Paracetamol suppositories for toddlers and young children

[AWanderingMinstrel]

I had my children in Europe. There it is normal to give children paracetamol via suppositories as it doesn’t upset their stomach, it is absorbed quicker and you always know the dose and it’s not spat out etc. I was surprised to find you cannot buy these over the counter in the Uk- does anyone know why- - is this cultural? Not as acceptable??

This beings back memories of when I was an au pair in France, I was only 19 and it was quite a shock the first time I was asked to give my charge his “medicament”!

I’m quite tempted to ask my 9 year old if his friend with a French mum gets his Calpol via his bum 🤣

If you have a sick child needing medication, obviously you are going to want to administer that medication using whatever method is most efficient in all the circumstances. It's just common sense. Anyone who thinks it's sexually abusive must have an irredeemably corrupt mind.

You can get prescriptions in the UK we were given them for my toddler who had febrile seizures.

I'd never heard of them before I had kids, but they're the best if you have a Calpol refuser. I wish they were more readily available here in the UK. There's such a weird stigma and ignorance about them as evidenced by some posts on this thread.

I've had diclofenac suppositories myself 3 times post suturing, C-section and minor gynae surgery. They worked so well. I really noticed when they'd worn off.

My son likes the Neurofen Meltlets. They just dissolve on your tongue.

Of course it's not okay to stick your finger up a child's bum without consent, so long as you have a pessary on the end of it, and tell them 'this will make you feel better'.

Are you SERIOUSLY suggesting that child abusers somehow find a way to administer medication via the rectal route to get their kicks? How sick is this…….

By the way, pessaries are for vaginal administration.

Suppositories are a legitimate means of administrating medication if the oral route is not possible or causes distress.

suppository/pessary; tomayto/tomarto. Definitely sick, I agree. I am simply saying that it does not sit well with me that children are being educated that it is okay for an adult to shove things into them with the premise 'this will make you feel better'. However, clearly from this thread, it sits well with many.

@FirstNationsEnglish It would be fairly easy to let even small children know that what a Dr or your parent is allowed to do as part of healthcare is not something you should let any random adult do.

Bad use of ‘let’- hopefully you get the point.

There are lots of things that I would do, or let a Dr do, to my child that I wouldn't let any other randomer do so that argument doesn't really hold up.

If you take the PANTS rule, privates are private with exception for medical professionals and parents when needed for hygiene or health reasons.

Isn't this the same thing?

@Waitingfordoggo , @Goblinmusic and @FourSevenThree All your explanations are reasonable. Thank you. We all come to our various thoughts from our own experiences of life. For me, I do not automatically trust anyone even if their title is something medical. Generally speaking, all loving and right thinking parents do what is best for their children. Again, for me, I stand by my previous opinion.

We have used suppositories on our youngest when staying in Europe - as you can see from so many daft responses on here, we’re clearly considered abusers 🙄🤦‍♀️. FFS.

We do have them here but they are ridiculously expensive but cheap in europe, . My DC had GEFS+ so abnormal febrile convulsions and their consultant prescribed them for us as well as diazepam suppositories in case the febrile convulsion went on longer than 5 minutes

@AWanderingMinstrel they are available here over the counter. Larger pharmacies or online pharmacies will have them.

You can get prescription but only with a good reason. We stopped using them for my autistic son as he got so upset we said we wouldn’t put him through that.

I’ve bought them at a local pharmacy but they were extortionate. I think they are far easier than calpol- quicker, less messy and certainly don’t require fingers going in bums 🤦‍♀️.

You put in the suppository, not your finger, this is a very strange scenario to imagine so vividly that you invent details. With a baby or toddler it’s not much different from putting on nappy cream.

You can get them here. Just speak to your pharmacist. They are stupidly expensive here.

As an ex-paeds nurse on an infants ward (under 2 years old) we would use suppositories but only as a last resort i.e for babies who were nil-by-mouth or who were persistently vomiting to the point they couldn’t tolerate anything orally, although this was very rare as the doses/volumes were very small. We would rather give 2.5mls of paracetamol very slowly over the course of 20 minutes than give a suppository.

However, when we did give suppositories they are very easy to give with appropriate lubrication, it’s very quick. it never seemed to cause any distress as they are small and basically sits very close to the antrance of the anus, it’s not like they are being pushed up 3 inches into the rectum (your finger doesn't even enter the anus during insertion), and they are very effective. When oral paracetamol wasn’t an easy option for ‘x’ reasons and a suppository was offered the huge majority of parents were happy for us to give their infant one.

Are you ridiculous ??? I have to put suppositories up my sons bum to make him poo!!

Is it not okay to administer oral medication, then? A very distressed child who is trying to spit out medicine hasn’t consented to that, but you are only trying to make them feel better.

I gave my DS paracetamol and ibuprofen suppositories when he was 9mo because his fever was sky high and he was vomiting endlessly, at no point did I ‘stick my finger up his bum’ what a strange thing to imagine!

Some people on here have fucked up
minds!

When my child is in a prolonged seizure and his buccal medication (it goes into the cavity between his cheek and his gums) hasn't brought it under control do you really think it is better to let the seizure continue and risk death from status epilepticus? His next line of medication after buccal is rectal diazepam. IV access is often impossible when he's poorly and is definitely not possible in the community but rectal administration is possible and it could save his life.