Do you give kids alcohol/drowsy meds to help them sleep?

amother

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 2:04 pm

I've heard of parents drugging their children, even at infancy, to help them (and a lot of the time the parents) sleep. When people are discussing this, I tell them I've never done it, no matter how exhausted I was from an infant who barely slept. They tend to roll their eyes, and say *sarcastically* "Wow! you're mother of the year!" I don't get it. I'm not trying to act high and mighty. I just don't unnecessarily drug my children! It's dangerous, and selfish. This is coming from someone who suffered PPD. I can understand if they're older, or have a sleep disorder, and their doctors have suggested it.

Am I in the minority here?

Anyone else feel as I do?

If you disagree, please explain.

Thanks!

EmesOrNT

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 2:07 pm

I have given them benadryl to help them sleep when they were teething. I rub it on their gums to dull the pain and then give them a bit. bh my children have an easy time falling asleep but I do know plenty of parents who use melatonin to help with bedtime.

Amital

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 2:57 pm

I have heard of it. My MIL swears that Crandy on Dh's gums at night helped him sleep, and my pediatrician mentioned Benedryl as a possibility for a long flight we had.

I haven't done it because I don't like the idea of drugging myself, let along my children. So it's not for me--or maybe I've never been desperate enough to use it?

morah

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 2:58 pm

To infants? Are you kidding me? Older kids, I understand if it's with a doctor's approval and you know it won't give the child a reaction- though if it's enough of a problem that it needs to be done every night (as opposed to the occasional jet-lag or travel situation), you should probably be seeing a specialist about a bigger possible issue. But infants? Hello, infants are not supposed to sleep for long periods of time until about 6 months, and even then, it's still only like 50% or something. It drives me nuts when people read sleep problems into babies. Babies who don't sleep through the night do NOT have a problem that needs to be addressed, they're babies. Let them grow up a little, and 99% of them will sleep just fine.

Mama Bear

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 3:16 pm

If I have an infant, toddler, or young child who is not yet verbal and is not falling asleep because they seem unhappy or uncomfortable, crying for an abnormal amount of time, kvetchy, etc, I rather give motrin. It takes away whatever minor thing is hurting them or making them kvetchy & it helps them fall asleep.

If theyre just not falling asleep for no reason, and it's really, really, really late, I would give 1/2 mg of melatonin.

But never benadryol or alcohol!that's not what it's meant for!!!

freidasima

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 3:31 pm

melatonin is a hormone. It can be dangerous.
Motrin I don't know, we don't have it here.
but if you have a child who is kvetchy and can't sleep there are really safe natural things to give them in a bottle - infants - and to drink if they are older. Seriously. Valerian and other things which are natural and don't have side effects.
and they work. Even for us BTW, as adults.

Liba

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 3:41 pm

freidasima wrote:

We certainly do have Motrin here, it is a name brand for ibuprofen. The children's liquid comes in Motrin brand from the kuppah even.

B"H I have no need of any of the above for my kids. They need their sleep. They all go to sleep by 8:30pm, even my 13 year old.

I love my melatonin though. I spent months not sleeping, no matter what I tried, before I started taking it. It, and the sleep it allows me, is such a bracha.

freidasima

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 3:47 pm

Thanks Liba. I guess in my day when my kids were little either it didn't exist or we didn't have it here (twenty plus years ago...)...I don't remember having ibuprofen in EY either then actually....

Be careful with the melatonin and get your hormone panel checked if you take it for any period of time. It has been connected with yenner machla.

freidasima

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 4:03 pm

In your case it is different then. My middle daughter had serious sleep problems and ended up at the hospital sleep clinic where she was given melatonin. But the doctor there was extremely cautious and as soon as the study connecting it to the disease came out he called and told her to throw it away and never take it again.

Liba

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 4:09 pm

FS I would love to read the study. All I can find says it stops the growth of cancer in the laboratory and may be useful in treating cancer. Low melatonin levels have been linked to higher cancer rates in shift workers, etc.

http://www.cancer.org/Treatmen.....tonin The American Cancer Society isn't saying not to use it, and they are pretty reputable!!

amother

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 4:15 pm

When we flew on a long 12 hour trip with a toddler and infant my ped instructed me to "drug them up" with Benadryl for the duration of the flight. He explained that it's "tzar balei chaim" for kids to be trapped inside on a narrow seat squeezed between strangers for such a long period of time, so at least they'd sleep for most of the time.

Other than that, he is very anti sleep inducing drugs, unless, as others have mentioned, there are extreme issues.

ElTam

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 4:47 pm

I voted never.

I would ask a pediatrician before giving valerian to a child. Herbal and natural doesn't mean safe for little ones.

My BIL used to give Nyquil before all long car trips.

Our pediatrician recommend bendadryl for bad teething, but as another poster said, I find motrin takes the pain away and they can sleep.

mommyla

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 5:31 pm

abby1776 wrote:

Benadryl sometimes has the opposite effect on some children (especially those with ADHD/ADD) it makes them hyperactive. I cant imagine a dr reccomending it for a flight.

That's my kid! No ADHD, b"H, but when he had an allergic reaction and had to take Benadryl it made him absolutely bonkers. I'm glad that I didn't try it out before a flight or I would've been in biiiig trouble. (Not that I would've, anyway. I'm in the "never ever" camp when it comes to drugging kids.)

freidasima

Mon, Oct 17 2011, 5:38 pm

If you go to a naturalist-homeopath they can tell you the dosage of valerian or whatever other herbs they have to induce relaxation, for a child. I do not think it is for an infant but rather from age 3 and upwards, they use something else for infants and toddlers.

I never looked further into the melatonin study. What the sleep specialist explained is that as a hormone it can throw other hormones out of whack and therefore in some women promote the growth of tumors. I guess that in others it does the opposite as hormones can do. In any case I would be very very very careful with it.

And as for kids and sleep, the problem isn't the kids, it's the parents. They want peace and quiet. Unless they are in some kind of chemical imbalance, kids eventually sleep when they have to. The problem is that the child's body sched. doesn't always jive with a school sched. or with a parents' sched. That's why I never made a big deal out of bedtime. If the kids were tired and cranky in the morning, so it was a bad day and then they went to sleep earlier the next nite, naturally. And if they didn't, they learned that there is a price to pay. Infants and toddlers who are too young to know about "prices" are a different story and then it wasn't a problem as I had a metapelet and by the time they were old enough to go to gan, they knew what paying the price was. Otherwise let them sleep until they wake up naturally if your metapelet comes to the house as mine did.