Common in the UK to give your kids Calpol to put them to sleep?

[Mille]

Hi all,
I am a new member here. I am from Norway and live in Oslo but has spent half my life in the UK (London)

I have had this long disucssion with some friends here in Norway who claims they have UK friends who regulary give their kids Calpol even when they are not sick. This in order to get their kids off to sleep at night.

I refuse to believe this is common practice and i never came across anyone who did this when I lived in the UK (ok, few years ago now but still..... )

The reason for this argument of course is the case of Maddie and the fact that her parents seemed to give her Calpol to sleep better but this is not, by any means a normal thing to do - or is it?

(In Norway I think you would be reported to the child protection unit if you give your kids drugs when they are not sick!)

[MamaG]

I never do it and don't kn ow anybody that does

[brimfull]

calpol,medised,piriton,whatever it takes

medised needs to be given really quickly

[kiskidee]

I breastfeed my daughter to sleep.

[FluffyMummy123]

Message withdrawn

[brimfull]

I put intravenous in ds is he's playing up.Genral anaesthetic is a last resort though in this house

[stleger]

I live in the far south of Ireland. There is a commonly held belief here that 'in Belfast there is a pharmacist who will sell you a special sleepy medicine'. I come from Belfast, nobody there has ever heard of it! I suppose it is best not to believe everything one hears about other societies.

[pooka]

I would only give calpol to help sleep if there was an underlying ailment that was hindering sleep (like tooth pain, temperature).

Medised does contain a sedative, as well as paracetomol, and I have given that, again when ailment (i.e. chicken pox) has stopped tired dc's from being able to sleep.

Phenergan is an anti-histamine that is recommended by some doctor's for use when a child has bad exczema or for long-haul flights/travel sickness. DD had phenergan for 2 nights when she had a nasty bout of chickenpox. DS had medised, because he was too young for phenergan.

[kiskidee]

Just to address a misconception, Medised does not have a sedative in it.

It has diphenhydramine which is a common decongestant in many over the counter cold and allergy remedies for children and grownups. One of its side effects is drowsiness.

[OrmIrian]

What a delightful impression the rest of the world appears to have about UK parents . Drug their kids to sleep regularly and then bugger off and leave them....

[OrmIrian]

I thought that medised had an anti-histamine in it...

[Blu]

"all over Europe the press has mostly focused on the fact that the parents left the kids alone, this is NOT common practice elsewhere but I know it is in the UK. "

So, there we have it. What people KNOW from reading the press.

Apply this to everything else you read.

[pooka]

Sorry - of course meant that it has an ingredient that can have a sedative effect, rather than a sedative itself.

[Hurlyburly]

As others have said, Calpol is not a sedative so would be totally ineffective other than as pain relief.

I am aware of several parents (not me) who use Phenergan as a sedative. This is principally for flights. I have not heard anyone admit to using it at night.

By the way, I am relatively new to this site, but there has been a lot of ill feelings provoked by discussions of Madeleine. It polarises people. Just so that you know.

[Neverenoughhandbags]

So in a well child paracetamol won't have any sleep-inducing effect so would not be appropriate.
It's tough getting to sleep with 300 people in your bedroom so I think a soupcon of something like phenergan on long haul flights is not unreasonable!

[Blu]

Medi-sed and Phenagen both have the 'drowsy' kind of anti-histamine, and both are frequently recommended by posters on MN for slightly sedating children on long flights etc.

Not common practice, but not especially 'condemned' by everyone, either, perhaps.

I haven't used any medecines as a sedative or sleep aid...but when DS has bad hayfever I have occasionally given his calpol alongside his anti-histamine to make him more oblivious to the discomfort of coughing etc so that he sleeps better. If any parent did that it would be probably too long-winded to explain in the press and would cme out as 'Blu gives DS calpol to make hims sleep better'.

Also - DS HAS had huge doses of the 'drowsy' sort of anti-histamine because that is exactly what hospitals use to sedate children for MRI scans and other procedures.

[Hurlyburly]

Sorry, have just read the whole thread:

"Not just in Norway but all over Europe the press has mostly focused on the fact that the parents left the kids alone, this is NOT common practice elsewhere but I know it is in the UK."

This is not true at all, by the way. Please don't think it is true because it isn't.

[pagwatch]

I was advised by my GP to try phenergen for a long haul flight. It made him incredibly hyperactive. That was a fun 10 hours....

[harleyd]

my god do most people in the uk give thier kids calpol to put them to sleep and then bugger off and leave them unattended?
i wish somebody had told me, i missed a lot of good nights out by not knowing this piece of parenting FFS wise up love - people do not leave thier kids or dose them up

[expatinscotland]

I am also a foreigner to the UK. It has not been my experience that people give their children medications when they are not ill. Quite the opposite, in fact, many seem reluctant to give them medication even when they are not well or in pain, trying alternatives instead.

[maisym]

giving a paracetamol medicine on a regular basis would have long term health probs as stated on the info sheet - after 3 days you have to see your doctor.

Giving drugs to get kids to sleep is so wrong for the convenience of the parents.

[expatinscotland]

I gave my daughters Piriton for the first time a couple of weeks ago - they are 4 and nearly 2 - as they were both streaming with hayfever and couldn't get to sleep for coughing on post-nasal drip.

I have bad sinusitis and hayfever myself and I take anti-histamine for it whenever I can't sleep for it.

[Dinosaur]

I think that's null points to the Norwegian entrants.

Any more entrants on the great Eurovision slag-off-the-UK contest?

[foxinsocks]

journalist

with a strange European imagination

[Blu]

Snort at Dino!

[Mille]

Of course, I am a clever journalist asking such an unusual and strange question

Just wait and see, tomorrows headlines all over Scandinavia will be this link. Indeed!

how sad it must be to be so paranoid*