Training baby to sleep with benadril cough syrup

mushi

mushi

Registered User
i have this unique solution offered by my pediatrician today.i.e. Training baby to sleep with benadril cough syrup.

well, i have not had a single night's rest ever since my baby was born - 6 months old now - first he used to wake up every 2-3 hours at night but since the last one month he gets up every HOUR at night, suckles on my breast and goes back to sleep.....

like all good mothers i tried 'letting him sleep by himself' initially which did not work as he had a terrible gas problem. i think he still does as he twitches and turns in his sleep before letting out a big cry to be picked up.

...now i am very tempted with this offer which means i give him benadril for one week with reducing dosage each day and put him in his cot to help him sleep by himself AND i am not supposed to go running to him when he cries at night....i am still not OK with the second part....how can i just let him cry like that? what if he is actually uncomfortable and needs to burp or just to be held?

.....my doc assures it will defi work in 7 days only......i am in a real dilema....one side is blissful sleep for this deprived mother and that means abundant energy to cope with my kids during the day.....on the other end watching my baby cry.....PLS HELP....and anyone tried this benadril route??
 
sounds a little risky to me... 6 months is still very, very, very young! i wouldn't want to medicate a baby unless ABSOLUTELY necessary!

do you have a helper? why don't you take turns with taking care of the baby so you get a decent amount of sleep at one go.

i KNOW how you feel! my girl was an excellent sleeper until 6 months. then it went downhill fast. between her and her older brother, we didn't have a decent night's sleep for over 9 months! now, finally, we are back to decent nights, most of the time... there's still the odd night/week that we suffer, but for the most part, they are sleeping well now.

they are now 1yr8m and 3yr8m!
 
I know what it's like to be sleep deprived, but personally I would not medicate a baby so young to get them to sleep. With my first I eventually resorted to "controlled crying" at about 9 months and, while heart wrenching at times, it worked after only a few nights.

I recall a news story recently that cough medicines have been withdrawn from sale or are not recommended (sorry, can't remember the exact details) for children under 2. It was either a UK or US news story.
 
in the US....it's because people were abusing them. using them for reasons other than what they were made for and also because people were overmedicating their children...
 
Personally I would change doctors, I find this completely irresponsible. I am not a saint, use Benadryl for what it's made for and also when battling jet lag once in a while but by giving your child Benadryl, you're not teaching him how to sleep. PP is right, cold medicine are very controversal in the US. Last year (while we still lived there) all medication for under 2 was pulled off the shelves, now it's for under 4: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIEfm2CE9PL72XmlQGIhaB9fmlTAD93LT2D00. Mind you, Benadryl is not a cold medicine, it's an antihistimine, whoever it does help for clearing noses and airways (for which I've used it as per doc's advice).

Anyway, first of all 6 months is still young, although waking up every hour is not necessary. If your baby eats well and is clean he should be able to go much longer. Also if he just nibbles, he's apparently not hungry in the first place. I would leave him and see what happens. Also look at his bed time and day time sleeping patters. Sleep begets sleep, his bed time may be too late, so he may overtired and overtired children have more trouble putting themselves to sleep and stay asleep. When my children were 4 resp. 2 1/2 months old they were going to bed at 6 pm. It makes a huge difference. Also lack of naps can influence sleep badly. When children grow older, they need an earlier bed time because they're more active. Try to put your child down at 6 or 7 for a couple of nights in a row, and see if it makes a difference. It does for us.

Medicating your baby is not a solution for his sleep problems. Next to that, every doctor should know that Benadryl can also have the opposite effect ... hyperactivity ... not something you're looking for.

I truly understand you need sleep, but again, you're not helping him by giving him Benadryl. I suggest reading a good sleep book. I personally love Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. M. Weissbluth. He was our pediatrician in the States, he's pretty famous and has done a ton of research. His book has made me understand so much better how sleep works (no, I don't get commission).
 
When I had to fly with my baby, I asked the Paedratician and also the GP whether it was ok to give Benadryl to the baby during flight to help them sleep. They both strongly rejected the idea saying babies below the age of 1 year should not be given any medication (Especially antihistamine like Benadryl) unless medically required.
I did some research myself on the Internet and as it turns out there are divergent views whether Benadryl does help babies sleep better. Some research shows that it sometimes has the opposite effect and makes the baby overactive. Over dosage can prove to be extremely dangerous.
I would not follow your Paedratician?s advise. I agree with Cara, ask your helper or husband to help you out. Let them take care of the baby for a few hours while you catch on some sleep.
 
if he's just nibbling... have you tried a pacifier?

our 20 month old used to nibble...it kept me awake all night our first night home from the hospital... i promptly bought a soother and she has slept with it ever since. it is the ONLY time she uses it now and often she spits it out during sleep...

might want to give it a try.

ps. i also agree with switching doctors! sounds almost like malpractice to me.
 
I am curious who the doctor is...not asking you to reveal... just curious for curiosity's sake...it sounds quite irresponsible to me.
 
My son has the reverse effect with any sort of medication like Benadryl... We've not used it for sleeping as we've been lucky but have had to use it as medication once. Whether it's Benadryl or Dimetapp or Demazin... it does the TOTAL opposite! He stays awake longer.

To be honest, I'd switch GP/PD. The doctor should have known that sometimes the medication does the opposite with some bubs... we were warned before using it!
 
i can not believe that your doctor actually suggested this.

I would be changing drs pretty rapidly!

There are A LOT of different ways to help teach your baby the wonderful skill of sleeping unaided on his own. At 6 months of age I personally think most babies are old enough to sleep for long periods of time without nursing.

MomtoSophie&Twins made some good points.

I suggest getting a few different baby sleep books and trying to find a method you feel comfortable with.

There are a few threads on here already with recommended books.
 
I am also curious to find out who your PD is. It's not right to get your LO to sleep using medication. Try pacifier. I think Annerley has midwife that specialize in sleep therapy. You may want to call them up.
 
carang said:
in the US....it's because people were abusing them. using them for reasons other than what they were made for and also because people were overmedicating their children...
Click to expand...

So this is a perfect example of misuse of cough medicines...

I've thought about this more overnight and I'm still in shock that a PD would suggest such a way to sleep train such a young baby.

As some of the other posters have said, I would seek another opinion, eg, from Annerly Midwives or Yvonne of The Family Zone, and get some books on sleep to see what works best for you. As I mentioned earlier, controlled crying worked for us, and I also made a point of not going in at the first wimper or cry but to wait a bit - sometimes babies surprise you and do actually go back to sleep by themselves.
 
i agree, it sounds like the misuse of meds to me. my 8 month old started sleeping restlessly around the same time. i just brought him into bed w/ us (me and my toddler .... my hubby has since had to sleep on the floor so we all could get a good night's rest). i BF-ed in the lying down position so if he wanted to comfort suckle longer and i could still get some sleep. you may also want to consider a pacifier.
 
This was a huge story in the small community I am from. A daycare worker gave a few of the children in her care Benadryl in order to "help them with their sleep." One of the boys, Dane Haagem died a week after his first birthday. Below are excerpts from the original news story and the link to the full story is at the bottom along with the link to the lady's sentencing of 5 years in prison. Note the final part where it's noted that Benadryl can also make children hyper and combatitive:

Dane Jordan Heggem died Jan. 31, a week after his first birthday, after being supervised at Tiny Tots Daycare, 412 Montana Ave., in Laurel. The death certificate filed Friday in Yellowstone County lists the child's cause of death as homicide from a "toxic dose of diphenhydramine." The medication, an antihistamine, is known by the brand name Benadryl...

Diphenhydramine can make a child drowsy, and an overdose can make a child unresponsive and could shut down the respiratory center in the brainstem, an expert said.

Edward Ezrailson, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry and consults on legal cases in which medications are given incorrectly, said the antihistamine is a central nervous system depressant.

"A toxic dose, especially to a young child, would lead to loss of consciousness," Ezrailson said. "Benadryl is a good way to calm children down, even make them unresponsive....

Pfizer, the drug company that makes Benadryl, cautions that even the children's formulas should not be given to children younger than 6 without consulting a doctor...

Jill Mackley, a licensed practical nurse at Deaconess Billings Clinic, said health professionals there seldom give cold medications to children younger than 2. With medications such as Motrin and Tylenol, which are more commonly given to toddlers, dosing amounts are carefully based on age and weight, she said. Cold medications are not recommended for children younger than 6 months, Mackley said....

Jill Mackley, a licensed practical nurse at Deaconess Billings Clinic, said health professionals there seldom give cold medications to children younger than 2. With medications such as Motrin and Tylenol, which are more commonly given to toddlers, dosing amounts are carefully based on age and weight, she said. Cold medications are not recommended for children younger than 6 months, Mackley said...

Antihistamines have varied effects on children, she said.

"Some would sleep and some would get very hyper, even combative" Mackley said....

Original news story:
http://www.billingsgazette.com/newdex.php?display=rednews/2003/03/15/build/local/08-boy-died.inc

Followup and sentencing:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/11/08/news/local/20-tinytots_z.txt
 
Oh, and I do have compassion for your plight. My son did not sleep through the night until he was 5 months old--and when he was a newborn (until 3-4 months old) he only slept about 45 minutes at a time--off and on all day and night--I was literally losing my mind--I thought that I was on the brink of seeing elephants and stuff coming out of the walls, I was so tired! I hear you. The only thing that helped us was getting him on a schedule--which takes discipline on the part of parents, we soon learned. I don't believe whole-heartedly in the "let them cry it out" theory--as when I did that originally with my son it only backfired and made him more terrified of being put down to sleep. The best book I was ever recommended that helped me was "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" which helped me learn how to take a middle-of-the-road approach to getting my son into a rhythm in his life. I broke a lot of the "rules" but somehow he started sleeping through the night at 5 months--about 2 weeks after I read that book and started applying some of the principles. And now at 10 months, what I thought was previously impossible has happened--he eats 3 square meals a day, drinks 3 bottles a day and I can put him down in his crib at 6 pm and walk away and he might fuss and cry for at the most 5 minutes--but he can put himself to sleep and stay that way for 12 hours straight! My mind has finally returned! I wouldn't drug your baby if I were you even though honestly, that thought ran through my mind at least a dozen times while I was begging him to sleep! There are other options. Hang in there!
 
mushi
I can recommend www.saveoursleep.com
I bought a few of her articles and then her book recently when my newborn was finding it difficult to sleep due to reflux (and then needing to be rocked or held to sleep - every 30 mins!). She covers everything from self settling, feeding, routines the works. you don't have to follow her routines to use some of her advice(I don't - but we have seemed to find a schedule of sorts on our own).

I tried a few other methods but found hers to be the one I felt most comfortable with and the one my son responded to best.
I specifically like that you can take a gentle approach if you wish - or leave your baby to cry a little longer as long as the crying is only protesting and not emotional. I used the gentle approach for under 4 month olds with great success.

you are welcome to borrow my copy of the book if you like. Just PM me.
 
girls, u all have really scared me and whatever little doubt i had in mind about giving benadril has gone out in thin air....i am NOT doing it...and i feel so much better saying so.....after reading all yr comments i googled more for benadryl and u all were right so THANKS so much.,....but now something else is troubling me a lot...my baby has a bad case of cold/cough and ear infection and this doc had given me DIMETAPP syrup for the cold and AUGMENTIN for the infection....which i gave him yesterday and today....do u think these are unsafe too? he does look better today...but do they have the same kind of reactions? i wanted to double -check with my GP but thought a pediatrician would know better....and i don;t want to name the doctor really...
 
My son is being treated for an ear infection right now and the doctor prescribed amoxicillin and he has fully recovered. I know that sometimes augmentin is also prescribed depending on doctor and on whether the child has an allergy to other drugs--both my brother and sister are allergic to augmentin so that would be my only concern is if your son has an allergy and if he is taking the proper does--usually the dose is about a teaspoon, twice daily or the mg equivalent. I'm not sure about the cough medicine. In the USA you can't even buy cough medicine for children as studies have found it is not effective and there have been a lot of negative reports about it. I would search for home-remedy type things to help with the cough--such a brews of ginger, lemon and sugar to soothe the throat. Maybe the other ladies have similar suggestions. I'm glad you're not doing the Benadryl--you are truly a good mom :0)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top