Baby died after night nanny gave Piriton

[examworries2026]

Just read this story and really shocked.

Is it normal practice for night nannies to give 8 week old babies antihistamines to sedate them? Appalling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czd77edm8g1o

@RavenPie my DD was born 2006 and I used Medised. I remember going to buy it at Morrisons pharmacy and being questioned what I was using it for which I thought was strange. Ehen I have my reasons she handed the bottlebstraight over and explained that some people were using it to get their kids to sleep as it had a sedative type side effect and that was the last bottle I bought.
As a 24 year old mum I felt I would be judged using it and people would wonder why so I just switched to paracetamol.

Obviously giving a small baby a sedative is terrible and baffling tbh. Piriton can have very strong effects on some children . Both mine had bad allergies as small children and so we gave it to them both (administered as per the guidelines!) . Had no sedative effect on one child but one it used to make them conk out so we had to be very careful how we administered it

but makes you realise how times have changed- most of us were given some form of sedative over the counter . Gripe water was mother’s choice I believe. My mum couldn’t work out why it didn’t settle my angsty baby. Turns out removing the alcohol, removed the key ingredient!

My daughter is nearly 16 and friends whose children are now 18 and 20 lamented that we couldn’t use Medised on her as it had been removed from sale in that gap. Scary.

I don’t understand anyone who has a baby, and then delegates the intimate care of a newborn to someone who is not its mother or father. A baby needs its parents close and to have contact through the night to feel safe and secure. I am honestly judging of anyone who could sleep soundly while their infant is comforted by a stranger.

I’d forgotten about medised! I used it too (also adults now), but always followed the guidelines on the packet (can’t remember the age for dosing now though).
I remember when it was taken off the market too. Was useful when they were under the weather I have to say - no shame there, it was a legit over the counter medication!

Oh my hod everyone was at it with the medised when my eldest was a baby.

I also did give it when she was unwell with a cold + fever because that was what it was marketed for - a decongestant combined with paracetamol for pain or fever. When it was licensed for her aged.

Then they started off raising the age limit to 2 yrs then 6 yrs, but people were lying and saying it was for an older child. Then they withdrew it!

I remember people who gave medised almost nightly or when “we could do with a good night’s sleep” - which was basically nightly.

This story is awful though - she was supposed to be a paid professional too! The poor parents.

Some kids apparently piriton has the opposite effect and makes them hyper!

My son pretty much rejected the taste of anything but calpol which was a shame as he used to get really bad heat rashes. But I mean they always came down after a bit.

I didn’t know that about gripe water. “Put some brandy in their bottle” was said as one of those jokes that had an origin in truth. For my Victorian grandma it was laudanum (she thought it killed her sister but impossible to say if it was the opium or the underlying, unknown, condition that she was being given it for).

The kind of families that spend £1000s on night nannies and maternity nurses don't want to be disturbed in the night and want the baby sleeping through asap.
When there's huge pressure from the employer to achieve these results with a newborn it's not surprising these things happen.

I was always told my parents put cherry brandy in mine in the 70s.

Phenergan is the brand name for the antihistamine Promethazine & can be bought over the counter in UK pharmacies. It's been available without precscription for decades.

I had twins - one in neonatal ICU for months. I had to sleep to care for them both while one was looked after by strangers. Some women have no choice.

Nurse isn't a protected title, so I don't think anyone is going to get worked up about Nanny,

In Singapore in the late 90s, Australians going home would do a roaring trade in Phenergan and Vallergan for each other. I hadn’t heard of it, but had a friend who gave her DC calpol in a bottle every afternoon when he was fretful and overtired.

But yes, we’re the descendants of the gripe water and brandy generation, so less surprising. I don’t think anyone would have used it on a younger child than it’s licensed for, though.

Same, most I ever gave a 1 year old was Bonjela for teething. Never anything else.

Honestly my first thoughts too.
Poor baby, 8 weeks of life is too short and in that brief life his parents PAID to fob him off onto someone else.
So so incredibly sad.

Hardly the same thing!

Come on, your child was in NICU, you didn't choose for your child to be a patient there!

Expert opinion accepted by the court was that this drug could possibly have caused or contributed to the baby's death, but it could not be found that it probably did

The assertion that the nanny was responsible for the baby’s death is unproven. Unless I’ve missed something where the nanny has admitted to giving the baby Piriton, it could have been the parent that gave it. Nonetheless, the cause of death wasn’t proven to be through the use of Piriton.

Yes my DM was a Dr Spock medical book devotee. I’m sure some of his advice is outdated now.

The health visitors told me to use Phenergan 40 years ago so that my DD could settle at night. It was common advice given to new parents.

But how would you know? 🤔

I slept soundly while my child was cared for by strangers. People are saying they judge anyone for that.

Walk in their shoes.

A night nanny might save a mother from lost partum psychosis or self harm.

What is horrific is that the police failed to assess or investigate the death properly.

No, nanny is not a protected term and there is no standardised training. It's up to parents to do their due diligence when employing someone.

As a nanny I'm in two minds about whether 'nanny' should be a protected term/nannies should be regulated or whether we should continue allowing parents to exercise their judgement. Pros and cons to both arguments imo.

That you know of. When you hand your baby over to someone else you have no idea what they are given or how they are treated.

https://www.judiciary.uk/prevention-of-future-death-reports/2026-0178/

Further info (in the public domain)
Wonder why the child’s name is redacted - surely a matter of public record? 🤷🏼‍♀️