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Opinions on sedating babies and toddler?

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Old Aug 14, 2017, 11:15 am
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Opinions on sedating babies and toddler?

I heard a passenger suggest to a mother once to sedate her baby to get it to sleep. She didn't take it too kindly, obviously. I'm sure there's a safe way of doing it. Should parents do it? Would you do it?
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 3:37 pm
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Originally Posted by TheLeisureFlyer
I heard a passenger suggest to a mother once to sedate her baby to get it to sleep. She didn't take it too kindly, obviously. I'm sure there's a safe way of doing it. Should parents do it? Would you do it?
From pediatric anesthesia guidelines:
The minor side effects of sedation include nausea, vomiting, mild allergic reactions, headache and dizziness.
The more serious adverse effects of sedative medications are slowed breathing, decrease in blood pressure or abnormal heart rate and rhythm and potentially death.
So unless you are a qualified medical professional trained in managing sedation and have access to a full resuscitation kit, no, I don't recommend sedating an infant on an airplane where you will be thousands of feet above and maybe thousands of miles away from help if something goes wrong.
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 3:41 pm
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Propofol. Of course I'm kidding (or am I?).
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 4:26 pm
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Maybe not anesthesia or actual sedation, but something like Tylenol PM for kids, that would help them sleep & lessen the pain from the ears popping? Obviously, the first flight isn't the time to experiment with this, but it could be a relief for the child itself. My parents did it to me when I first flew at the age of 2. I 'sedated' the dog for the 4th of July, cause she went nuts with the fireworks.
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 5:29 pm
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Originally Posted by altabello
Maybe not anesthesia or actual sedation, but something like Tylenol PM for kids, that would help them sleep & lessen the pain from the ears popping?
An irresponsible suggestion.

From the Tylenol PM info page:
Do not use in children under 12 years of age.
One of the active ingredients in Tylenol PM is Diphenhydramine, aka Benadryl, which has a contrarian effect in many children, making them agitated and irritable rather than sedated.

Originally Posted by altabello
My parents did it to me when I first flew at the age of 2.
That doesn't mean it was a good idea.

Originally Posted by altabello
I 'sedated' the dog for the 4th of July, cause she went nuts with the fireworks.
Did it survive?
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 8:00 pm
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If you don't have children don't ask.
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Old Aug 14, 2017, 9:41 pm
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Benadryl (kids) definitely helps.. some reported that it may potentially have the opposite effect in rare cases - try at home first..
obviously use common sense
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 2:22 am
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IN my opinion, simply don't!
First of all, babies don't need to be sedated, they're just baby.
Then anyway you never know how a baby would react to any product you might use.
Finally, not sure you might not get in legal troubles for drugging your kids!
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 2:35 am
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Bad idea
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 9:15 am
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This has to be a troll thread.
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 9:18 am
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Originally Posted by PWMTrav
This has to be a troll thread.
Sad as it may be, it is an increasingly common phenomenon that parents use medicine to tranquilize their small children.
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 9:31 am
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Originally Posted by fppmongo
Sad as it may be, it is an increasingly common phenomenon that parents use medicine to tranquilize their small children.
Is there data to back this up?

I could see an older generation doing this, but today's parents seem to be quite the opposite as they have access to better information.

From what I see, and this is totally non-scientific, too many parents don't care if their children are disruptive.
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 9:53 am
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Originally Posted by txpenny
Is there data to back this up?
Yes, just google it.

Regulatory agencies have looked into this issue as well. There were numerous incidents of drugged-up children (on first-gen antihistamines and such) with serious respiratory depression, some fatal.
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 10:24 am
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Originally Posted by fppmongo
Sad as it may be, it is an increasingly common phenomenon that parents use medicine to tranquilize their small children.
That's a stupid thing to do.

Originally Posted by txpenny
I could see an older generation doing this, but today's parents seem to be quite the opposite as they have access to better information.
I would have thought the same - I googled it based on @fppmongo's suggestion, and it's surprisingly common. A poor decision, IMHO.

From what I see, and this is totally non-scientific, too many parents don't care if their children are disruptive.
Whether or not that's true, what's the relationship between that statement and the topic of this thread? Are you advocating medicating disruptive kids, or just making a general statement?

Originally Posted by fppmongo
Yes, just google it.

Regulatory agencies have looked into this issue as well. There were numerous incidents of drugged-up children (on first-gen antihistamines and such) with serious respiratory depression, some fatal.
I was surprised to see it, but you're right. I just don't see how people think it's fine to medicate their kids for the purpose of convenience.
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Old Aug 15, 2017, 10:24 am
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Originally Posted by fppmongo
Yes, just google it.

Regulatory agencies have looked into this issue as well. There were numerous incidents of drugged-up children (on first-gen antihistamines and such) with serious respiratory depression, some fatal.
Google /= data.

Re the OP, someone (not a doctor) once suggested that we give our daughter children's Benadryl prior to a long flight (ORD-HKG). We briefly thought about it and decided not to. Seems unnecessary, and I'm not really comfortable giving medicine to our child unless it is (1) recommended by our own pediatrician; and (2) designed to make her feel better (rather than us).
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