Only give calpol for a temp of 39 or above?

[CaptainFlameSparrowWifeOfJack]

story here

Ok, so I know asthma is a bad thing, but do YOU only take paracetamol for a temperature?

What about actual PAIN???

I'm confused. Are children meant to hurt if they aren't hot?

All my 4 kids were given paracetamol for the same symptoms (iyswim); only 1 of them has asthma. A lot of other things have changed over the last 30 years as well as the increase in the use of paracetamol.

Anyway before that the alternative was always aspirin & that's not good either, is it? Reye's Syndrome

Oh, it's 50 years, not 30. What about pesticides? Traffic? Plastics?

There is thought to be a link between paracetamol and asthma/wheezing in general, not just in children

Paracetamol in pregnancy BBC University of Bristol

Paracetamol and asthma in adults.

It's very worrying but I feel that I have no choice but to give DD paracetamol when she has a high fever or unbearable pain. Don't have to option to use ibuprofen at all as it's prescription only for babies and children here.

to the

if i have a fever i feel really ill and so i take paracetomol and fel better.
if i have a bad headache or pain i take a pain killer.

why should i deprive my children of that?

when ds broke his wrist and was sobbing in pain should i have 'tried alternative methods to soothe him'? the hospiatl didn't think so-they gave him painkillers.

I think the majority of parents do first try and console their babies in other ways before reaching for the calpol - but it's very distressing to see your baby in pain or with a temperature and feel you are not doing enough about it.

By FairLadyRantALot on Fri 19-Sep-08 11:29:33
hm...but it's not just that children also get calpol to help with pain....surely, you have to look also at teh individual child...as everyone reacts very different to fever....and treatment needs to take that into account....
some Kids still bounce happily about with a high temp, others sem to feel like death warmed up even at a minor temp...

brilliant point imo

despite of all those spelling mistakes...lol...am terrible at the moment...I blame it on using a laptop nowadays

Seeker - for me it def isn't a first resort, w/r the legs aching I have warm baths, then warm socks and hot water bottles, even homeopathic (regardless of whether or not you believe in it) tablets, cuddles and even when I am up to it - healing. Sometimes none of that will work, it needs the painkillers! Ibruprofen doesn't seem to touch it for some reason.

I know what you mean seeker, I use alternatives to calpol, my dd had it for the first time at 2 but she did have pneumonia. There are tons of alternatives you can use, that are less invasive.

I would only give it now for something like earache that's really painful.

I never take painkillers day to day either.

Just another example of the media using a printed report in a medical journal to create a headline grabbing story to scare the crap/ pile on the guilt to parents.

The report from the ISAAC programme states that it is not able to prove that paracetamol causes asthma and calls for more investigaton. There is no change to the advice to parents about using paracetamol products - instructions should be followed as per product.

Asthma, hayfever and eczema all have a multitude of links to various 'causes'.

No conventional medicine is totally 100% safe, unfortunately with any medicine available without prescription parents are responsible for the risk/benefit assessment (difficult choice) and a baby with fever potentially could fit (febrile convulsions)so in this case paracetamol to bring a temperature down would make more sense than withholding it for fear of increasing the risk of asthma.

If it makes parents consider whether paracetamol is necessary then that is a good thing and as stated there are other alternatives that may be used.

Absolutely - when ds broke his wrist he had every painkiller going. But he was 7, and it was the first time he had ever taken anything - he had had all the usual colds and coughs (but never earache - I would dole out the calpol for sore ears!). He was the only child the hospital had ever dealt with who had never had calpol. And I have never left him to suffer - I just don't believe in using drugs unless absoultely necessary.