our nursery would not really have any qualms with letting a baby sleep.

And second if you are giving your child medication every single night, not only will you be harming them, they will also be completely immune to it. The problem would never improve until you stop, straightaway.

Elibean · 24/11/2006 05:58

I've not used it for more than a few nights when dd has been ill, but have noticed that Medised works as a sedative for a couple of nights - and then starts making her more edgy and wake up more frequently. So we always stop it after 2-4 nights, depending on how ill she is.

You must be exhuasted, and I feel for you - but I bet you the Medised is actually the problem now, or at least part of it. Wishing you alternative solutions soon...xxx

curlew · 24/11/2006 06:17

I would really like to know the genuine number of babies who sleep through the night at 1. In my RL experience I only know a couple. They are babies - waking up in the night is what they do.And the mothers who have sleepin through babies have selective memories. That's what mothers do! Real sleep deprivation is hellish and I know some babies are really dreadful sleepers and I'm not talking about the ones that cry for hours in the night. BUT (controvertial bit coming up) I reckon it's almost always better just to wake up briefly and settle them back to sleep than to waste huge amounts of physical and emotional energy on "training" them to do something that they will do by themselves sooner or later anyway. Maybe the best idea is to "train" the parent to manage on disturbed nights for a few months- junior doctors have to!

McDreamy · 24/11/2006 07:47

mmmm and look at the mistakes jnr docs make!!!

Celery · 24/11/2006 08:04

Yes, it's really common and really normal for a one year old to not be sleeping through. Tough as it is, at some point in the future she WILL be sleeping through, and that point will come around sooner than you think. IME, if you have a non-sleeper (ie one who doesn't sleep through ) they usually start sleeping through anytime between 18months - 3 years. Cling onto that thought. I don't think a GP will be able to give any constructive advice about a non-sleeping one year old, to be honest. Go back if she is 4 and still not sleeping, and they might listen to you. You HV may come up with some strategies, but really - only time will do the business. If you're totally exhausted, can you not just bring her into your bed when she wakes? It's not wrong, and it won't form long term bad habits, but it WILL mean you are more rested and able to cope.

twickersmum · 24/11/2006 08:13

my 14 month old isn't sleeping through. ask mums of two children, they tend to be a lot more honest!
we are totally exhausted but know from dd1 that it will happen eventually.