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Original poster

please confess your misuse of medised stories here: i need to know i'm not the only one

101 replies

Tutter · 27/12/2007 16:33

have given it to ds2 for the last 10ish days (one dose, at bedtime)

he started off snotty so i was using it for its decongestant properties

for the last few nights i have to admit i've continued, not because he's terribly bunged up any more, but because it gives me 3 or 4 hours sleep (he is a dreadful sleeper)

i won't give it tonight, as i have to stop before it becomes an addiction

anyone else prepared to admit using it for a break? how long for?

OP posts:
inSanityClaus · 05/01/2008 15:06

I feel for you Tutter. Totally understand.

ChirpyGirl · 05/01/2008 15:28

Can totally sympathise Tutter and I understand.

Unfortunately for me after DD1 had a vomming virus a few months ago she can't keep it down and throws it straight back up again, so I am resricted to normal paracetemol, which is not so tempting as it doesn't help her sleep at all....

anynamewilldo · 05/01/2008 18:35

I kept giving medised to dd2 because she was a really bad sleeper, I gave it to her for over a month she was teething at the time and she is fine she is now 7 nearly 8yrs, although it doesn't work on any of the others

fizzybellasmum · 11/01/2008 21:20

Hi, I've never fried Medised for more than 3 nights in a row but I was tempted to give DD (8 1/2 months) brandy butter and rum sauce with her pear puree over Christmas (as a dessert) in the hope she would sleep better.
I think it worked.

dd666 · 11/01/2008 21:26

dd was up all night wednesday with a cough so thursday she went to bed dosed with ticksylix calpol and nurofen! and again tonite
she had about an hours sleep wednesday so that also means i only had an hour.
and she needs sleep to recover from this cough and i need sleep to cope with the terrible toddlerdom!
she rarely has medicine as dp anti drugs and would rather wait till arms legs heads falling off before taking parecetomol!

sleepycat · 11/01/2008 21:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

moodlumthehoodlum · 11/01/2008 21:35

I really remember when dd was a teething 16mo and ds 1mo and someone told me about Medised, it was like a miracle moment.

I've seen Calpol night - not something I've tried, but that presumably has the same effect?

rachaelsara · 11/01/2008 21:36

Haven't read all the post, but otrivine child nasal drops are great for snotty noses. Dries it up or clears it out. My dd3 sucks her thumb and goes mental when she can't breath through her nose and won't take medised because it tastes foul.

MrsJohnCusack · 11/01/2008 21:45

totally understand the temptation Tutter
would be giving it myself for DS's non stop teething if we could get it here
as it is we use Nurofen a LOT

seeker · 11/01/2008 22:02

OK - here's what I think. Babies don't sleep through the night and they wake up and they cry. It's what they do. And it's what we sign up for when we have them. I am as supportive as the next woman, but I am not going to condone giving children drugs to make them sleep. I am not on my high horse, or any other comdematory description anyone cares to use - it is simply wrong, wrong, wrong.

TheGoddessBlossom · 13/01/2008 20:15

As usual on MN I was going to start this exact same thread.

I have pushed our Medised bottle to the back of the kitchen cupboard only this morning because I am determined not to use it any more. It has become a crutch that I use to get my 17th month old back to sleep, as he wakes at least once a night and if I give 2 x 5 ml dose of Medised I can guarantee that he is asleep within the hour. Very very very tempting indeed when, without it, Contolled crying, at least 4 nights and me Dh and DS1 up for the duration, he will be awake screaming crying shouting and banging for at least 2 hours. It's a no brainer.

Except I no it's a behavioural thing, ok perhaps a bit of teeth here and there. But I am in denial - I was so good at being strict with DS1, but it all seems to have gone to pot with DS2's sleep discipline. Need to get tough, and resign myself to falling asleep at my PC at work, talking gibberish on the phone, and bickering (more) with DH. Sigh.

Feel free to post supportive words to Blossom's Medised free house. Sob.

manyhatson · 13/01/2008 21:45

I used Medised for weeks, probably months on end last winter when dd had colds from October to Feb, inclusive (and was in casualty with high temperatures adn breathing problems 3 times int hat time - boy was that an awful winter). I discussed Medised with the doctor at the time and he said I should continue to use it for as long as it was useful. We still give it to her when she has a cold and when that happens, she probably has it for about 2 weeks, but again, this time of year there's not much of a break between colds. She's made it through to 23 months with no ill effects and I don't feel in the least guilty or judgmental about it. I also have several friends who swear by it to get a good night's sleep (them and their baby).

MAMAZON · 13/01/2008 21:48

it was suggested i use it by lots of other mums when Ds was younger.
he is ASD but at the time (about 2) he was undiagnosed. he could go for 48 hours with only an hours sleep...i couldn't!

so i gave in and got him some medised and gave him a some.

he didn't sleep at all for 3 days!
the stuff was liek rocket fuel.

never had it in teh house since.

FrayedKnot · 13/01/2008 21:51

Medised just doesn;t have that kind of effect on DS

Luckily, since that first year of hell, things haven;t been too bad.

FrannyandZooey · 13/01/2008 21:54

seeker - I think Tutter knew it was wrong - I think we all know it is wrong - however some of us may have done things even though we knew them to be wrong, because we were feeling a bit desperate

it doesn't make it right, but I think most of us can understand how it happened

manyhatson · 13/01/2008 22:00

Seeker - I agree totally that babies wake and cry and that's the deal (I'm a sling wearing, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, child-centric mum). But one doesn't need to be a masocist about it.

If a child has NO symptoms of a cold or a temperature and you're finding yourself automatically dosing them up at bed time, or in the night, then it's time to stop. But you know what, for those people who give it to their kids every now and again when they're desparate for a night's sleep or for a quiet evening, so what?? My mother used to regularly give my brother and I Phenaghan, a travel sickness medicine, before we went to bed - blatent drugging (which I wouldn't do). My grandparents gave my parents brandy. At least Medised's relatively harmless!

Wilkie · 13/01/2008 22:00

It has NO effect on DS (not in any way shape or form that I tried it just cos he wasn't sleeping )

I don't think it is particularly bad but I think 10 nights is getting a little excessive. Once in a while - why not

MrsJohnCusack · 13/01/2008 22:03

that's exactly it Franny

Gimli · 13/01/2008 23:33

Not that I'd advocate this, but a friend told me he and his siblings were given a drop or two of guinness with their milk when they were babies on occassions when their parents really wanted to get them off. Doesn't seem to have done him any harm. DS very young, too young for Medised but, given his general refusal to sleep unless in the arms of one of us, and the way we have been feeling as a result, I can understand why and sympathise. Some people can deal with sleep deprivation better than others. But after a certain amount of time, it will get anyone. It is just awful and the lack of sympathy from some people (particularly those in the medical profession) can really hurt.

FrannyandZooey · 14/01/2008 08:59

I was given brandy in my milk when a baby

have had alcohol problems most of adult life - maybe co-incidence

but it is very young to start using alcohol to solve problems

Gimli · 14/01/2008 09:38

Sorry to hear that. Mentioned the Guinness it in the sort of quaint, that was what they used to do back then way before things like Medised existed in the hope of showing sympathy. The point about sleep deprivation holds though. And the point about the lack of sympathy, particular from sawbones.

Wisteria · 14/01/2008 09:44

I was given brandy too and don't have alcohol problems - I rubbed some on my dd1s gums once when she was teething - it worked.

I've never heard of medised incidentally but did resort to calpol once or twice when under the cosh and thought/ justified it as she must be hurting somewhere to cry this much......

Umlellala · 14/01/2008 10:08

Tutter, we have definitely (and friends we know even on the weekend did this) gone 'oh, hurrah she's teething, get the drugs out' and yes, she has had it more than the required 3 days, same as you, one dose before bed (in fact I think she has had it prob 10 days over the last two weeks - with this horrendous cold/cough thing that has knocked both of us for six )

I DO go to the doctor to check if it's ok (they say yes, keep giving her medicine) and try to make sure she has a break from it every 3-5 days (and ride it out with 'mummy medicine' ie sleeping with me and cuddles).

And I have switched to paracetamol too to just check it is the pain that is being dealt with and she's not gettng addicted (iykwim).

I don't think I would give it if there was absolutely NO sign of anything being wrong though... but I think lots of us (espesh with non-sleeping 21mth olds) are on a sliding scale with the use of medised. So not big judgements here.

TrinityRhinosDhWonHerAnIPOD · 14/01/2008 10:14

I have used it for dd2 so she can breath through her nose and therefore suck her thumb but it had NO affect on her sleeping (I was really hoping it would )

Bodkin · 14/01/2008 10:40

I was at a 4yo birthday party recently with both DDs and spent the whole time wrestling with DD2 (4 months at the time) and feeding and trying to keep her from squawking, and rocking and jiggling with her in the sling etc.etc. etc. and there was another mum there with a 6 month old sat placidly on her lap the whole time, not moving or squirming an inch. After about an hour he just dropped off in to the most blissfully contented sleep and the mum was able to spend the whole party chatting and scoffing sausage rolls. At the end I said to her, gosh what a calm baby you have, to which she replied, oh no, normally he's a total pain. I've medisedded him for the occasion. I couldn't help but think... "what a bloody brilliant idea"

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