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

[graphicsgal]

I use to know someone who claimed to give her daughter nighttime Nyquil to go to sleep so she and her boyfried could party.

I also had a friend who did this...she has three sons and she and her hubby would have wild parties. I was in shock when I heard her tell her husband to put Nyquil in the boy's milk so they would sleep. Shock! :furious:

Needless to say, we are not friends anymore.

 

[brighidin]

So true. My daughter as an infant had awful allergies and the Dr. told me to try Benadryl. I did and my daughter was up for 20 hours straight, I am NOT kidding. It effects children differently. I wouldn't say using sedatives is common but I do think some mothers use them when they shouldn't be.

That is what happens to me when I take OTC allergy and cold medicines. it feels like I am on speed or something. My heart races and once I had some mild hallucinations. I've only ever tried 2 brands and now I refuse to take any type of OTC medicine for colds or allergies. I remember feeling very scared and panicky. Blah.

My daughter didn't sleep through the night until she was over 2 years old.. She still wakes up occasionally and my sleep habits are completely ruined, even now. I've never thought about giving her anything like this, although I have had people tell me to do it. They say "Why be a martyr?" Er, I'm not...I just don't want to drug my kids. Crazy!

 

[tiredofthis]

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. There is a huge difference between helping a child rest when he is sick and drugging him so you can go out and party.

 

[JusticeorJustUs]

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.

A neighbor one time told me I looked like crap one morning. My daughter was teething at the time and sleep was at a minimum. She laughed and told me all about how stupid I was for not giving her benadryl before bed. Claimed she did it every night with her kids since learning that "trick".

What ever happened to giving a baby/toddler a pacifier? Singing to and rocking them? A warm bath before bedtime? Sheesh.

~snipped~

Exactly. A warm bath before bedtime was the routine in my house. Never used a pacifier on either of them because I don't believe in them but rocking and humming quietly was often on the agenda when they were having "bad nights".

 

[OneLostGrl]

When my son (14 years old) first started showing signs of Anxiety, OCD and Bipolar his shrink wanted to put him on Xanax and of course I refused. When his anxiety, obsessions or compulsions get really bad I give him 25 mg's of Benadryl to help him relax, works like a charm and keeps him off of Benzo's (which imo is a wonderful thing).

 

[EgyptNug]

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!

My son never slept 8 hours straight until he was about 3, and he still wakes up once a night lots of times. I would never have considered the idea of drugging him. Not to mention, when he WAS sick, trying to get him to take baby tylenol or whatever for a fever, was about as fun as washing a cat. I remember trying to do it once (for a fever) and we both ended up crying

Would xanax show up on a hair sample drug test?

 

[EgyptNug]

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!

Not to argue, but spanking as a single-solution to all discipline problems just teaches that violence solves problems. Ideally parents should learn a few different ways to handle issues, and use them as appropriate.

Also, I don't agree that there are more problems with today's generation. I think all generations think that about younger ones.
I see lots of great kids.

 

[laniefi]

My baby sister had colic (later in life they found out she was lactose intolerant), and she would CRY, and CRY, and CRY with nothing that could be done to soothe her. We took her for car rides, rocked her, set her baby seat on the dryer with a tennis shoe in it, bought the little teddy bears with the heartbeat, YOU NAME IT - my mother (GOD BLESS HER) tried EVERYTHING.

A German doctor on our Air Force base actually suggested using Benadryl (this was 1980's) with her.

Needless to say she never went back to him and despite MANY, MANY sleepless nights she NEVER gave her any medicine under this disturbing cop out.

 

[Gaia713]

Not to argue, but spanking as a single-solution to all discipline problems just teaches that violence solves problems. Ideally parents should learn a few different ways to handle issues, and use them as appropriate.

Also, I don't agree that there are more problems with today's generation. I think all generations think that about younger ones.
I see lots of great kids.

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.

 

[yolorado]

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?

With Xanax and chloroform- no, with cough syryp and the like- maybe so.

 

[OneLostGrl]

My son never slept 8 hours straight until he was about 3, and he still wakes up once a night lots of times. I would never have considered the idea of drugging him. Not to mention, when he WAS sick, trying to get him to take baby tylenol or whatever for a fever, was about as fun as washing a cat. I remember trying to do it once (for a fever) and we both ended up crying

Would xanax show up on a hair sample drug test?

A urine test is all it would take.

ETA- oops, did you mean like to test the hair they found of Caylee's in the trunk? Yeah it would show up. When I was on probabtion I was tested for prescription meds Benzo's included- they stay in the system a long time!

 

[OneLostGrl]

Not to argue, but spanking as a single-solution to all discipline problems just teaches that violence solves problems. Ideally parents should learn a few different ways to handle issues, and use them as appropriate.

Also, I don't agree that there are more problems with today's generation. I think all generations think that about younger ones.
I see lots of great kids.

I agree! My son is a better kid than I was that's for sure and he has never, not once been hit.

God says to hit our kids?! Interesting.

 

[OneLostGrl]

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.

I agree.. It sounds like you did a great job with your son!

 

[my4kids]

Why doesn't LE test the hair samples they have from Caylees hairbrush for drugs. Hair strands can show up to six months worth of drug use- am I correct?

 

[OneLostGrl]

Why doesn't LE test the hair samples they have from Caylees hairbrush for drugs. Hair strands can show up to six months worth of drug use- am I correct?

We don't know that they haven't. My guess is that they probably did.

 

[FSU_Girl]

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.

 

[txmama]

I would think that you could safely assume that LE has tested the hair from not only Caylee's known sample (hairbrush) but also from KC.

I highly doubt that giving young children xanax or chloroform is acceptable to any group of women. Sure you might get a rouge mother here or there that thinks it's ok but I would think that they would keep it quiet because they KNOW it's wrong and they KNOW what kind of response they would get from others.

Benedryl has long been know to sometimes have sedatative effects on small children (often just the opposite happens) and it has been suggested by many doctors to give it to children before flights, etc... (my doctor has offered it as an option, not recommended it tho) I think most mothers, with any sorts of common sense and love in their hearts, would not even consider doping up their child, in any way shape or form, just so they can go partying or get a full nights sleep or have a quiet flight. Then again, most mothers would rather spend time with their children then go partying. Just sayin'

 

[not_my_kids]

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.

 

[sweetmop]

No this is not a normal practice at all. No loving mom or dad would ever think of doing such a thing to an infant or child.
It can do alot of harm to a child too.

It can damge the brain, the liver, and it can kill.

 

[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.

Not to be intrusive, but have you reported her? Even anonymously?

I am sure their livers will thank you when they are old enough..

She is drugging her children, and the effects of long term diphenhydramine and acetaminophen abuse will destroy more than their livers.

Enough said, but perhaps it's something to consider..