Worrying about calpol overdose
Very long story short my 18 month old has been poorly with flu since midnight Saturday. Have been alternating between calpol and nurofen to try and keep temperature down since then.
Yesterday he took a 4 hour nap (unlike him, put it down to being poorly) then when he woke up he just wanted to keep sleeping, seemed quite drowsy so I phoned gp who gave us an evening appointment and checked over (all fine)
Today he has been drowsy/sleepy even when eating food, brushing teeth has fallen asleep. I’ve been racking my brains as worrying it’s because of too much medicine and I’ve counted that I gave him 5 doses on the first night of being ill. Before I call 111 I wanted to ask if anyone knew if the gp would’ve picked up on anything wrong first (obviously she didn’t know about the extra dose as I didn’t at this point) thank you
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I doubt it’s an overdose but best to get him seen if he’s drowsy and sleepy throughout the day. I hope all goes well, sending lots of love x
How often were you giving him each one and how much? Should be minimum 4hrs between each Calpol ideally 6 hrs between each one as they're not meant to have more than 4 doses in 24hrs and 6 hrs between each spaces them out better to allow this. If you really think he's had to much liver damage can occur 3 or 4 days later so please get him checked out asap if you think this. If you Google signs of overdose can have a read also.
It’s really not gonna have a long term impact it’ll be totally out of his system now - but no need to give medicine just to keep temp down . The body gets a temp to fight infection xxx
I think for one extra dose, you're probably fine. Get him checked if you're concerned, but I've had nurses just laugh it off and tell me it happens more frequently than you'd think. And when managing a fever it's important to give correct doses at the right time, you don't want it to get out of control.
Fyi, my husband and I have a system for keeping on top of doses: we text each other immediately with the medication and amount that was given. That way we both have a record and timestamp of the meds, amount, etc, in case we do have any issues, or if we're just drowsy and forget. It works well for us!
Baby would have to take the whole bottle of medicine for it have any negative effects. Babies do sleep more when they’re sick. If fever lasts for more than3 days I always go the doctor to make sure it’s nothing serious. As long as you’re going by the medicine’s directions I wouldn’t worry.
Thank you all I did end up calling 111 last night who told me I needed a call back from a clinician, it’s been 8 hours and still nothing. In the meantime my son’s temperature is back up to 39 and I’m at a loss. Can I bring this down without medicine?
Ring them back as they are supposed to ring within 2 hours for a child under 5 years old x
Thank you I last gave calpol last night before he went to bed at around 8pm. He’s currently asleep as just keeps waking up then dozing off, ill give them a call back xx
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