Preschool teacher gives kids sleeping pills

[OkToBeTakei]

Phenergen is marketed here in a liquid formula as a travel sickness aid and mild sedative, specifically for children. As I mentioned, it was given at their doctor's recommendation.

As to why - traveling with a four year old, three year old and an infant on a train for ten hours once a month so their father could have access visits. Because it is a more pleasant experience for them to sleep for the trip than to be travel sick and unable to settle. And because it allowed me to care for the infant instead of chasing over tired travel sick toddlers.

I get that. Shit situation.

It has been not licensed for children here for quite a time. I do remember my mother mentioning it when she did the travel thing. That was some years ago. Like 30years.

There are travel sickness meds for kids that do not have those potential side effects.

I am not having a go. Really I am not. But that is not a good drug. Not like on long haul flights I have not wished for it. Anti-emetic compared to anti-psychotic. I am quite surprised you can still access it.

[lilith]

Different recommendations and regulations in different markets I guess.

It's the standard over the counter travel medication for toddlers and children here, and I'm pretty happy to go with the recommendations of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, my doctor and my pharmacist.

[NurseNell]

Phenergan is an anti-psychotic drug. Granted in a very small dose. It is totally contra-indicated in children.

WHY if you want to sedate your kid or travel with them would you feel the urge to drug them?

ETA sedate being not good either. Just read the thread. WHY?

Phenergan is not an anti-psychotic, it is given for allergies and to prevent motion sickness. It is also given for nausea. It is prescribed for children. Other drugs in the same classification are anti-psychotics. Phenergan used to be used as such until it was found it really had no anti-psychotic properties. I don't see it used as often anymore with the new anti-emetics out but it is still available.

You have obviously never traveled with young children or you wouldn't ask this question. My younger son screamed from Phoenix to Atlanta once, his ears hurt. If I'd have had something to give him I would have. My daughter had terrible motion sickness, we did give her medication.

[Bloo]

I'm a preschool teacher, and while I have no children of my own I have sisters a generation younger than me so I did a lot of child care for family as a teen. There is SUCH a huge difference between minding your own kin and minding someone else's. Also, adult medicine often has the opposite effect when given to children (hence why the stimulant Adderall was given to hyperactive children). This lady was not only horribly immoral in her choices (adult OTC sleep meds in TODDLERS?!) but also dumb as fuck. The only question is in regard to her apparently long child minding career- how many other kids has she drugged along the way?

[NurseNell]

I'm a preschool teacher, and while I have no children of my own I have sisters a generation younger than me so I did a lot of child care for family as a teen. There is SUCH a huge difference between minding your own kin and minding someone else's. Also, adult medicine often has the opposite effect when given to children (hence why the stimulant Adderall was given to hyperactive children). This lady was not only horribly immoral in her choices (adult OTC sleep meds in TODDLERS?!) but also dumb as fuck. The only question is in regard to her apparently long child minding career- how many other kids has she drugged along the way?

Oh I agree 100%. I was a school nurse, I could not even give a tylenol without an order from a health care provider and parent authorization.

[Bloo]

I'm not even supposed to give band aids! Because I teach children with special needs, they want to be able to cover their backsides everywhere, so if a boo boo bleeds, off to the clinic they go.

[pixydust]

Didn't mothers used to give baby a little alcohol to put them to sleep? I think they were referred to as "mother's little helper". I don't think the hardship of caring for young children have changed much.

My grandmother used a thimble full of rum back in the 50's, she also rubbed it on her babies gums when they teethed.

As for the phenegrin debate, my husband has been on it a few times (anti nausea for kidney stones and most recently because the steroids that he was taking made him severely nauseous. I am given more warnings when I pick up his blood pressure meds than phenegrin. Different countries have different medication rules. There is stuff that is regularly used in Europe hat we will never see in the US (or maybe in a decade) and there is stuff that is legal here and not legal there. If we only used what was legal/available in all countries we'd be stuck with antibiotics and tylenol! (I know, that is extreme, but I didn't sleep well last night and have another sinus infection).

[Sumeri]

I would like to say it's unusual, but just a few years ago my own mother suggested I dose my colicky baby and my ADHD 5 year old with Nyquil. To my horror she was like it's safe I used to do it all the time when you and your brother were little, and then she wonders why my grandparents ended up with custody.

When we were little and stayed at my grandma's for sleepovers, she would wear us all out with an old box spring she had in her basement that we used as a trampoline, then say, "Time for your vitamins, kids!" and give us all a shot glass of Nyquil. Truly.

[OkToBeTakei]

Phenergan is not an anti-psychotic, it is given for allergies and to prevent motion sickness. It is also given for nausea. It is prescribed for children. Other drugs in the same classification are anti-psychotics. Phenergan used to be used as such until it was found it really had no anti-psychotic properties. I don't see it used as often anymore with the new anti-emetics out but it is still available.

You have obviously never traveled with young children or you wouldn't ask this question. My younger son screamed from Phoenix to Atlanta once, his ears hurt. If I'd have had something to give him I would have. My daughter had terrible motion sickness, we did give her medication.

Promethazine was actually first marketed as an anti-psychotic/neuroleptic. But as you contradicted yourself later in the sentence you know that. That is neither here nor there really, what is interesting as others have said is how different countries market drugs for use. What is seen as conta-indicated for children here is obviously different in other countries. I can buy codeine based pain killers in GB but in Ireland you need to jump through hoops to buy over the counter and in some European countries I can get my prescription only medication over the counter.

I live in Europe. We tend to travel a lot. To many countries. Both driving and long/short haul flights. Why yes I do have a child. Some journeys are better than others. It is what it is when travelling with young kids. The days of reading a book quietly are LONG gone. Just as the days of a quiet meal are over when with my extended family on holiday we all look at the eight kids of varying ages and ask each other what we were thinking. Pacing and pushing crying babies around foreign streets outside restaurants is a tag team sport :lol:

[melk]

And the knockout ingredient in regular Nyquil is doxylamine succinate.

They know people are going to be dosing their kids with it is the only reason they didn't use the doxylamine which AFAIK doesn't have a liquid formulation on the market because it's dangerous to kids.

I'm pretty sure that was a tinture of opium.

Doxylamine(also in Unisom) knocks me out for 12 hours.

[precious_one]

My now 24 yo daughter was a very colicky baby and her pediatrician recommended giving her whiskey or brandy at night. I did not do that and never went back to him again.

As for phenegran, I have only been prescribed that for nausea and vomiting.

[Isis]

When the girls were younger we had to fly them cross country. Their pediatrician recommended children's Benadryl. I was horrified at the idea of drugging toddlers. :snooty:

I fly with my 2yo alot - she's got FF miles on like 5 airlines, LOL.

I drugged her one time, she had gotten an ear infection a day before a 6 hour flight - her pedi said to give her Benadryl for the ear infection pain while flying. I only gave her half of what he said to and while she did fall asleep for the majority of the flight - I was a nervous wreck!

When we lived in Japan - we flew back and forth alot with other military folk and their kids. Saw alot of people giving their kids Benadryl - only to find that instead of making them sleepy, it made them even more hyper.

And then the plane took off.

[BravaAmica]

When DS was 3 1/2, I gave him a children's Benadryl for a plane ride. It was a red eye. I'd tested him on it once before our trip and he slept. But not this time. That shit made him so hyper. Ugh. Never again. Now I just give him some iced, honey sweetened sleepytime tea for red eyes.

[Savoring Samsara]

Didn't mothers used to give baby a little alcohol to put them to sleep? I think they were referred to as "mother's little helper". I don't think the hardship of caring for young children have changed much.

A friend of mine's grandmother used to dip her pacifier in whisky when she was a baby to get her to calm down. My friend swears that this is the reason she loves single-malt Scotch today.

[Funky Chicken]

Phenergan is an anti-psychotic drug. Granted in a very small dose. It is totally contra-indicated in children.

WHY if you want to sedate your kid or travel with them would you feel the urge to drug them?

ETA sedate being not good either. Just read the thread. WHY?

It is structurally related to antipsychotics, but here (Australia) it is used primarily as a sedating anti-histamine, and for some of the other purposes mentioned.

Of course, you'd probably think it was OK to give to seagulls.

[RachelB]

My father gave me an antihistamine every night for years to get me to go to sleep. Probably starting in about third grade. Yes, I had insomnia. No, this was not a good solution to the problem, in my opinion.

[AnywhereButHere]

I'm a preschool teacher, and while I have no children of my own I have sisters a generation younger than me so I did a lot of child care for family as a teen. There is SUCH a huge difference between minding your own kin and minding someone else's. Also, adult medicine often has the opposite effect when given to children (hence why the stimulant Adderall was given to hyperactive children). This lady was not only horribly immoral in her choices (adult OTC sleep meds in TODDLERS?!) but also dumb as fuck. The only question is in regard to her apparently long child minding career- how many other kids has she drugged along the way?

When I was about 5 or 6, I went in for a surgery. The doctor decided to give me a sleep aid the night before. Apparently, I was drifting off quite nicely before the "help" but after it was administered, kept popping up in bed like a spring asking to play. Drove my poor mom nuts! :D

You never know how a child will react to something, and in these days when allergies are so prevalent, did she really want to risk possibly seriously hurting a child for a bit of a break?

[snarkykitty]

Phenergan is an anti-psychotic drug. Granted in a very small dose. It is totally contra-indicated in children.

Phenergen is marketed here in a liquid formula as a travel sickness aid and mild sedative, specifically for children. As I mentioned, it was given at their doctor's recommendation.

It has been not licensed for children here for quite a time. I do remember my mother mentioning it when she did the travel thing. That was some years ago. Like 30years.

There are travel sickness meds for kids that do not have those potential side effects.

I am not having a go. Really I am not. But that is not a good drug. Not like on long haul flights I have not wished for it. Anti-emetic compared to anti-psychotic. I am quite surprised you can still access it.

[NurseNell]

Phenergen is marketed here in a liquid formula as a travel sickness aid and mild sedative, specifically for children. As I mentioned, it was given at their doctor's recommendation.

It has been not licensed for children here for quite a time. I do remember my mother mentioning it when she did the travel thing. That was some years ago. Like 30years.

There are travel sickness meds for kids that do not have those potential side effects.

I am not having a go. Really I am not. But that is not a good drug. Not like on long haul flights I have not wished for it. Anti-emetic compared to anti-psychotic. I am quite surprised you can still access it.

/begin beating dead horse/ Phenergan is not an anti-psychotic. It was once theorized to be useful as anti-psychotic but later found to not really do what they thought it did. It is prescribed in the US for its anti-histamine and anti-emetic tendencies. I take it every day due to having chronic Pancreatitis due to Cystic Fibrosis. Zofran - one of the more commonly prescribed anti-emetics - gives me the jitters (mild distonia) if I take it orally, but I am fine when I take it via IV (which I do because my IV antibiotics make me very nauseated).

It also is not contraindicated for all children. According the US FDA, it should not be given to any children under 2, but can be prescribed to children 2 and over (with great care, obviously, for its sedative properties can depress the respiratory system (as can anything that makes you sleepy).

/end beating the poor horse/

[Black Aliss]

My now 24 yo daughter was a very colicky baby and her pediatrician recommended giving her whiskey or brandy at night. I did not do that and never went back to him again.

That was common practice a generation or two ago and alcohol was the active ingredient in a lot of pediatric OTC meds. Our family doctor recommended it for my baby brother (adopted, birth history unknown, could and did scream for hours): a teaspoonful of sugar, topped off with brandy. My parents were skeptical, but when they were totally exhausted and at the end of their collective rope, they tried it and everyone slept, that night at least.

[August]

That was common practice a generation or two ago and alcohol was the active ingredient in a lot of pediatric OTC meds. Our family doctor recommended it for my baby brother (adopted, birth history unknown, could and did scream for hours): a teaspoonful of sugar, topped off with brandy. My parents were skeptical, but when they were totally exhausted and at the end of their collective rope, they tried it and everyone slept, that night at least.

They called it gripe water.

[NurseNell]

This video was on Facebook just now. It illustrates that kids don't always react the same way to meds. This is a teenager who had some type of conscious sedation to have his wisdom teeth extracted. Frankly, I would not have sent him home when they did.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4209285124271&set=vb.1649273320&type=2&theater

The drive home:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4209719255124&set=vb.1649273320&type=2&theater

[Mama Mia]

I'm a preschool teacher, and while I have no children of my own I have sisters a generation younger than me so I did a lot of child care for family as a teen. There is SUCH a huge difference between minding your own kin and minding someone else's. Also, adult medicine often has the opposite effect when given to children (hence why the stimulant Adderall was given to hyperactive children). This lady was not only horribly immoral in her choices (adult OTC sleep meds in TODDLERS?!) but also dumb as fuck. The only question is in regard to her apparently long child minding career- how many other kids has she drugged along the way?

Slightly off-topic - but people with adhd 's brain chemistry responds differently. Adults with ADHD are also given Adderall, Ritalin, Dexadrine and other stimulants to help them calm down and focus.

[OkToBeTakei]

/begin beating dead horse/ Phenergan is not an anti-psychotic. It was once theorized to be useful as anti-psychotic but later found to not really do what they thought it did. It is prescribed in the US for its anti-histamine and anti-emetic tendencies. I take it every day due to having chronic Pancreatitis due to Cystic Fibrosis. Zofran - one of the more commonly prescribed anti-emetics - gives me the jitters (mild distonia) if I take it orally, but I am fine when I take it via IV (which I do because my IV antibiotics make me very nauseated).

It also is not contraindicated for all children. According the US FDA, it should not be given to any children under 2, but can be prescribed to children 2 and over (with great care, obviously, for its sedative properties can depress the respiratory system (as can anything that makes you sleepy).

/end beating the poor horse/

/more beating the dead horse/ I did my psych nursing in a large state hospital in New York in 1964, phenergan was not used as an anti-psychotic then so it must have been a very long time ago that it was. 47 years as a RN I've only seen it used for nausea and motion sickness. Thorazine was the big anti-psychotic drug in the 1960's. We had to be on lookout for the thorazine shuffle, which meant too much was being used. Electroshock therapy was used frequently too. I hated being part of that treatment team. /done beating the poor horse/

[NurseNell]

I do not live in the USA. Some people don't, you know.

Wow, I never knew that. :o You mean there are other countries besides the U.S.A. ? :geek: Oh wait, I've been to Ireland, England, Germany, Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Canada and all along I thought they were part of the U.S.A. Wonder why I needed my passport to visit them? :doh: