Children paracetamol

The dose of paracetamol suppositories for a 5-year-old child is 125-250 mg four times daily. 

Q17 What is the recommended dose of paracetamol for a child aged 5 years ... 

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) poisoning is common in Western countries and is increasing elsewhere. Single doses as low as 7.5 g in adults or 150 mg/kg in a child can cause severe toxicity. Very occasionally, lower doses cause harm. Mortality, from hepatic or occasionally renal failure, is related to blood concentration and the time between ingestion and the initiation of antidotal treatment. Even severely poisoned patients may be asymptomatic, although nausea and vomiting are fairly common. 

What happens if a doctor is called by distraught parents because their child has swallowed something that might be poisonous, such as paracetamol tablets or weedkiller If the doctor is a general practitioner he/ she may not know specifically what to do but can telephone the nearest Poisons Information Service in the United Kingdom or Poison Control Centers in the United States, who may be able to give advice on treatment. Often the patient will be taken to an Accident and Emergency department at the nearest hospital. 

When a child has febrile convulsions the decision to embark on continuous prophylaxis is serious for the child, and depends on an assessment of risk factors, e.g. age, nature and duration of the fits. Most children who have febrile convulsions do not develop epilepsy. Prolonged drug therapy, e.g. with phenytoin or phenobarbitone, has been shown to interfere with cognitive development, the effect persisting for months after the drug is withdrawn. Parents may be supplied with a specially formulated solution of diazepam for rectal administration (absorption from a suppository is too slow) for easy and early administration, and advised on managing fever, e.g. use paracetamol at the first hint of fever, and tepid sponging. 

A follow-up study has been carried out in 105 children with collapse (a hypotonic-hyporesponsive episode or a shock-like syndrome) after their first immunization with DTwP -I- IPV vaccine (11). Information about subsequent immunizations, health, and development in 101 of the children was supplied by child health-care units. The parents of one child refused further immunization, 16 children completed their schedule with the combination diphtheria -I- tetanus -I- poliomyelitis vaccine (DT-IPV), and the other 84 children received further pertussis vaccine (DTP-IPV), totalling 236 doses 74 children received the complete series of three additional doses. None of the children had recurrent collapse, and other adverse events were only minor. About half were given paracetamol prophylactically for the first subsequent dose most of them did not take it for further doses. The authors suggested that it is unnecessary to withhold further doses of pertussis vaccine in a child with collapse after a previons dose. It has been suggested that the threat of natural pertussis in non-immunized children should be taken much more into account than the fear of developing a collapse reaction (12). In another study (13) in the USA, one of the 14 children not completely immunized becanse of a hypotonic-hyporesponsive episode after a previons dose later developed natural pertussis, which lasted for 3 months and was transmitted to both her parents. 

Child protective closures are required for certain medicines, salicylates, paracetamol, iron tablets or capsules and camphor preparations (MCC Circulars 5/80, 9/80 and 10/84). 

In this case you need to establish the type of cough it is dry without any phlegm and it affects him only at night. Other associated symptoms/history include that the child had a cold last week. There is no wheezing but the mother volunteers the information that his brother does wheeze. He has had no shortness of breath and has no other medical conditions and has only taken paracetamol when he had the cold. 

The tablets are for her. She gets headaches particularly when revising and it stops her concentrating. The headaches are not very severe and she has used paracetamol in the past but wondered if Nurofen would be better. She has an inhaler ( it s for wheezing ) but rarely uses it. She used to have quite a lot of chest trouble as a child but it is very rare now. 

UK legislation currently covers aspirin-and paracetamol-based products and a series of household/chemical products introduced from 1 December 1987. For solid dose dispensed medicines there is a scheme which requires pharmacies to use child-resistant systems unless they are not required by the patient (i.e. elderly, arthritic, infirm, etc.). Child-resistant closures are also required on certain liquid products. 

Containers must be clean, sound and fit for the intended purpose. Where possible pharmacies will fit child resistant closures (CRCs) and these must be used for medicines containing aspirin and paracetamol. Fluted bottles must be used for medicines that are for external use only. Patient information leaflets or summary of product characteristics must be included. Their content is set out by law. 

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