Parents warned against over use of child medicine

PARENTS are being warned against giving children paracetamol and ibuprofen for mild fevers.

The American Academy of Paediatrics is now advising that a raised temperature is often the body’s way of fighting infection.

GPs in Ireland often urge parents to give children alternate doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen, known as combination therapy, to control significant fever.

Paracetamol solutions such as Calpol along with ibuprofen solutions such as Nurofen are sold over the counter in chemists.

But while the academy is warning against using such medicines too often and risking a possible overdose, Irish parents are frequently loathe to use medicine to treat their children.

Dr Mel Bates from the Irish College of General Practitioners said that while he agreed with the position taken by the academy, he found that Irish parents were very often reluctant to give any medication to children, particularly babies.

“In my own experience I find that parents will tend to under-treat their children and not give the correct dosage of the medication and that can result in a child being treated less than optimally,” he said.

He said his personal experience in relation to the giving of paracetamol and ibuprofen was they were not overused.

“What I feel needs to be emphasised is there is no need to treat a mild fever as diligently as you need to treat a high fever,” he said.

Dr Bates said while there were some parents who reached for medication the moment a child’s fever rose slightly, there were also parents who were very relaxed when a child had a high fever.

He pointed out the correct dosage of paracetamol should be administered to a child every four hours up to a maximum of four doses a day.

And the correct dosage of ibuprofen should be administered ever six hours up to a maximum of three doses a day.

Dr Bates said it was recommended paracetamol be administered in the first instance and the medication should be given an hour to work.

“If the paracetamol doesn’t work and the child still has significant fever, you can add in the ibuprofen,” he said.

The National Poisons Information Centre of Ireland, based in Beaumount Hospital in Dublin receives about 400 inquiries a year about accidental paracetamol poisoning in children and almost 200 inquiries about ibuprofen poisoning.

A spokesperson pointed out in most of the cases there was no need for treatment as the child would not have taken a toxic amount.

According to the centre, 69 children were discharged from hospital in 2007 after being treated for accidental paracetamol poisoning. No deaths were recorded in that year. All of the children would be under 14 years and the majority would be aged between one and four.

* www.poisons.ie.