Using phenergen as a convenience

[Floweryfields]

I was prescribed it for dd who gets hives that claratyne & Zyrtec don't have any effect on and was shocked to read on the dosage instructions on box/bottle the quantities for night time sedation.

Wow, maybe they realise that there are people out there using it for that kind of thing and the makers felt it was best to put a dosage on so that children aren't overdosed by accident?

Makes me sad that people feel a need to use it that way.

[Maruschke]

People use it on plane trips for this exact reason... very common.

[maybebaby2012]

Seriously?

[Cass72]

Seriously?

Yes seriously!

I gave it to DS1 once (for allergies) and it had the opposite effect - that boy was hyper for hours. It was the first and last time I'll ever touch the stuff. I heard from a friend that she couldn't give it to her boys for the same reason.

[FabFiona]

In the deepest darkest place of my sleep deprived mind I thought about it for my DS1. He was a shocker, not sleeping more than 1-1.5 hours at a time for months leading up to his first birthday. He would wake screaming. I often tried to work out ways to get it, from ordering it on the internet to fibbing to my doctor about allergies. I googled threads on chat forums where people said they gave it to help sleep and it worked great.

But in the end I didn't give it to him. I don't really remember why, sleep deprivation I'm guessing. I have a fair bit of family support including grandparents that were happy to have my non-sleeping child for 'sleepovers' so I could get a rest.

I guess like Artechim I don't see this as the same as giving it to a child so they can watch the footy. It's to help break an unhealthy sleep pattern.

[misty]

I do not believe in giving medication to children other then for medical purposes. Full stop.
It does horrify me that people think it is ok to drug their child to sleep for non medical reasons.
If that makes me a horrible judgemental person, I can live with that.

[nothing2lose]

I think it depends on how you define medical reason.

I give my DD (10yrs) a 10mg tablet the night before her horseriding lesson because horseriding/horses are her reason for living at the moment yet she is allergic to something there. She also has to take claratyne, etc the morning of the lesson.

The only other time I gave it to her was when she was three for four or five nights when she was suffering some PTSD after witnessing some very distressing things and could not sleep. I dont regret it at all and would do the same again. It was just what she needed to relearn that surrendering to sleep was okay and that she was safe.

I totally agree that children should not be drugged for convenience. But I also wonder if medicines like phenergan/pain stop have actually saved the lives of some children whose parents had reached the end of their tether