Painstop.

Does anyone use painstop on a child under 1?

My GP recomended PS as DS (9 months) is a really bad teether - and I mean bad! He is 12+kgs so it within the weight range for PS - and thats what my GP has always told me to go by - the weight rather than the age. Panadol & Nerofen dont even touch the sides of the pain but PS seems to work well.

The reason I ask is I told my SIL about it and her chemist said that it should not be used on children under 2 and that it causes SIDS! Im shocked! I dont want to use it if its bad - but I also trust my GP....

Not sure what to think!

Kate

We ended up in emergency with Moo with extremely bad pharyngitis before he was one. The doctor's gave him pain stop as he was absolutely beside himself. They recommended we keep using it, including the night one even though he was not even one. On the bottle they give the weight limits and Moo was well within the range. So yes we have used it!

Thanks Cheezel. Im happy to use it and it works well for Hamish but I was just floored by what my SIL's chemist told her!

All the children's painkillers I know of go by weight, so I'd assume you're okay. As for it causing SIDS, well, the very definition of SIDS is that it's a death without a cause, so...

We used it on recommendation of my gp as ds had bad reflux and couldn't take nurofen as it makes it worse and panadol did nothing when he was teething. It meant for 2 and above as a guide but if you have been given advice and had the dose adjusted then it will be fine.

I presume it's because of the codeine that it's not recommended for use under the age of 2.

It is also my understanding that codeine is the reason Painstop is not recommended for use in children under the age of two. Codeine is an opioid and one of it's (and all opioids) possible side effects is respiratory depression. Young children already have an underdeveloped respiratory drive as well as poor compensatory mechanisms. It has been widely hypothesised that SIDS is caused by a failure of the respiratory centre in the brain... the baby forgets to breathe. If you sedate the respiratory centre and reduce the respiratory drive, you are possibly increasing the likelihood of respiratory arrest and subsequent 'unexplained' death. I suspect this is what the pharmacist was alluding to when he spoke to Jakabella's sister.