IN BRIEF
CHILD FEVER: PARACETAMOL OR IBUPFROFEN?
HEADS UP
Striped pyjamas
The recent release of the
With fever affecting 7 out of 10 pre-school children Over 24 hours, children given both drugs spent
film ‘The Boy in the Striped
every year, a new study into the effects of ibuprofen 4.4 hours less time with fever than those just on
Ibuprofen was
Pyjamas’ has been supported
and paracetamol to relieve a child’s pain and paracetamol and 2.5 hours less time with fever than
by the charity, Film Education,
temperature has caught the attention of both parents the children given just ibuprofen.
found to be more
who are providing free resources
and the medical establishment alike.
effective than
As the two drugs work in different ways to address
to every UK secondary school.
“For many years, GPs have been advising parents to illness, they are regarded as complementing each
paracetamol in
The film makes a brave
use a combination of paracetamol and ibuprofen for other. Whilst ibuprofen blocks the production of
responding
attempt to deal with the tricky
treating a child’s high fever,” writes Dr Martin Scurr, certain chemicals in the body which respond to injury
subject of the Holocaust.
a GP, in the Daily Mail, but “this goes against the or disease and cause inflammation, paracetamol
quickly to a
Whilst adults may be critical
current stern warning from NICE (the National blocks an enzyme in the brain and spinal cord that child’s fever
of its “Merchant Ivory” format,
Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) that transmits pain.
it will provide a very good
starting point for children to
parents should only give their children one medicine.”
The BBC quoted Dr Alastair Hay, consultant senior
face such an important part
However, the new study provides evidence that lecturer in primary health care who led the study:
of our history.
paracetamol and ibuprofen can be combined to “Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and parents wanting
Film Education also runs the reduce the time children suffer from a fever. And, to use medicines to treat young, unwell children
National Schools Film Week.
what’s more, ibuprofen alone is more effective than should be advised to use ibuprofen first. If more
Free school screenings and
paracetamol in responding quickly to the fever and sustained symptom control over a 24-hour period is
events run from 20
th
- 24
th
reducing the amount of time that the fever lasts. wanted, giving both medicines alternately is better
October this year.
than giving one on its own. However, parents should
As the two drugs work in different
keep a careful record of when doses are given to
avoid accidentally giving too much.” He warned
Kidults
ways to address illness, they are parents not to combine the doses in one solution to
And you think young children
regarded as complementing each other
give to children.
are expensive . . . A recent
report found that an adult
Sir Muir Gray, chief knowledge officer of the NHS,
The study was carried out by the University of Bristol
child over 18 costs parents a
notes: “This is important, but it is only a single study.
and the University of the West of England and
small fortune. 1,200 adults
We need to see how this is combined with the
published online in the British Medical Journal. The
were questioned as to how results of other studies.” The trial was conducted
far they went to financially
researchers took 156 children aged between six
in children over six months of age and the
support their grown up kids.
months and six years with temperatures between
recommendation to avoid drugs in children younger
Counting help given with
37.8 and 41 degrees and split them into three
than three months still applies.
university, first car, first home,
groups. One group was given paracetamol only, one
and first wedding parents can
group got paracetamol plus ibuprofen but given as
part with an average of separate doses, and the third group was given only
£21,540. The investment ibuprofen over a period of 48 hours.
group, LV = says these figures
Useful links:
suggest that UK parents
The research found that ibuprofen on its own was British Medical Journal: www.bmj.com
spend an estimated £233 bn
most effective during the first four hours of a fever. NICE: www.nice.org.uk
on their adult children.
ZOOLOGIST SPEAKS OUT AGAINST “BRUTAL”
CHILDCARE TECHNIQUES
Desmond Morris, one of Britain’s best-known He joins in criticisms of current self-styled “baby of John Watson, the Americanchildcare expert of the
zoologists and author of the Naked Ape has spoken gurus” such as Claire Verity, from the Channel 4 1920s, reports Nicole Martin in The Daily Telegraph.
out forcefully against what he calls “unnatural” and programme, ‘Bringing up Baby’ and Gina Ford,
The zoologist claims he has a vested interest in
“brutal” childcare techniques advocated by modern
author of ‘The New Contented Little Baby Book’ for
putting a stop to the “cold discipline”, having nearly
day experts, reports Amelia Hill in The Observer.
their promotion of authoritarian parenting techniques
died from pneumonia as a baby when his mother left
“I’m very angry that baby books have recently begun
and strict regimes. Claire Verity, in particular, has
him outside in a pram in harsh winds after following
repeating the unnatural dictates from so-called
been accused of child cruelty for recommending
the advice of Watson.
childcare “experts” of the past, who ordered mothers
such practices as leaving babies to sleep in separate
never to hug or kiss their babies and ignore them if
rooms and discouraging eye contact with children. Desmond Morris’s criticism also coincided with the
they cry,” said Morris.
launch of his own book, Baby, in which he explains
the biological, chemical and physical changes that
Amelia Hill notes that Morris blames this resurgence
“I believe that, if a parent knows what
occur as a baby grows, giving parents information as
on the fragmentation of modern society with young
the facts are, they see it’s pretty easy
women “looking for advice because they don’t have
to what its like to be a human infant. He hopes that
the support of their extended family, their partner or
to decide for themselves how their
from this information parents themselves can form
other women who have already had children,” and
baby should be treated”
their own decisions as to how best to care for their
who consequently do not understand the more
child: “I believe that, if a parent knows what the facts
subtle messages like the first sign that a baby is not Morris is disturbed by the revival of interest in these
are, they see it’s pretty easy to decide for themselves
well or that they are not developing as they should. methods that seem to be following the harsh advice how their baby should be treated.”
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