Parents 'poison' their kids

HALF of all parents give their children paracetamol when they don't need it - and many get the dose wrong.

pills

HALF of all parents give their children paracetamol when they don't need it - and many get the dose wrong.

Last year the NSW Poisons Information Centre received 4300 calls relating to painkillers and children.

"Fever season is here and people are going to be using paracetamol and ibuprofen in children," said toxicologist and medical director of the centre, Dr Naren Gunja.

"My advice is, be meticulous about the dose."

Paracetamol is the No. 1 pharmaceutical drug in reports of overdosing in children, resulting in 3000 calls last year. Ibuprofen was next with 1300 calls. Most overdoses are not serious, but about 400 end up in hospital.

The commonplace drugs, available over the counter, can cause liver and stomach damage.

"We would see at least one a month. They have mild to severe liver damage," Dr Gunja said of the cases he tends at the Children's Hospital at Westmead.

"They are usually aged three to 15 and present with vomiting. Parents feel guilty ... Dad gives one dose and Mum gives another without knowing."

Most cases are successfully treated with an antidote and none has been serious enough to require a liver transplant.

The last known child to die of an accidental overdose of paracetamol in NSW was 13-year-old Wade Dunn, who died of liver failure in 2000.

Pharmacist and Sydney University lecturer Rebekah Moles did a study of 97 carers, including parents and daycare staff, and tested their dosing knowledge on childhood painkillers. Only 35 per cent got the dose right.

"Almost half chose to medicate when they did not need to and one in four couldn't measure the dose because the measuring device was too tricky," Dr Moles said.

She said a syringe was more accurate and parents should always go by weight, rather than age.

"The labelling should be better because the dosing information is microscopic," Dr Gunja said.

"We have parents who don't bother measuring and think half a cup looks about right. If it's the night, put on a light and measure properly."

National Prescribing Service clinical adviser Danielle Stowasser said: "There is a gross fear of fever, but it is a natural sign of the child's immune system working.

"Below 40 degrees it is reasonably safe to leave a child with a fever."