Calpol and injections

[enola]

Hello all!
So, I tried searching for this but couldn't come up with a satisfying answer and thought it best to ask you ladies, whose opinions I respect.

Injections - I am baffled by these. From what I can ascertain, many of those of you who practice the various aspects umbrella-ed under 'attachment/natural parenting' selectively vaccinate.

Can anyone tell me a little more about the reasoning behind this and perhaps point me towards some material to read so I can form a rounded opinion (instead of what I've presently been force-fed by the media and health 'professionals') please?

Also on the same note - calpol. I had calpol as a child and have no particular bones to pick with the substance itself, however I remember it being very sweet and often as a toddler faking illness in order to have some...and this leads to me wondering on the effect this has on me now eating sweet things when I feel down/poorly in order to feel better.

Additionally, in looking to be as natural as possible with Daniel when he (finally) arrives, I can't see how this synthetic product is the right thing to do....plus the whole 'dosing up the baby' thing seems to fit more with the 'crying it out' theories so prevalent in 'modern parenting', and I don't personally think that's the road for us...

Right - this is very waffly, and I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense - blame overtired late pregnancy brain and ask me to clarify!

Thank you so much for reading and any suggestions

 

[Rachel_C]

I choose to vaccinate Leyla according to the government recommendations so I can't really comment about that. The nurse at the GP surgery told me it was a good idea to get some Calpol in for afterwards, just in case Leyla was feeling grotty. She said that you can either give it half an hour before the jabs as a preventative measure or wait and see if it's needed. I chose to wait and didn't need to give any. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of Calpol - you're right, it is very sweet and I've read that using it lots in early childhood can lead to an increased risk of allergies later on (I think that's what it was anyway). I don't know about the validity of that claim but I think it's better to avoid drugs where possible.

That said, Leyla has been suffering with teething and a bad cold recently. We're using various teething powders, amber necklace, baby olbas oil, steam, raising her cot at one end etc, everything we can think of to make her feel better, but on two nights this last week she woke up every 45 minutes. She wasn't hungry, just seemed to be in pain, so I did eventually give Calpol and she calmed down within half an hour and got some proper sleep. I prefer to try other things first but then if she's still not happy, I'm ok with resorting to Calpol, just as I try other stuff for myself but will take paracetamol if it doesn't work. I wouldn't like to say "I'll never give Calpol" because I think it has it's place, but I do think that there is a tendency to overuse it as a quick solution. Hope that makes sense!

 

[Vici]

I also chose to have Imi vacciated as I couldn't find anything that would make me not want to.

I do have calpol in the house and "tried" to give it to Imi when she had a fever but she hated it and it ended up everywhere. I needed to get her temp down so on docs recommendation I popped the dose in her milk I don't think she'll be asking for it, not any time soon anyway

 

[FemmeEnceinte]

I'm massively into medical research and will absolutely be vaccinating. I take issue with vaccines such as recent H1N1 combined flu injections that remain untested and highly controversial.

As for calpol, I have no problems with it but think it highly overused. Unless your child has a fever over 39 and isn't presenting with any pain... there really is no need. But I feel the same about anyone and over the counter medication.

 

[lfernie]

What the others said, for my own reasons I chose to have Ryan vaccinated and i think Calpol can be overused but it has its place. I would always try other options first but at the end of the day if Ry was in pain and Calpol was gonna help him I would offer it. But I do think it can be really easy to fall into calpol for everything pattern. I've never had to give it yet and I don't own a bottle but I probably should. x

 

[purple_socks]

i am selective with certain vaccines like the H1N1.
Pretty much all vaccines contain mercury amongst other disturbing chemicals which does make me feel uncomfortable but i think its a case of weighing up what is worse...the vaccine or the thing its vaccinating against! It is hard to find unbias info on the subject though but u can find info on natural parenting sites or you can google 4 lists of chemicals in specific vaccines.

As for calpol...i def think its over used by some parents but i do agree that it has its place. I use it as a last resort if Kian appears to b in pain and nothing more 'natural' has worked. there r lots of natural alternatives 4 teething, colds, collic and other common reasons parents opt for calpol which i personally have found to b very affective.

 

[Maffie]

Im having Noah vaccinated, my mum is worried about the mmr one.

In regards to calpol Noah has never had it, we use a paracetamol suspension we were given by the doctor. He rarely has this but did run a temp after the jabs so had some then.

 

[Kit]

I don't agree that using calpol necessarily puts you in the same "style" of parenting as cry it out etc. In so much as we have a style of parenting it is probably closer to attacment parenting than otherwise - I babywear, don't practice cry it out, occasionally co-sleep etc). I prefer to avoid unnecessary use of any medicine - I didn't have antibiotics as a child until I was about 10 as our GP tried to limit the use of them as much as possible. However, I gave calpol after his first set of injections as he was uspet, although in retrospect probably not in particular pain and he has had calpol during a recent illness for which he also had antibiotics.
I disagree with the "dose your child up" idea - a family member actually suggested it once and I think I just stared at her with my mouth open! However, use of calpol or equivalents where necessary doesn't, in my opinion, place you in an particular "school" of parenting.

 

[kirsten1985]

Yeah I agree, I wouldn't put calpol in the same boat as crying it out, lol.

We have used Calpol (well a paracetamol equivalent) when Freya has had a very high temp and we used it every time she had injections. We don't use it for teething and we also use a lot of homeopathic stuff.

I have done plenty of research and a lot of thinking, and Freya has had all of her vaccinations so far and will not be having the swine flu one. She will be having the MMR too.

I hope Freya never fakes an illness (I did as a child but not to get calpol - to get the day off school!) but I guess it's not something I can prevent, lol.

 

[enola]

Sorry if I offended at all ladies, I didn't mean to suggest I'd put the usage of Calpol in the same camp as 'crying it out' - just the 'dosing the baby up' which I know some mums do seems more leaning towards that way to me - sorry for the lack of clarity

Thank you so much for all of your helpful comments, it's really useful to see where other mums who obviously have happy, healthy children stand

Are there any other natural methods, as some of you have mentioned, which you could recommend as an alternative, but with having the calpol on standby in case they aren't effective please?
I'm getting an amber teething necklace for that side of things, but any specific powders etc. or other infant suspension style products that might be more natural would be so helpful.

Thank you all again so much!

 

[kirsten1985]

Have a look on here Nelsons for homeopathic alternatives, we use loads, Chamomilla for teething, their 'Sootha' mixture for coughs, Arnica for bruises, Hypercal for cuts, etc etc.

I don't think there is any alternative for bringing a fever down, I would always use calpol or whatever for that. Far better to use something 'un-natural' than have a baby with a dangerously high temp.

But apart from fevers, you can get away with using other stuff

 

[im_mi]

we blindly vaccinated our son, and this time around we will definitely be more selective.

One word of warning, though: When your child has a vaccination, the body will try to expel the poisons in the vaccine through fever. Giving your baby calpol afterwards (or before) the baby jab will prevent the body from successfuly expelling the poison. I wish i had known that before vaccinating my son.

calpol in general is highly over used in my opinion. Fevers are necessary to help the body recover from illnesses. unless Jack has a dangerously high fever or his fever isnt eased by stripping off clothes etc, we dont ever medicate him.

 

[Rachel_C]

We started using the Boots teething powder with Chamomilla in it, as well as Ashton and Parson's stuff, just a few days ago and the difference they have made is incredible! I didn't think Leyla was really suffering too badly with teething but she had a few nights of waking every 45 minutes, not hungry but pulling her ears and screaming. So we got the powders and she's back to sleeping properly. I'll definitely be keeping well stocked with them from now on! I'll be looking into other homeopathic stuff too. It was a lifesaver for me for dealing with chemo side effects a few years ago so I trust it though I don't understand it at all. Actually, at the big mosque OH goes to there's a free homeopathy clinic so maybe I'll get him to take Leyla for some advice on general baby-type problems!

 

[lynnikins]

Nate has been fully vaccinated and we have used calpol with him but i tend to use it only when the situation really calls for something and Ive tried everything else, i do also use teething gel (calgel) instead if its teeth that are bothering him,

I try to avoid unessacary medication for all of the family including myself and would much rather use a natural alternative but when it comes to vaccination then unless there is out and out proof not to then im going to because ive seen the effects of what are now preventible childhood illness like measles , Mumps and Rubella , and dont want my children to suffer in years to come over choices ive made,

 

[enola]

Thank you so much for all of your input and opinions, as well as the excellent product recommendations
It's so helpful to hear different stances and reasons behind too - thank you!

 

[waltzy]

Here is an interesting article from The Ecologist on Calpol. I agree, it has it's place but should be used sparingly.

https://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/346400/behind_the_label_calpol.html


Behind the Label: Calpol
Pat Thomas

29th October

The season of flu (and fear of swine flu) is upon us. But before you reach for this sticky pink cocktail dished out by doctors and parents as a cure-all for children, think again...

Practically speaking, swine flu is not all that different from seasonal flu in symptoms and treatment. And children aren't at any particularly increased risk, above that they face from normal flu, but somehow the word 'swine' before flu has got parents in a panic - fuelled by the media - and feeling more helpless than ever.

Enter Calpol, uncritically accepted by parents - and bizarrely by doctors too - as a kind of sticky pink magic bullet for whatever ails your child. As far as we at the Ecologist know, Calpol is not a cure for swine flu but you wouldn't know if from the conversations floating around on parental e-forums:

‘Not much we can do, except keep shovelling in Calpol and keep an eye on them'.

‘I called the doctors and was told to give him Calpol and call back in the morning'.

‘They told us there [at the A&E] to carry on with Calpol, it most likely is swine flu and that we can put the Tamiflu in her strawberry milk'.

No wonder profits are soaring.

In the UK the whole of the children's medicine category is currently worth £137 million a year and is predicted to grow by more than £20 million in the next five years. This growth is apparently due to a greater emphasis on parents self-selecting over the counter (OTC) medicines to treat children's minor ailments.

The sickness business

Calpol, the number one selling children's medicine, has a commanding 70 per cent share of the 'pain and fever' sub-market, which accounts for around half of the total children's medicine market.

This lofty position, according to former manufacturers Pfizer (the medicine is now marketed by McNeil Healthcare UK), is testament to Calpol's 'heritage and commitment to meeting the changing needs of twenty-first century parents'.

Or maybe it is just a testament to parent's general feelings of fear and vulnerability when their kids get sick.

The Calpol range has grown considerably in recent years to include not just the original infant suspension (which contains paracetamol as its active ingredient and is now also available as handy Calpol Infant Suspension Sachets). It now includes Calprofen (with ibuprofen as its active ingredient) as well as Calpol Six Plus Fastmelts (melt in the mouth paracetamol for the over 6s) as well as Calcold (contains paracetamol and diphenhydramine), Calcough Chesty (contains guaifenesin) and Calpol Night (contains paracetamol and diphenhydramine).

Worrying research

So, there's something for everybody. And if it brings down fever and gives parents a better night's sleep what's the harm?

Well, late in 2008 a paper published in the respected medical journal The Lancet challenged many parent's perceptions of the harmlessness of Calpol. Researchers who analysed data on more than 200,000 children found strong links between their exposure to paracetamol as infants and the development of asthma, eczema and other allergies at age 6-7.

In fact using the drug in the first year of life increased the risk of hay fever and eczema at the age of 6 and 7 by 48 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.

The more paracetamol a child had in the early years of life, the higher the risk. Thus children under 12 months who were given a paracetamol-based medicine at least once a month more than tripled the chances of suffering wheezing attacks by the age of 6 or 7. The researchers noted that increased use of paracetamol - because of earlier fears about giving children aspirin - could be a factor in worrying rise in rates of asthma in many countries.

Fever phobia

The problem is that because it is so widely available, and recommended by everyone for everything, we don't tend to think of Calpol as medicine. Parents are not encouraged to be thoughtful or frugal in their use of Calpol.

Nor are they encouraged to understand the basic mechanisms of illness with which medicines like paracetamol interfere. In particular parents' fever phobia is something that urgently needs to be addressed

Many doctors will tell you that at least 95 per cent of childhood illnesses are self limiting. In other words they will heal by themselves and do not require any medical intervention. Of course prevention is an important part of health care, but just-in-case medicine, given without any clinical basis, can make symptoms worse and produce a whole range of new and even more debilitating side effects.

Good examples of this idea abound in our approach to common experiences such as fever, earache and coughs.

Fever often develops during an infection. Although we generally think of fever as a bad thing, fever enhances the inflammatory response of the body, and certain components of the immune system work optimally at increased body temperature. Also fever helps to limit the growth of some germs that cannot grow well at higher temperatures.

Suppressing fever with medicines like Calpol interferes with this essential mechanism.

For children, fever can serve another important function. Our children are not born with mature immune systems and fever is one way of activating and 'educating' the immune system to respond when needed. Because of this, temperatures up to 39 C (102 F) don't usually provide sufficient grounds for action unless your child is prone to convulsions.

There is even research to show that warm sponging can be just as effective at reducing skin temperature as paracetamol.

Other ingredients

Calpol of course doesn't just contain paracetamol. It is a veritable cocktail of sweeteners, flavourings, preservatives and colourants to make the product appealing and palatable to infants. These additives include strawberry 'flavouring' and carmoisine (E122- suspected carcinogen, banned in Austria, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the US) to produce its pink colour.

It also contains, Maltitol (a mild laxative), glycerol (E422 - large quantities can cause headaches, thirst and nausea), sorbitol (E420 - large quantities can cause stomach upset), the paraben preservatives methyl parahydroxybenzoate (E218 - suspected hormone disrupter and allergen), propyl parahydroxybenzoate (E216 - suspected hormone disrupter and allergen), ethyl parahydroxybenzoate (E214 - suspected hormone disrupter, banned in France and Australia), and a thickener xanthan gum (E415 - no known adverse effects).

Being such an interesting E-cocktail, it's not surprising that it can cause allergic reactions (such as skin rashes and hayfever-like symptoms), tiredness, unexpected bleeding or tendency towards bruising as well as headache, nausea.

Using paracetamol to treat fever may also result in your child having a seemingly endless round of colds, since the body's natural fever reaction was not allowed to kill the virus causing the illness leaving your child to be reinfected again and again.

E122 and E218 can lead to hyperactivity, and the Hyperactive Children's Support Group identifies them as likely causes of mysterious and sudden cases of ADHD-like hyper-activity.

Is neurofen better?

So is Calprofen, the childrens' neurofen suspension, a better option? Not really. The manufacturers of Nurofen, the UK's best selling adult ibuprofen, list the following adverse effects in their packaging:
Stomach discomfort or pain, nausea, stomach ulcer with or without bleeding, black tarry stools, worsening of asthma, unexplained wheezing or shortness of breath, liver and kidney problems, headache, dizziness, hearing disturbance and rarely skin rash, itching, peeling, easy bruising and facial swelling.

Putting it in a lower dose in a sweet syrup, with a reassuring picture of a happy baby on the packaging, may not be enough to protect your child from such effects. In fact in the US concern was heightened in 2003 when an 11 year old girl developed Stevens Johnson Syndrome - a devastating inflammatory disease that can result in serious gastrointestinal problems, blindness and death - soon after being given a children's ibuprofen for a mild fever.

In 2008 a jury decided, bizarrely, that although manufacturers Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately warn of risks of contracting Stevens-Johnson syndrome on the label, this lack of adequate warning did not make the manufacturers liable for the girl's blindness.

Nevertheless the Stevens Johnson syndrome foundation still insists that the number of reported cases of ibuprofen-related SJS has risen in recent years.

Watch and wait

The medical model of care is action oriented. It pursues germs and suppresses symptoms with single-minded determination. When learning how to take care of their children, parents are encouraged to take this model on board.

The idea of 'watch and wait' caring is still not widely encouraged. Not surprisingly, when faced with the combination of medical opposition to a watch and wait approach and the blind panic whipped up by the media about things like swine flu, many parents end up toeing the line. Calpol is dispensed and all is right with the world - until of course it isn't.

To be health conscious is to understand that there is always 'something going around' which is 'probably a virus'. There are viruses and bacteria in us and around us all the time.

The virus that causes flu or measles may be inside you or your children right now. But you are not ill because your immune system is working efficiently. What makes your child susceptible to these things - allergies, run-down immune system, diet, sleep, emotional distress - is the real question and all play a part in susceptibility to infection and in the course of healing.

Addressing these things first, before you reach for the Calpol, is the most important part of prevention and combined with cuddles, kisses and patience is probably the best way to ensure the speedy recovery of a child with a cold.

Pat Thomas is a former editor of the Ecologist

 

[enola]

Oooh fab *goes off to read*

Thank you!