oh god, i just overdosed dd with ibuprofen

[lilysma]

I usually give her paracetamol but decided to give her ibuprofen tonight cos she's teething. I got the doses muddled. She's 13 months so it should have been 2.5 ml and I gave her 5. Just checked the bottle to see if i could give her another dose in the night and realised my mistake. Can't believe I've done this. I've just called NHS direct and they say there's no immediate danger but they're going to call me back. Can anyone reassure me? I'm feeling like the worst parent in the world.

i imagine you'd have to give a whole lot more than that to cause any damage

try not to worry

am sure someone knowledgeable will be along shortly

i have done this , in the middle of the night giving paracetomal to a screaming baby.. please don;t worry!!

my friends toddler managed to get hold of and drink an entire bottle of calpol, and apart from a lot of pink vomit, was absolutely fine

It will be FINE

My mum did similar but with paracetamol - she gave DS the dose of calpol right, and then the amount she planned for ibuprofen but gave 6+ calpol.

All was fine, NHS direct checked his weight and told me it would take a lot more than that to be bad.

My mum still feels terrible about it, to my mind anyone could have done the same (including me).

Message withdrawn

Agree with tutter.

The doses on the side of the bottle have to incorperate a goood safety margin.

If the does was 2.5ml and the overdose was 2.7ml there would be a lot of people accidentally giving ODs becayse of inaccurate measuring.

Thanks. I guess I'm overreacting. I just don't know how I misread it. It's scary when you make mistakes as a parent, isn't it?

A dangerous overdose is often (but not always and certainly not with something like paracetamol) around 5 or more times the proper dose.

It is deliberately done to give a safety margin.

Agree with Tutter. You have to feed them an elephant sized dosage of nurofen to do any harm.

And I am the bad mother that left the bottle in dd's bedroom, which she opened, smeared it around, drank some and fed it to her dolls before going to sleep. I was in bits, dh took her to A&E (despite the fact that she was perfectly alert and fine) and they said that she would be absolutely fine. My lovely paramedic neighbour also once said that you have to worry about calpol overdoses much more than nurofen.

So, sorry for long post, but it will be fine. fret not.

Yikes. I hoped that there were some equally feckless mothers on here who would share my guilt. Mumsnet comes up trumps again! Will let you know what the NHS lot say. I'm doing that locking away all medicines thing tomorrow. So far haven't because they're in my room, where she never goes without me, but I guess one day she will, etc etc.

Thanks everyone.

I wouldn't worry too much, my ds (who is 10 now) had a raging temp - due to a chest infection when about 12mths. On seeing the doc she told me to double up on the paracetamol doses (just the once) to get his temp down, and give him a bigger dose of neurofen.

It didnt cause him too much long term harm.

Since them I have gone to france and my other ds was ill. There they give doses according to weight and on working it back I realised just how inaccurate our doses are.

I think a one off is ok as long as you dont keep it up long term.

Thanks. Absolutely no plan to make a habit of this! Don't enjoy living life on the edge where dd is concerned...

Am still a bit shaky.

Just checked my bottle of Nurofen in a panic - it says 6-12 months 2.5 ml, 1-3 years 5ml, so for 13 months 5ml would have been the correct dose. Shouldn't all ibuprofen suspensions for children have the same dosage, to save confusion?

NHS direct just phoned back and that's what the nurse said. But I've checked my bottle again and it says 2.5 for 1-2 year olds. I agree, it would help if they were all the same! Don't they realise we're all sleep deprived and incapable of rational thought (well, perhaps i should speak only for myself)?

Anyway, she said, as all you lovely ladies have, that the dosage is v wide as weight varies so much at the same age, so should be no problem, but I shouldn't give any more for the next 8 hours.

Phew.

Will slope off to bed now and try to relax again.

Thanks again everyone.