Sedation Of Caylee - Do you think it's common?

[insatiable]

Since this case began I have heard so many parents talk about using over the counter meds to sedate their kids...
these people are no better that KC imo.
Parenting is a tough job, but if people are having trouble coping they need to reach out for help- not Benedryl.

I couldn't agree more.

I don't think it's a new thing either...I can remember 15 years ago two of my neighbors regularly gave their kids benadryl at night so they would go to sleep quicker. Since then I have known a few other people who have done this as well. I think it's pretty common......but defintely wrong.

 

[Celt1997]

Was I desperate for sleep? Yes. Was my marriage effected by it? Yes. BUT...Drugging her was never a thought that crossed my mind. I will admit that I was very hesitant to have another baby, though!!!! But, eventually I did and he is the best sleeper ever!

Respectfully snipped.

I'm afraid because of what you just said. My daughter is 2 and has slept like a log since she was 5 weeks old. I'm terrified to have another because we've been so spoiled by our little angel, that I'm afraid the next one will NEVER sleep.

 

[Dutchie Treat]

I was born in 1963 (GASP :too much info and my brothers and I were given Benadryl cough syrup on days like Christmas Eve to settle down because we were all three under the age of 3 1/2 and nearly all of us were in diapers at the same time!!

It's amazing THEY made it through... hahaha

They would line us up and give us a spoonful. We weren't "drugged". It just has an active antihistimine that makes you drowsy. In fact, Parke Davis changed Benadryl and it no longer causes drowsiness so it wouldn't even work IMO nowadays.

 

[SuziQ]

All of my children have traveled on airplane flights since they were small babies. I always give them a decongestant about 45 minutes prior to the flight. Small children's eustachian tubes are very narrow and any congestion in those tubes can cause excruciating pain on take off and landing.

On an airplane, barotrauma to the ear – also called aero-otitis or barotitis – can happen as the plane lifts off or descends for landing

It is common in children because their Eustachian tubes are narrower than those of adults and become blocked more easily.

Yes, a true medical need. BTW, I had that happen landing in Portland one time. It's very painful!

 

[ma2patrick]

Okay, I hope this doesn't make me a horrible human being, but I have on rare occasions given my son a very small dose of Benadryl when he has been sick in order to help him relax and rest. Usually an amount less than the bottle even recommends for his age. I never considered it "drugging" him, and it has never been done to allow me to "party". Quite the opposite. I will lay in bed with him and we will read together or watch TV. Our rule in our house is, if you are sick, you stay in bed so that you can get well.

Does this make me a bad mother?

 

[SuziQ]

I just plain do not believe anyone would use chloroform to make a child sleep.

As has been pointed out, benedryl and cough syrup are the drugs that come up if you google. They are also readily available over the counter.

MOO

And Chloroform would only last about 20 minutes. So I don't know what the point would be.

I still haven't figured out what the Chloroform was really for.

 

[jmommy]

More common than you realize. I know several doctors who administer antihistimes to their children to keep them quiet on road trips.

Sad. Sounds like more and more parents are turning to drugging as an alternative to discipline. Time out isn't working, spanking hurts their self etsteem (as so the books tell us) so let's drug them and risk killing them instead, hey that sounds like a good idea.

What ever happened to a good old fashioned spanking in love, like God's Word teaches us to do. The further we get away from god and the lessons of the bible, this is what starts to happen. It's no wonder there's so many problems now a days with the younger generation and it's only going to get worse. God help us!

 

[Celt1997]

Okay, I hope this doesn't make me a horrible human being, but I have on rare occasions given my son a very small dose of Benadryl when he has been sick in order to help him relax and rest. Usually an amount less than the bottle even recommends for his age. I never considered it "drugging" him, and it has never been done to allow me to "party". Quite the opposite. I will lay in bed with him and we will read together or watch TV. Our rule in our house is, if you are sick, you stay in bed so that you can get well.

Does this make me a bad mother?

My bold.

I think that is the key phrase in what you wrote. If your following correct dosages for a child that is sick than I don't think anyone would think of you negatively.

I believe that most are amazed at people doing this to healthy children as a means to allow the parents some peace and quiet.

 

[darcedarce]

My daughter used cough medicines all the time until I caught her doing it. My grandbabies were just that, under 6 months. She hid the bottles from everyone in the house until my grandson at around four, told me about the magic medicine that mamma gave him sometimes. She admitted it after I confronted her with the bottles I found "cleaning" her room. Translation: I snooped and turned her room inside out until I found them.

I hope your daughter still lives with you where she can be supervised... I also hope she got parenting classes/counseling.

I'm glad your grandkids have you watch out for them.

 

[darcedarce]

What ever happened to a good old fashioned spanking in love, like God's Word teaches us to do. The further we get away from god and the lessons of the bible, this is what starts to happen. It's no wonder there's so many problems now a days with the younger generation and it's only going to get worse. God help us!

I'm a conservative Christian and I don't believe God tells us to spank our children. I do agree with you about distancing ourselves from God = no good.

 

[SpottedCat]

A relative who is a pediactric nurse practitioner advised me to use benedryl to get my daughter to sleep when she was a baby. Sickening.

 

[darcedarce]

Also, since Benadryl (and other cough and cold medicines) has been mentioned I thought I'd remind everyone that they are no longer recommended for children under 6. They are not effective for anybody younger than that and could have potentially serious side effects.

 

[MamaBird]

I have 3 three children and the youngest one is 18 mos old. He has severe allergies and it causes him to have sleep disturbances. He takes a daily prescriptive med but the pediatrician had advised me to give him a small (1/4 tsp) dose of Benadryl at bed time to help him to sleep. After doing this for a few days, I began to notice that dark circles began to appear under baby boy's eyes. I immediately stopped giving him the Benadryl and called the doctor to report what was happening. This was at the same time that the warning came out about not using cold meds on younger children. So whether or not baby boy sleeps through the night, I am there to hold him, comfort him or whatever else it takes to ease him back to sleep. Just the thought of parents using this medication or others to put their children to sleep so they can do whatever seriously makes me sick! The word parent is a verb, not a noun!

 

[Ames]

A babysitter, in the midwest (Nebraska?) was sent to prison for manslaughter a couple of years back. She routinely drugged all the kids with Benadryl and killed one.

ETA: Below are a couple of links:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/12/21/benadryl.lawsuit.ap/index.html

http://www.courttv.com/trials/bieber/081605_background_ctv.html

The child care worker (Bieber, your second link) that you are talking about, had a daycare in Billings, MT, when we used to live there. Yes, she and her helper routinely drugged all of the children with Benadryl, to make them sleep...and killed one of them. When the authorities arrived, after the death of one of the babies...the "helper", threw all of the medicine droppers, that were laying out on the kitchen counter, in some soapy dish water, to hide them. But, of course the authorities found them, and she was arrested too, along with the owner.

 

[SCHTown]

My daughter did not sleep thorugh the night, and I mean NEVER slept through the night, until she was 3 years old. She was up like clock work at 12 a.m., 2 a.m., and 5 a.m. every night. So what did we do? We loved her, plain and simple. We patted her back at night, held her hand, put her in the bed with us, etc...And then one day, she just started sleeping through the night.

Was I desperate for sleep? Yes. Was my marriage effected by it? Yes. BUT...Drugging her was never a thought that crossed my mind. I will admit that I was very hesitant to have another baby, though!!!! But, eventually I did and he is the best sleeper ever!

Did we have the same child? LOL My son was the same way and after waiting for almost 4 years, I did have my daughter who slept through the night at 6 weeks. I think I "trained" my son to wake up since he slept beside my bed and I didn't EVER let him cry. Who knew that babies made sounds while sleeping!

I think drugging them are a lot more common than we ever would realize, unfortunately.

 

[Ames]

My sister and I were having a conversation about this case and the possible use of xanax and chloroform on Caylee as a so-called babysitter. It makes me sick to my stomach at the thought of it. My sister said she bet it was more common than not that people would use sedatives on their kids to put them to sleep. What do you people think? A common practice?

I believe that it is extremely common. I worked for a drop off daycare for a short time, when my family and I lived in Billings, MT. There was a young (married) woman that had a baby that she would bring for us to watch. He always had chocolate milk in a bottle when he arrived. One day, one of the other workers opened the bottle to wash it out, and the smell of Benedryl almost knocked HER out. So, everytime after that...we would always check his bottle. We finally had enough evidence to turn her in. That poor kid, had the strangest name...that I will not post here..but, it was apparent, with the name that they gave to him..that he was not wanted. His mother is a STRIPPER!! Anyway, we were opened from 7 am until 10 pm on the weekdays and 7 am until 11 pm on the weekends. His parents were waiting for us, when we arrived to open the door in the mornings, and he was always...ALWAYS the last one to leave...at 10 or 11 pm, depending on what day it was. He spent more time with us, than he did with his own parents. It was pretty sad!

 

[Ames]

More common than you realize. I know several doctors who administer antihistimes to their children to keep them quiet on road trips.

My daughter pediatrician suggested that I give her Benedryl for a plane trip that we were about to take. I said..."No, thanks"

 

[trac]

Benadryl= common. It's hard for me not to be at least a little understanding of this practice as my own child takes medication for ADHD that are a godsend.

On the other hand...

Chloroform and Xanax= not common and ridiculous.

ONLY time I ever sedated my daughters was when they had the chicken pox at 3 years old and 18 months old (they had them at the same time) the doctor told me to give them the normal dosage of Benedryl so that they would sleep most the time and not scratch, cry and fuss - I think I did that a few times in a week - Benedryl stays in the system of little ones for so long, a dosage every two days was enough - luckily the chicken pox was at the same time and mild doses - STILL to use anything to drug a child to sleep or do things illegal and against their free will is horrendous and should be prosecuted

I honestly have not figured out what Casey did with Caylee during the day for 2 years when she didn't work - she had to have pretended to go to work and then circled back to the house when her parents were at work - because it makes no sense to me at all - Casey doesn't seem to have the motherhood abilities to spend so much time with Caylee, it seemed she got annoyed quickly

 

[indallas2]

My sister and I were having a conversation about this case and the possible use of xanax and chloroform on Caylee as a so-called babysitter. It makes me sick to my stomach at the thought of it. My sister said she bet it was more common than not that people would use sedatives on their kids to put them to sleep. What do you people think? A common practice?

I hope it's not common but my DH, before we got together, stayed for a short while with a couple of single woman/girls who would fight over the cough medicine when they got home to see who would get to give it to their child first to make them sleep so they could go out partying.

 

[Gaia713]

Did we have the same child? LOL My son was the same way and after waiting for almost 4 years, I did have my daughter who slept through the night at 6 weeks. I think I "trained" my son to wake up since he slept beside my bed and I didn't EVER let him cry. Who knew that babies made sounds while sleeping!



I think drugging them are a lot more common than we ever would realize, unfortunately.

My oldest was ADHD and wouldn't go to sleep - I told him he had to stay in bed and put a TV in his room. I know that's not recommended, but it kept him in bed until he fell asleep.