anyone giving their dc chloral hydrate?

[geekgirl]

Dd2 has been a terrible sleeper for 5 years now and we've tried so many pharmaceuticals - Melatonin, Phenergan, Vallergan and Triclofos spring to mind, and only the Vallergan has any effect and then she ends up with a stonking hangover. Last year the paed prescribed her chloral, but so far the bottle has sat unopened in the cupboard.
I'm nervous about using it, it strikes me as quite a strong medication?
She had it as a baby quite often following her cardiac surgery, but that was down the ng tube. I've heard that it tastes like petrol, although I just had a try and it didn't really seem to taste of anything.
Is there anyone else here who uses it and can tell me how it affects their dc please?

dd also had it following heart surgery geekgirl - to help her over her morphine withdrawal and she's had it since for sedated Echos. She always seemed to wake up happy enough but I wonder - is it quite a short-lived effect? Presumably it would help her 'get off' rather than stay asleep.

Does she take any meds for her heart BTW? We were discussing sleeplessness on another forum and some meds seem to have that as a side effect. dd doesn't sleep well but as she's much older now she mostly manages it herself. Prowls around the house in the early hours........

we used it for dd back in her 'screaming every night for 8 hours' phase. Its pretty yucky tasting but knocks them right out. The following day they are a bit hungover and grumpy though.
Its not uaual to get it anymore though.

Tried it with my dd last summer,it had no effect at all,she seems immune to everything.

thank you all

saggar, thankfully dd2 had a full repair so she's not on any meds

Well, I ended up giving her 5ml last night and it made no difference really. The paed did say I could double the dose though .
The problem with all of these sleeping meds is that they seem to mainly help get the child off to sleep - that's one thing she's always been great at. Our problem is that she sleeps like a dream from 7-midnight, and then gets up every hour or so (frequently waking ds up in the process, who's always up for a bit of fun with his sister, no matter what time it is!) until we cave in early in the morning.

She just seems to be bloody impervious to all these drugs, apart from the Vallergan , and that gives her a hangover and a really dry nose & mouth.

Hiya
I have this prescribed for my dd. TBH I don't use it very often. what works for my dd is nightnurse, I have checked with her consultant who has said it's ok to use as nothing else works. Not suggesting you start giving her that without checking first, but it def works for her, and we can all get some sleep.

geekgirl - what about allowing her to go off naturally and giving it when she wakes at midnight? If it's a habit thing a few nights might break it.

Lovely pics of your children BTW