Using OTC to make your child sleep
I need some information, articles, and anything else pretaining to the use of benadryl to put your child to sleep.
My SS mother has told us she uses it to help make him go to sleep. My SS (5yr) has also told us many times about his "sleepy medicine" Lately he has been waking up in the early morning and throwing up. His mother is claiming he is lactose intolerant/ allergic to milk. And when she called his Dr. the Dr. just old her to keep him off milk for 2weeks w/o an appointment. 2weeks rolls by and still no appointment dated...SS is then told to stay of milk for 6months! (Agian I state NO allergy testing is being done or being planned for this child!!!)
My DH and I are planning on taking him to our Dr. and getting to the bottom of all this...but I am looking for articles trying to help support our case of child abuse by drugging SS. (I think the Benadryl is causing some problems with the poor boy)
TIA
Re: Using OTC to make your child sleep
I think you need to talk to the mom and pediatrician. I don't think staying off milk or giving the child benadryl is necessarily abuse.
When my DD was having trouble with allergies benadryl was the first med the doctor recommended. And she suggested having DD take it at bedtime because DD was having trouble sleeping because she was coughing all night. Allergy testing can be rough on kids so, in cases of mild reactions, my pedi recommends waiting until the kids are older for the tests, especially since a lot of kids outgrow allergies.
I agree with Dande---it doesn't sound like abuse...just ignorance.
My SIL was told to give her DD benadryl nightly because her DD had HORRIBLE sleeping habits and couldn't get out of the rut. I mean, not going to bed until 10:00 pm or later, and then they'd find her playing with her toys, getting milk from the fridge, whatever at 2:00 am. And she'd wake up at 6:00 am for the day, no nap. Even I need more sleep than that!!!! But she had been doing it SOOOO long that she just couldn't sleep....so they gave her benadryl and it didn't really help, but it was what the doc suggested.
The throwing up in the morning...I'd suspect reflux over an allergy...but I don't think it is going to hurt the kid to avoid milk for 6 months.
This concerns me greatly. Benadryl is not indicated for children under 6. It can shut down their system. I would go to the pediatrician today. Get copies of the child's file. Is there any record that the dr suggested this?
Benadryl is not to be used to put a child to sleep unnaturally. Benadryl is indicated for allergic reactions. Long term use can reduce it's effectiveness. This means, when the child is older, if he has a life threatening allegic reaction, Benadryl will not work.
Is the parent negligent or abusive in any other way?
Please make sure that this innocent child is safe in her home.
Newlyweds since 2007
I know one person whose son has SUCH severe allergies (nuts, dairy, eggs, animals, dust mites, pollen -- you name it!) that he was a very bad sleeper. When he was a toddler, before they had really gotten a handle on his allergies, his skin was so itchy and irritated that it caused major sleep problems.
This child's regular pediatrician had been prescribing Zyrtec for his allergies. He was taking 150% of the adult dose and it wasn't even touching his allergic reactions. When the parents finally consulted a pediatric allergist, he recommended they switch to a normal child's dose of benadryl before bedtime. He said that kids with severe allergies are notoriously bad sleepers because they either cough or itch at night.
However, this is the only situation I know of in which a doctor has recommended giving a child benadryl to help a child sleep. Personally, I would be very uncomfortable with giving a child a powerful allergy med JUST to knock the kid out and make him sleep. Seriously? That's essentially like giving him a shot of vodka before bed.
I think your H is right to want to get a second opinion from a doctor and get to the bottom of this whole mess.