TheLeisureFlyer

Of course it's clear. As I said, the safety of the baby come first. Is there not a safe drug to use?

rjque

Hyperbole in this thread aside, drug "safety" is a relative term. Your pediatrician is going to be a better source of advice on this.

txpenny

Are you suggesting that consulting a pediatrician is preferable to asking the geniuses of FT? @:-)

CDTraveler

You ask a reputable doctor for info on drugs to sedate your kid for your personal convenience, and you may end up with a referral to Child Protective Services. No, this is not an exaggeration, I worked in pediatric medicine for years and have had such referrals cross my desk.

rjque

There's the hyperbole I was referencing.

It would take a pretty awful pediatrician to write such a referral for a parent who simply asks if an over-the-counter drug that is specifically marketed for children (children's Benadryl) is safe to use on an airplane. It's incredibly shortsighted to punish parents just for asking such a question.

CDTraveler

Awesome job of distortion!

What I stated was that a parent asking about sedating their infant, which is what the OP asked, could (and has) been referred to CPS, not a parent who is asking about managing any potential discomfort the child might experience. Those two questions are worlds apart, as anyone looking at this objectively would admit, but hey, distort all you like.

You also need to move past the notion that all drugs marketed for kids are actually safe for infants/babies under 1 year of age. I could introduce you to a kid (well, he's now in his 20's) who ended up with a liver transplant because his mother believed that giving the dose of acetaminophen listed on the package for his age group was safe to give for the duration of his flu.

One last point about Benadryl and babies:
Benadryl Company website:

rjque

Both of those questions are appropriate for a pediatrician, particularly since there are a lot of people out there who think it is OK to give a child Benadryl to sleep on an airplane. A pediatrician who discourages their patients from asking about the safety of using Benadryl for that purpose by referring parents to CPS sounds like a terrible pediatrician.

And I'm not sure where you got the idea that I was actually advocating for the use of Benadryl for anyone. I'm only advocating ignoring the hyperbole that is anonymously posted here in favor of asking a real-life doctor who knows the child and his or her health history.

CDTraveler

Try staying on topic for a while. Go read post #1 . It very specifically asks about sedating a baby which is not the same as asking about giving a child Benadryl to sleep.

For untrained people to try to sedate an infant/baby/child under 1 year of age outside a medical setting is dangerous. You can call that hyperbole until hell freezes over and it will still be dangerous.

Any doctor will see a desire to do it as a red flag: why does this person wish to sedate an infant? If the answer is to keep the baby from crying, then the doctor is going to wonder what else the parent is willing to do.

Here's some interesting info for you:When asked why they killed an infant, the number reason given was "to stop the crying" so when a doctor is confronted by someone who wants to sedate an infant to stop the crying, they see an infant in danger.

First, quite conflating "baby" and "child".

Second, why are you unwilling to acknowledge that asking "Is it safe to give my child Benadryl?" and "How can I sedate my baby?" are nothing alike? The first will promote a discussion on when and why it might be safe and appropriate to use Benadryl, the second question, as discussed above, brings into question the parent's motivation and raises questions about the safety of the baby's environment.

My last job included mandatory reporter status, for which I took state required training courses. Where does your perspective on child abuse reporting come from?

jimquan

Child abuse aside, people have had good experiences with Bach Kids Rescue Remedy. I believe it can be used at any age. Google it.

I like the pastilles.

Jim (SERENITY NOW !)

joejones

CDTraveler's comments make me not want to say anything about my children to anyone, ever.

rjque

See the subsequent posts in the thread, including post 28. This thread is clearly about Benadryl, which is what most non-doctors mean when they talk about giving their kid something to sleep before a flight. It's absurd to imply that anyone here wants to know about giving a child anesthesia before a flight, even if the OP uses the word "sedate."

It is hyperbolic to suggest that anyone in this thread wants to do any such thing.

I guess it's reasonable for a physician to suspect something if someone comes in asking if they can give their one year old Fentanyl to sleep during a flight. That's not what this thread is about, though. It's clearly about Benadryl and other over the counter medications.

Please read the thread title.

The question asked by the OP is about "sedating" babies and toddlers. It's clear from the context of the thread that the discussion is about Benadryl or other over the counter medications, not anesthesia.


Good for you. I would expect mandatory reporters to report suspected acts of actual and potential abuse of children. Asking a pediatrician about the safety of giving a child something to go to sleep does not fall into that category.

CBear

No kidding.

YYCCL3

Foolishly tried Benadryl once for our daughter when she was 1.5. It had the opposite effect. Would never do it again nor suggest anyone else stuff unnecessary medications into children who are really not the ones asking to be stuffed in a metal tube for hours on end anyway.

We went back to flying in business class for overseas trips. Yes, it costs a lot more, but when you have your child sleeping in a flat bed while you enjoy a meal and drink... Then have them wake up rested and relaxed... Priceless.

GUWonder

Intentional injury-deaths -- that includes homicide -- for children under 1 year of age are but a small fraction of all injury-deaths of children under 1 year of age.

The notion that asking for opinions about sedating babies/toddlers for a flight using Benadryl or other such supplements is akin to being more likely to inflict an intentional injury-death on a baby/toddler is ridiculous on its face, no less so given that most such deaths are not the product of premeditation involving a public death.

Pre-meditated murder of infants/toddlers in the US is a very tiny fraction of all injury-deaths of infants/toddlers; and even most such crimes don't involve trying to sedate the child using medicine.

swise

I've always been freaked out when people discuss using benadryl "off-label" (either giving it to infants or giving it to put kids to sleep, vs as recommended for specific sympoms) on here.

Our pediatrician did OK us to use Benadryl for symptoms within the 2-5 years old "as recommended by a physician" age bracket. And we would do this at bedtime sometimes when our kids were stuffy. It really helped.

But for a flight? For a baby on a flight? That's a little sketchy.

That said, when our boys were 6 and 4, we did give them a small dose on a transpacific flight, but by then we had used it many times, and we knew our kids. But this would not be a routine thing in our household.

As far as medications for kids that will put them to sleep... The ones I know about are benadryl, melatonin, and dramamine kids. Maybe bonine? (Not sure if that makes you sleepy.) Of these, I am most comfortable with benadryl. But as mentioned, I'd only use it in an outlier type situation, not routine flying.

And a baby protip: for us, what worked best to help babies sleep:

- change their diaper before boarding
- nurse/feed first thing on the flight
- buy them a seat and use their car seat on the flight, so they have a dedicated spot to sleep
- try to ballpark time the flight so that they will be ready for a nap or bedtime when you take off but not overtired. This is hard to do, though, so better to undershoot than overshoot and end up with an overtired baby.
- don't mess with them too much once you're all settled and trying to get them to sleep. At least in our kids' cases, I needed to be hands off for them to not have any stimuli and to fall asleep. This is tricky, since I've heard some people on here complain that a parent wasn't doing anything to stop their baby's crying, but sometimes that's what works best: leaving the baby alone to settle and drift off.
- all babies are different, and mileage is going to vary a lot.