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

[Recovering-Lurker]

My sis in law gives her kids Childrens Tylenol at double strength every single night to put them to sleep. I tell her it's destroying their livers, but she doesn't care. It's more common than a lot people think.

How sad. That is abuse imo. Those poor kids.

 

[butwhatif?]

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?

Not at all! :blowkiss:There's a big difference between giving a child medication to help them feel better when they truely need it, and dosing them up so the parents can get some downtime.

 

[alwaysonmymind]

I had a very ugly divorce several years ago. I suspected my ex was giving our 2 year old dimetapp during his visits with him. He was always asleep when I went to pick him up, and he acted drugged. I found out he was using the dimetapp tto make him sleep when I showed up early and my son had a sippy cup of water that was colored purple and smelled just like dimatapp. Child Protective Services were notified and my ex was only allowed supervised visits at a court ordered location.

If the meds are used to make the child more comfortable when they are sick- fine. If the meds are used to make the parent more comfortable- that can be considered child abuse.

 

[starpatch]

The drugging of childern came as a surprise to me.

I had never heard about that.

Then after reading this thread, and going to sites that write about, I am so shocked that the Moms would actually to this to their childern.

I have NO respect for some one that would stoop so low.

 

[Imajica]

My sis in law gives her kids Childrens Tylenol at double strength every single night to put them to sleep. I tell her it's destroying their livers, but she doesn't care. It's more common than a lot people think.

I forgot to mention that acetaminophen can also be toxic in as little as ONE dose if a child is given too much.

Here is what the Mayo Clinic says about the issue:

In general, a single toxic dose of acetaminophen for a child is more than 68 milligrams (mg) per pound of the child's weight, or more than 150 mg per kilogram of the child's weight. That equals about 1,360 mg for a child who weighs 20 pounds or 2,040 mg for a child who weighs 30 pounds. For perspective, adults may take 325 mg or 500 mg of acetaminophen every three or four hours as needed, up to 4,000 mg in 24 hours. An acetaminophen overdose can lead to life-threatening liver and kidney problems.The antidote should be given within eight to 10 hours after the acetaminophen is ingested. Left untreated, a serious acetaminophen overdose may be fatal within a few days.


http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/acetaminophen/HO00002

What makes Acetaminophen so dangerous, for children, is the difference between a "dose" and a fatal "overdose" is so small.
Many parents don't realize that Acetaminophen can be fatal long before the liver and kidney damage ever occurs, if this happens. According to some medical reports, twice the normal dose will result in liver damage.

So one of the times she "double doses" the children, could result in a fatal reaction.

My 1.9 cents on the issue..

 

[SuziQ]

My sis in law gives her kids Childrens Tylenol at double strength every single night to put them to sleep. I tell her it's destroying their livers, but she doesn't care. It's more common than a lot people think.

Omg, my husband died from an adverse reaction to Tylenol. Not even an overdose. All it takes is one mishap with Tylenol aka acetaminophen and there are no second chances. You can't fix a liver that's destroyed. If you are lucky to get a liver transplant, in a couple of years you will need a lung and or kidney transplant. All it takes is one extra dose to kill someone or make them severely ill. Acetaminophen has it's therapeutic uses, but Acetaminophen is the number one cause of liver failure in the US. It is the most dangerous OCT med out there.

There are alot of OCT meds that have a sleep agent like Tylenol PM. That sleep agent is Benadryl and you are better off just taking Benadryl. Nyquil is another one that contains Acetaminophen. Almost all Cold and Flu products contan Acetaminophen. Alot of people have killed their children or themselves by not knowing this and then take Acetaminophen with their cold and flu meds, overdosing themselves. Also if you have any situtation that compromises your liver, it can't process Acetaminophen properly. Things that can cause this are dehydration, recovering from surgery, drinking liquor, caffiene, grapefruit juice, have a virus like the flu and even dieting. My husband was taking Acetaminophen while he had the RSV virus he caught from our baby.

Don't count on a doctor to give you a heads up on this. I have copy of a memo to from Tylenol to it's sales staff, ordering them to never ever mention the "L" word liver, when pushing their products to doctors. Quite a few years ago Tylenol did a blind survey in a Mall asking "Would you still buy a product that's currently in your home, if you knew it could kill you?" 75 percent of the respondents answered "NO". Yet Tylenol did the math and figured it was less costly to pay out on wrongful death and injury suits than to suffer loss in sales. I also have an interoffice memo where it's discussed that having the warning put on the label would be too costly.

Sorry for the long rant, every once in a while I need to get it off my chest.

:blowkiss:

 

[SuziQ]

Imajica, Yes! Usually by the time symptoms present itself it's too late for the antedote.

 

[diz39]

I think many parents are okay with giving their children just a bit of something to help them sleep. It makes me sick! My daughter was born with severe reflux - lots of puking and lots of screaming. My poor baby was miserable as were my husband and I. But never, not once did it enter my mind to give my child an over the counter medicine to help her sleep. There were many, many, many nights that I was lucky to get 2 hours of interrupted sleep. There were many mornings that I barely made it through. But the thought of giving her drugs to benefit myself never crossed my mind.

Now that my daughter is nearly 3 she is in perfect health and we get plenty of sleep each night. I've had to give her Benadryl in the past due to eczema and allergies and let me tell you it does not make her sleepy. In fact it has just the opposite effect. She bounces off the walls.

Bold mine. My first child had the same severe reflux and projectile vomiting. She would cry for hours, no matter what we did to try to comfort her. I spent so many nights, rocking her, tears streaming down my face, exhausted. I remember saying to my husband, "Are we ever going to get any sleep?" He gazed at me, thru bleary eyes of his own and said, "When we're dead". But we never, ever would have sedated our child for our own benefit.

I have also seen small children brought into the ED after it was discovered that alcohol was put in their bottles. Many people justified such a practice because they said the child was teething. BS!

 

[OneLostGrl]

Omg, my husband died from an adverse reaction to Tylenol. Not even an overdose. All it takes is one mishap with Tylenol aka acetaminophen and there are no second chances. You can't fix a liver that's destroyed. If you are lucky to get a liver transplant, in a couple of years you will need a lung and or kidney transplant. All it takes is one extra dose to kill someone or make them severely ill. Acetaminophen has it's therapeutic uses, but Acetaminophen is the number one cause of liver failure in the US. It is the most dangerous OCT med out there.

There are alot of OCT meds that have a sleep agent like Tylenol PM. That sleep agent is Benadryl and you are better off just taking Benadryl. Nyquil is another one that contains Acetaminophen. Almost all Cold and Flu products contan Acetaminophen. Alot of people have killed their children or themselves by not knowing this and then take Acetaminophen with their cold and flu meds, overdosing themselves. Also if you have any situtation that compromises your liver, it can't process Acetaminophen properly. Things that can cause this are dehydration, recovering from surgery, drinking liquor, caffiene, grapefruit juice, have a virus like the flu and even dieting. My husband was taking Acetaminophen while he had the RSV virus he caught from our baby.

Don't count on a doctor to give you a heads up on this. I have copy of a memo to from Tylenol to it's sales staff, ordering them to never ever mention the "L" word liver, when pushing their products to doctors. Quite a few years ago Tylenol did a blind survey in a Mall asking "Would you still buy a product that's currently in your home, if you knew it could kill you?" 75 percent of the respondents answered "NO". Yet Tylenol did the math and figured it was less costly to pay out on wrongful death and injury suits than to suffer loss in sales. I also have an interoffice memo where it's discussed that having the warning put on the label would be too costly.

Sorry for the long rant, every once in a while I need to get it off my chest.

:blowkiss:

I am so sorry for your loss :blowkiss:

I have liver damage from an overdose of Tylenol (and other meds). If not for acetylcysteine I would be dead.

 

[Imajica]

Omg, my husband died from an adverse reaction to Tylenol. Not even an overdose. All it takes is one mishap with Tylenol aka acetaminophen and there are no second chances. You can't fix a liver that's destroyed.

Don't count on a doctor to give you a heads up on this. I have copy of a memo to from Tylenol to it's sales staff, ordering them to never ever mention the "L" word liver, when pushing their products to doctors. Quite a few years ago Tylenol did a blind survey in a Mall asking "Would you still buy a product that's currently in your home, if you knew it could kill you?" 75 percent of the respondents answered "NO". Yet Tylenol did the math and figured it was less costly to pay out on wrongful death and injury suits than to suffer loss in sales. I also have an interoffice memo where it's discussed that having the warning put on the label would be too costly.

SuziQ, I am so so sorry to hear about what happened to your husband.

These companies are so completely cavalier with the public's health. Yes, it is cheaper for them to settle claims than it is for them to properly label the products because of the sales drop off that would occur. What is WORSE is that the FDA lets them get away with it for the most part. Sure there were recent changes regarding cold meds and young children. It's still not enough though. People should not die from drugs that our government has assured us to be safe. Not to mention the fact that the public cannot make an informed decision about a drug if they do not have ALL of the available information about the drug and its possible side effects.

Sadly, as long as "Big Business" is valued far and above the value of one human life, nothing will ever change.

I am so deeply sorry for your loss in such a senseless way. He was very lucky to have such a strong and caring woman as his wife.

*big hugs*

 

[SleuthinCa]

Before I had kids it never even crossed my mind that people drugged their kids to get some sleep. When my first daughter was born 4 years ago she had terrible, terrible colic. We were up for hours and hours every night, rocking, bouncing, singing, etc. People would tell me to give her some Benadryl to help her sleep. I was aghast! I would never imagine being so selfish as to DRUG my baby just so I could get sleep! I don't even like to give them tylenol unless they really need it! Two years ago my second daughter came along and was also super colick-y...again, people suggested Benadryl. Some of my friends don't think twice before giving their children Benadryl at night. I think it's awful, but it does happen a lot more often than you'd think.

 

[OneLostGrl]

Bold mine. My first child had the same severe reflux and projectile vomiting. She would cry for hours, no matter what we did to try to comfort her. I spent so many nights, rocking her, tears streaming down my face, exhausted. I remember saying to my husband, "Are we ever going to get any sleep?" He gazed at me, thru bleary eyes of his own and said, "When we're dead". But we never, ever would have sedated our child for our own benefit.

I have also seen small children brought into the ED after it was discovered that alcohol was put in their bottles. Many people justified such a practice because they said the child was teething. BS!

My son had reflux too, it was awful, I thought I broke him- I did.. I thought I'd gone and finally really messed up big this time LOL. The doctors had us add rice cereal to his bottle to thicken it up & cut a bigger hole in the nipple to let it out. That and Zantac. Poor kid couldn't have liquid for a year!

 

[OneLostGrl]

Imajica, Yes! Usually by the time symptoms present itself it's too late for the antedote.

yeah cuz it takes like 16 hours!

 

[not_my_kids]

Yes, I have reported her for drugging her kids, it does no good. CPS can't prove it and the kids are too young to tell them. I think it's sick too. I know the risks.
You know what I use to put my kids to sleep? A bedtime routine. lavender bath waah and melatonin on my older son in the winter. ( He has a melatinon deficiency and if he isn't getting sun to stimulate it's production, then we have to give it to him in pill form or the child sleeps three hours a night.)
They get Vicks and warm baths when they are sick and medication only if that doesn't work. I swaer, what is up with some freakin parents these days?

 

[not_my_kids]

My son had reflux too, it was awful, I thought I broke him- I did.. I thought I'd gone and finally really messed up big this time LOL. The doctors had us add rice cereal to his bottle to thicken it up & cut a bigger hole in the nipple to let it out. That and Zantac. Poor kid couldn't have liquid for a year!

Yup, my older son, to a tee. Scary isn't it? Could your little guy puke around corners? Mine could, or so it seemed. lol. Okay sorry, back on topic now.

 

[Coley]

Well hopefully with the FDA saying not to give cold medicine to children under 4 or 6 will put a little ease on parents doing this stuff. Probably not, but hopefully.

 

[JaneInOz]

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.

Hi Wasnt that poster using "spanking in love" as a play on words ? (not a very good one LOL) but didn't it mean giving loads of love ?
Not actual Spankings ?

 

[JaneInOz]

I am so so sorry about your husband
I am having my own battle right at this present time, an addiction, a dependency on Paracetomol/Codeine Mix Tablets - there is NO warning on the packet that says this drug is habit forming.
It has been given to me YEARS ago for Genuine problems I hurt my back and wrist in a work accident, then after that and I Came off the things I had another problem at another job years later my ear got a shriek through the phone, Then there was adhesions, childbirth,
Whenever there was pain I was given them, Ive been addicted to them for 10 years on and off with the last few years ON
I am slowly weaning myself off down from 6 a day to 1.5 by the end of the week I will be off them.
I have the most horrendous withdrawal side affects.

Drugs - PRESCRIBED DRUGS and OTC Drugs are BAD NEWS - and NO one is going to tell you that because why would they want you stop spending all that money.

Sorry to sidetrack but even giving otc drugs to children *marked as safe* can be habit forming and damaging.

ETA - So I meant to say sometimes yes we need something for pain but we must always be mindful not to stay on them a day longer than really necessary and same with giving to our children

 

[diz39]

My son had reflux too, it was awful, I thought I broke him- I did.. I thought I'd gone and finally really messed up big this time LOL. The doctors had us add rice cereal to his bottle to thicken it up & cut a bigger hole in the nipple to let it out. That and Zantac. Poor kid couldn't have liquid for a year!

I was the same way! New mom, no family around, hormones raging and a baby who cried all the time! We, too, did the rice cereal and enlarging the nipple, but that led to gulping and then some REALLY impressive projectile vomiting! Geez, it was like something out of The Exorcist! Funny now, but hell at the time.

 

[unsaid]

I think there are higher expectations of parents now than there used to be. Too many things are considered neglect - things that were common in my chidhood. I am not sure if there is more danger out there or if it is just publicized more. I DO know that ADHD is seen as smore prevalent today than in earlier generations. ADHD have serious problems in the current school environment. In my parent's day, the kids would just go into a professions where their energy was more appreciated. Drugs DO help the true ADHD child and I will stand by that. I DID steer my son into one of the more physical professions and he has done really well in it. It take ALL kinds of children to make up a school. However, everything I was taught as a teacher that would make a "good": classroom is all VERY distracting to an ADHD kid.

ADHD changes EVERYTHING! Love this post. Big hugs to you. :blowkiss:

My son is 8 and it took me years to finally agree with the diagnosis and allow him to be medicated. He's happier (and so are his teachers) on medication and he even apologizes for those times when he was "bad" (his word, not mine). He made the honor roll this quarter!

And..he's one of those kids who Benadryl and Nyquil make extremely hyper. So I don't even give it to him when he's sick LOL. That kind of proves to me that there's some sort of chemical imbalance involved with ADHD.

I just have a hard time judging parents for trying to make it work any way they know how. I get a lot of slack from people if I happen to mention that he has ADHD. I just don't want to pass that negativity on to anyone else.