Calpol help! Hysterical baby

[NEtoN10]

Please can anyone give me advice.

DS is nearly 5 months, he has a rotten cold and is teething. He's feeling so sorry for himself. Usually so smiley but he just looks crestfallen. When his temp goes up I've tried to give him calpol (and after his injections) he goes absolutely hysterical to the point he makes himself sick. I've tried dripping it in gently, blowing on his face to make him swallow and he starts choking and gets beside himself.

Any advice?

Maybe he's not a fan of the strawberry flavour. I would see if you can get a different flavour from the chemist. You could also ask their advice.

I thought babies loved it 😂 wish I could mix it in with something else.

I'll see if they have another flavour

ask the chemist for suppositories.

Dd didn't like (luckily change her mind). Found squirting it into the side of her cheek with a flat headed medicine syringe whilst stroking her cheek and under her chin was the only way. She went ape though but needed it so tough love was the way to go. Since she has been weaned she is much happier to take it so there may light at the end of the tunnel

You may be better off helping him clear his nose, and using moisturiser to cool his skin and stop his nose and face getting sore.

Also, work out how much calpol he can have, and dip your finger in it rather than spooning or injecting what is perhaps quite a lot for such a young, unweaned baby.

What's the age on calpol these days?

Could you dip his dummy in it? I also saw about putting a teat on top of the syringe?

Have you tried a spoon instead of a syringe (or vice versa)? I though DC wouldn't take it off a spoon at 6 months but they did.

Good idea to do it on my finger. I haven't been giving him it for the cold only when his temperature has been raised or he seems in pain. It's from 2 months x

I think maybe with the syringe it's very sudden which he doesn't like

Try it with a spoon and press gently on his tongue as it makes them swallow (try it yourself first)

Then use Albas Oil to clear his airways (in blinking water if you steam the room

Slowly squirt between gum and cheek

Get a different syringe. My 5 month old hates it too, I use a 1ml syringe to get it in very very slowly, it's the only way we can get it in without him throwing up. I think the other option is suppositories, which has been suggested to us.

Just get suppositories.

Don’t bother. Mine was like this and i figured whatever the illness/pain was it wasn’t worse than the calpol trauma.

Temps are there for a purpose, giving meds to bring it down can be counter-productive.

Treat the symptoms with nursing care- fluids, rest, distraction- and it’ll pass without the need for calpol etc.

Although just to add- mine would take anti-histamines (it’s minty and not as bad) so i’d give a dose of piriton before bed if they were bad, cleared up mucous and helped them get some much needed sleep.

Try using the syringe really slowly. My DC prefer the strawberry flavour instead of orange flavour. You could try putting it in a small amount of milk or giving it from a bottle.

Squirt in slowly then squeeze his cheeks, makes him swallow whether he wants to or not, thats what HV showed me. Works every time

Tesco own brand is cherry flavour!

Use a syringe and point it to the back of his mouth,going in at the side so it bypasses tase buds. Do it quickly and don't faff around .

I think ds preferred Boots own make.

Good luck.

It took my son until the age of three before he’d accept Calpol without the mother of all fights. It was a two person job - one to pin him down and the other to administer the stuff. Even then he was more likely to spit it out than swallow it.

Unfortunately for me, Calpol is the only medicine he WILL take. When he had a high fever recently and I had to try Ibuprofen, it didn’t go well.

Best way with my DD - unscrew the top off her bottle, measure out the calpol in the syringe then squirt it into the teat and let her suck it out of that as if she was feeding. Then top straight back on the bottle for her milk

Thanks everyone excellent advice. I've not expressed much lately and he is now flat out refusing the bottle so that's another task trying to get him to take that! 🙈

Hopefully he won't need much more calpol and I'll try some of the tactics suggested

My boy was the same for months and one day suddenly accepted it. He does however prefer Neurofen (which is orange in flavour) so maybe try that?!

I had a medicine dummy when dds were small, it had a screw off back you put the medicine in and it dispensed as they sucked it.

I just don’t understand why more people don’t use suppositories. Why is that?

Dc2 hated calpol but eventually accepted it better on a spoon. Not helped by dc1 normally hanging about begging for calpol as he thought it was a treat!