is anyone still giving their under 2 year old medised?

[deaconblue]

Ds had it whenever he had a horrible cold from about 4 months old. The bottle still says from 3 months but when I asked the pharmasist for it for dd (6 months) he said it is no longer considered ok for under 2's. She's sooooooooooo bunged up and miserable that we gave her a 2.5 ml spoonful last night. what do you reckon?

I do

and me

If you can read the label and give her the recommended dose then I think it's fine personally. I don't much like Medised, never worked on dd, as ineffective for her as most paracetamol based products.

They changed the label because a couple of under 2s were given an overdose by their parents.

I do - as far as I know it is like calpol (has the same dosage of paracetamol 120g/5ml) but also has a decongestant..

Any medication given frequently and in the wrong dosage does damage .... so I give it to my under 2 yr old but only when really necessary ...

I've never even heard of it!

I do too.

Doubt it will do any harm if you use the correct dosage. I think it is really effective stuff.

I do, and have given a cough mixture once too. I am intelligent enough not to overdose my child so I'm sure it is fine

I did, before they changed the rules! He's fine.

I thought I was intelligent not to overdose my child too LoolaBoys - just followed the directions on the label. But ... when he fractured his arm recently and had to go to hospital, they weighed him before giving pain relief and the correct dose is right at the bottom end of the recommended. I know he is skinny so tended not to give full whack unless I reallly thought he needed it, but I had assumed that the recommended dose on the label already erred on the side of caution.

Sorry, bit off topic.

I give DD Calcold which is the same but made by Calpol.

yes i have. dd hd some at six months when she was really under the weather. she was climbing the walls she was so tired and seemed so grateful to have a bit of help getting off to sleep.

was absolutely to be told by some ten year old pharmacist that I couldnt be trusted not to overdose her so she wouldnt be sell me any. I mean fgs,

however, not too keen on giving her meds anyway so havent given her any since. would defo if twas an emergency tho

I still use it at night to help her breath if she has a really bad cold. I use calpol during the day though.

bananaskin - are you sure they were giving him paracetamol? As I understand it the max doses printed on the pack for home use err on the side of cautious - you're very unlikely to overdose accidentally. When my DS was hospitalised they gave him the max permitted dose for his age and didn't weigh him (even though he hadn't eaten for a week and was being fed by NG tube)

thanks everyone, that's good to read. We only gave it to ds at night if he felt really terrible and will do the same with dd. Sometimes karvol, tilting the cot etc just doesn't seem enough

I never give Medised at all now. The first time I used it was when dd had chicken pox earlier this year and it sent her loopy- very very hyperactive which is not what I expected from it as everyone had told me it would send her to sleep. I got desperate bout a month ago when she was ill and had no calpol to hand, thinking maybe it was a one off- can confirm that it was not

I have done this week as dd (6mths) has been totally bunged up and not sleeping.

a lot of medication that used to be 3mnths+ or 1+ with decongestant ingredients have been changed to 2 yrs and over now as some parents started overdosing.

also a lot of cough mixtures that were ok for 1yr+ have changed to 2yr+ too, only those that contain glycerol can be given to 3mnths+ (well in Boots) unless gp prescribes them.

yes, i would.

Spicemonster - definitely paracetamol. At his age the range is from 10-20ml but for his weight he should be having 12ml. If he had a very bad virus, it is quite likely we could have given him 20ml every 4 hours for 16 hours and that could have been very damaging.

The nurse seeing us had fallen into the same trap with her slight son.

I would still give it although ds2 is now over 2.

I had near hysteria in boots when I dared to buy boots own versions of calpol and nurofen at the same time.

Had lecture from pharmacist about some article in the papers (I watch BBC news in the morning so was completely unaware) that parents were giving paracetamol and ibuprofen at the same time instead of spacing them out.

I always write on a board in my kitchen what I have given the children and when as if they both have colds and feel unwell I need to know when I have given cough medicine and to which child. Plus then DH can see if he can give medised to ds2 at night to help his snotty nose.

I have normal weight boys both 75th centile but didn't realise it was based on weight.

littlelamb some kids do have a reaction to antihistamines which can make them hyper you were unlucky
I do give medised you can google the max doses based on childs weight it is the antihistamine/decongestant rather than the paracetamol AFAIK but I do think insulting to parents!

i give it too on rare occasions but i've had one small bottle for over a year and its still half full

fizzy - the board is a good idea