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Original poster

Would you use sedatives?

81 replies

LilianGish · 08/09/2007 13:37

Quite surprised to hear that some parents would use sedatives to help young children sleep. Wondered how common this was - it would never have occurred to me to do so, I didn't even realise they were so freely available. Are they for parents who can't be bothered to establish a sleep pattern and don't want to be disturbed or am I just missing a trick?

OP posts:
Rhubarb · 08/09/2007 13:45

Oh dear, have you been reading stuff about the McCann case and taking it as fact?

No, sedatives are not freely available for children and I don't think you'll find a single mum on this site who would ever resort to using them.

AllieBongo · 08/09/2007 13:45
kitsandbits · 08/09/2007 13:46

If my sons still up at 11pm screaming his head off because he knackered but fighting sleep i will give him a teaspoon of medised.

Does that count?

WideWebWitch · 08/09/2007 13:47

This has been discussed before.

Some doctors (Christopher Green, who wrote Toddler Taming for one) do prescribe them where there are serious sleep issues. And I think that's fair enough.

magnolia74 · 08/09/2007 13:48

No they are not just for parents who can't be bothered or don't want to be disturbed

My dd1 had Phenergan as a young child, enough to make her sleepy and not terrified of closing her eyes We tried everything we could before this stage but she just would not allow herself to go to sleep. It was awful! After 4 weeks of phenergan and with a good routine we finally cracked it.

One of my twins had a dislocated hip and was quite traumatised by the plastercast and could not sleep at all. No matter what we did she screamed for hours and hours Valagan was prescribed while she was in her cast and I would have seriously jumped off a bridge if we hadn't have got help.

Please don't presume that every parent who goes down the sedative route is lazy and can't be bothered!

compo · 08/09/2007 13:49

'I don't think you'll find a single mum on this site who would ever resort to using them'

really? I thought medised was used quite a bit?

nutcracker · 08/09/2007 13:50

I have

Dd2 was prescribed Phenergan when she was 12mths old as she was sleeping for less than 2 hours a night.

I think I used it twice, maybe 3 times and then stopped it, as it made her so dopey that I was worried it would effect her overall development, as she would sit all day doing nothing then.

I have since used it once when dd2 had chicken pox, and also will use medised when any of them have a cold.

AllieBongo · 08/09/2007 13:50

magnolia, you used them for legitimate medical reasons, not just to get some kip

AllieBongo · 08/09/2007 13:51

doesn't medised have a small dose in it? surely when they are really poorly, good sleep heals?

Rhubarb · 08/09/2007 13:51

I thought medised was like calpol though?

Mind you I have to admit that my mum used to give us Benilyn at night, even when we didn't have a cough. Nowadays most children's cough medicine is non-drowsy - what's the point of that then?

But giving them medicine that might make them drowsy is hardly the same as giving them sedatives is it?

Moomin · 08/09/2007 13:51

If you're asking if anyone here would use them for our own convenience, then you're barking up the wrong tree.

and I am heartily sick of hearing the McCanns being slagged off for doing so when nobody here actually knows for a FACT that this was done. It was offered as a piece of unsubstantiated hearsay which was then taken as indisputable fact and it has run and run on some threads.

and sorry if that was not what this thread was about.... it just that there are lots of threads that seem a bit 'linked' at the moment for no good reason and it's vile

compo · 08/09/2007 13:52

ooh not sure... we use calpol if dcs are awake in the night and we're not sure why. Usually does the trick. Think you're right, medised is the same thing. Is it Phernegan that is only available on prescription then?

DarrellRivers · 08/09/2007 13:52

Some antihistamines have sedation as a side effect ie piriton
some people use anthistamines to help them sleep
medised has a similar side effect (which can be helpful)
LOADS OF PEOPLE USE THESE MEDICINES ON THEIR CHILDREN
and they often appreciate the side effects

Original poster
LilianGish · 08/09/2007 13:53

Sorry Rhubarb I have been reading about the Mccanns. You have answered question - thanks.

OP posts:
compo · 08/09/2007 13:53

agree Moomin

DarrellRivers · 08/09/2007 13:56

Phenergan is an anti-histamine with a side effect of sleepiness

nutcracker · 08/09/2007 13:57

You can buy Phenergan over the counter.

DarrellRivers · 08/09/2007 13:59

Medised is paracetamol plus diphenhydramine , an antihistmine with guess what , side effect of sleepiness.
medised in theory could be claimed to also be a'sedative'
medised makes children sleepy i have always found

DarrellRivers · 08/09/2007 14:00

Anyone in theory using medised could be 'accused' of sedating their children.

ComeOVeneer · 08/09/2007 14:01

I have given medised to ds this week and he wasn't ill . I will probably get flamed for it, but in my defence he hasn't been going to sleep before 3am since we got back from the states due to jetlag and I was finding it virtually impossible to function during the day, so last night I gave him a dose so we all could get some sleep.

DarrellRivers · 08/09/2007 14:04

Seriously it is a normal medicine which normal people use.Reasonable useage, CoV, IMO
Life is not black and white

morningpaper · 08/09/2007 14:04

Loads of people use Medised to get their children to sleep longer, either because their children need a rest or because they do.

It completely KNOCKS OUT my 4 year old. I have used it when she had a broken arm (so needed to sleep without moving) and when she is ill with a cough or something, so she can rest. It has an amazing effect on her.

Unfortunately it doesn't do anything for the roly-poly night-waking 2 year old!

NKF · 08/09/2007 14:05

I've given Phenergan on a long haul flight. I suppose that was for my own convenience but I bet the other passengers were grateful. I wouldn't use it at home, on a normal night and I'm not sure I'd use it again.

Pixiefish · 08/09/2007 14:07

I was told by the dermatologist to give dd Piriton or Vallergan- got both on prescription. It was to stop her scratching her excema but I was told that it had a sedative side effect so that would also help her. Having had 18m of distressed nights with dd scratching herself till she bled and crying all night I used to occasionally give her the meds she had been prescribed. She hasn't had any for 6 monts now as her excema hasn't been too bad

Mercy · 08/09/2007 14:14

My brother was regularly given Phenergan when he was a child - but afaik that was because he had bad eczema.

I have started to give mine Phenergan for travel sickness. But you have to be careful; I gave my dd the correct dosage for her age and she was really, really dopey for hours . I then realised that as she has a really slight build that I should have given her a smaller dose (which I did very recently and it still controlled her travel sickness)

Have occsionally used Medised when they have had very heavy colds and haven't slept properly for a couple of days