CALPOL AND NUROFEN - HOW?

[1legmummy]

Very basic question I know but Bailey has cold, sore throat etc and Nurse told me to use calpol and nurofen.

Can they be used together? If so what dosage?

Bailey is 10 months
Thanksxxx

You can use both at their maximum doses for his age - they are different drugs.

Also stagger the doses ideally i.e calpol at 10am, nurofen at 12pm, calpol at 2pm, nurofen at 4pm etc so he gets benefit of one as the other wears off. (can you tell I'm a veteran of this kind of thing? )

You can give them together but not more often than every 4 hours as per the dosage on the bottle or you can alternate them every two hours. For example, Calpol at 12pm, nurofen at 2pm, calpol at 4pm nurofen at 6pm. That way you are not exceeding the once every 4 hour rule but you are keeping up the meds if the child has a fever or is in pain.

You could stretch to once every 3 hours if it all sounds a bit much,eg calpol at 12p, 6pm and nurofen at 3pm and 9pm.

Hope your LO feels better soon. Not nice when they are tiny is it? They just look so miserable.

TBH I only use both if really high temps and very ill. If only a cold should be able to cope ok on 4 doses of calpol in 24 hr period.

Not together but alternately, give Calpol (paracetamol) and then after 4hrs give neurofen (ibruprofen) at the recommended dose for your child's age.

would I give both togather or one then the other 2 hours later?

Sorry to sound thick!!

niecie, isn't nurofen every SIX hours, calpol every 4 hours??? Havn't got a bottle to hand to check, but just wanted to flag this up just in case.

I alternate - sit down with a piece of paper, write down 24 hrs and then slot in the doses Bailey can have according to the times you need to leave between doses. Tick off each dose as you give it (you may find you vary by an hour or so - so long as doses aren't too close that is fine.) Even if his temp seems okay give the next dose to keep it down for at least 24 hrs. Keeping a chart also prevents you forgetting what you gave when, and is v. useful if you need to see the doctor again.

Sory everyone answered wile I was asking the question - thanks everyone!! I am embarassed to say I also have an 8 year old!

As others have said, stagger the doses.

I always write the times down and when they're next due. It's easy to lose track of what you gave when.

"You can give them together but not more often than every 4 hours as per the dosage on the bottle or you can alternate them every two hours. For example, Calpol at 12pm, nurofen at 2pm, calpol at 4pm nurofen at 6pm. That way you are not exceeding the once every 4 hour rule but you are keeping up the meds if the child has a fever or is in pain."

If you do this you must remember that you cannot give more than 4 doses in 24 hours.

A dose of calpol can last (keep temp down) for much longer than 2 hours, so it is not nec to give neurofen after 2 hrs. Likewise Neurofen lasts much longer than calpol.

Yes Chippy,

only 4 doses of calpol every 24 hours

only 3 (-4) doses of Neurofen in 24 just checked the bottle

The different brands of ibuprofen do have different dosing for different ages so check carefully. There's one you give 3 times per day, so you could do this.

7am Calpol
9.30am Nurofen
12pm Calpol
2.30pm Nurofen
5pm Calpol
7.30pm Nurofen, then you can give one more calpol if necessary in the night.

Chippyminton - I think you can give it every 4 hours but you can't give more than 3 doses in any 24 hour period which means that 6 hours gap is necessary if you are going to keep taking it over several days. (I don't have the bottle to hand either). So if it was something painful but likely to get better quite quickly like a sore throat then you could give every 4 hours and then stop after that.

Or if likely to be a longer term thing like flu then stretch it to 3 hours.

I'm going to check the bottle now just in case.

I would always write down what I was doing if I was going down the alternating route though as it is so easy to forget which dose you have just given and when.

Sorry more complicated that I thought.

For my DSs at 6 and 3 as they were the last time I had to do this, I am right you can give up to 4 doses a day (or for any child over 1 year)

However for Bailey the max is 3 doses a day so the alternate every 3 hours thing be the right way to go. So Calpol at 12pm, 6pm, 12am and 6am. Nurofen at 3pm, 9pm,3am and 9am.

Not relevant for Bailey who is too samll, but for an older child (think it is 2 but may be 3) you can give Calpol four hourly around the clock with your doctor's permission. I've done this twice for dd2, plus they did it when she was in hospital.