Waking up toddler for antibiotics??

[giraffes2021]

So DS has tonsillitis so he's on antibiotics for 10 days .

Every 6 hours, on an empty stomach so 1 hour before food or 2 hours after food!

I've done 9.3,9,3 but waking him up both those times he's horrendous to get back to sleep!!

Should I just skip the 3am dose and just carry on the antibiotics for an extra day or so? Or just suck it up and wake him up!

Could you do 6 am then breakfast at 7, 12 then lunch at, dinner at 4, 6 pm meds then snack before bed if needed then you only have 1 midnight wake up to do?

Good grief, even in hospital, they wouldn't wake him in the middle of the night unless he was at death's door (in which case, he'd be on IVs anyway). Just do a dose last thing, a dose first thing, and space the other two out throughout the day.

suck it up and wake him up.

when they need AB every 6 hours it's because the pummeling of bacteria with meds needs to be as regular & continuous as possible.
if you skip a dose the bacteria gets a foothold and spreads again.
you need to keep it at bay.

I had to do this with DS1 (when he was 16) because he had cellulitis and it was excruciating to have to wake up at 4am for 1st dose but we couldn't risk anything (he had 5 days of IV AB by then and was only allowed to go home if we kept to strict medication routine)

best of luck.
it's shit, but it's the best for your kid to keep meds very regular

I would also do a dose on waking, last thing before sleep at night, and spread the others through the day. We don't usually wake adults in hospital for doses in the middle of the night, unless first dose of an antibiotic course

Now many times a day? How much medicine per day.

Normally such advice refers to waking hours, idea being first dose upon first waking then the next doses every 6 hours last dose before bed.

9am seems a late start for a toddler! But then my Dd was regularly up at 5.30am at this age 🥱🥱😴

@Graphista I do 9am as he wakes early so give him breakfast and have to wait for stomach to be empty. Plus at nursery they feed him lunch at like 11.30 so trying to work round that.
It just says 5ml every 6 hours and to spread the doses evenly throughout the day. 1 hour before food or two hours after food

Call 111 or your GP and ask them, they will be able to tell you. Or even a pharmacist might be a good call.

Considering the advice on this thread ranges from "Yes it's fine" to "No it's deadly" I would guess you aren't quite getting qualified responses.

Wake him up. Yes he might be hard to get back to sleep but it's for 10 days not 10 years.

[quote giraffes2021]@Graphista I do 9am as he wakes early so give him breakfast and have to wait for stomach to be empty. Plus at nursery they feed him lunch at like 11.30 so trying to work round that.
It just says 5ml every 6 hours and to spread the doses evenly throughout the day. 1 hour before food or two hours after food [/quote]
Give him his 1st dose before breakfast! You do seem to be making life unnecessarily hard for yourself.

I'm a GP btw - of course you have no proof of that, but you can speak to your pharmacist for reassurance. Sick kids need antibiotics (for bacterial infections) but they also need sleep- and so do you

First dose before breakfast and last just before bed. It's never occurred to me to wake my children up for antibiotics, and I've never woken myself up!

I wouldn’t be waking him for them.
Just split his waking day into four. So first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and two spaced out between.

You can fiddle with the times a bit (before breakfast and last thing at night) depending on when he goes to bed and wakes but do try and stick to the 6hrs as closely as possible.

I had a really bad bout of tonsilitis a few weeks ago and had the same. I stuck rigidly to the 6 hours... for one day and then just took 4 (sometimes 3) doses in the day and just carried on until the course finished. A 33 year old's immune system is very different to a toddler's though, so as a PP said it's a case of sucking it up for a few days.

I don't get this, why don't you

if they told you "every 6 hours" then you should stick to that instruction.

if they'd said "4 times a day" then that usually means during waking hours, minimum 4 hours apart.

why don't you check with the person who prescribed the meds instead of looking for validaton to not do as you were told?!

My dc was on antibiotics for tonsillitis recently. I just did first dose hour before breakfast, next an hour before lunch, next around 3, and last at bed time. Have never woken them in the night for antibiotics!

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba I have been sticking to the instructions but it's not pleasant waking a toddler in the night and then having to spend over an hour getting him back to sleep without being able to offer him some milk as he can't have it! So was just asking for a bit of advice and thoughts

@Purplegrass572 thank you!

I'm aware it's not pleasant, but I won't bore you with tales of woe.

I truly feel for you and him.
It's really crap, but I would still stick to it to beat the tonsillitis instead of letting it drag out, especially if there's no improvement yet.

how many days are you in?