Last night, I gave the children de-worming medicine just before putting them to bed. We use the type that comes in little chocolate-flavoured squares. Now, we don't normally have a problem getting our kids to take medicine. But with chocolate medicine, I had them lining up for their turn to take it.
It was only when Jeff and I took our doses just before bed that Jeff realised that he had given one of our kids an extra dose. When the particular child came to him and asked for his medicine, Jeff thought he had just been too slow when I was handing it out. I told Jeff I had given each of the four kids one dose, and asked who had come to Daddy for a second square.
It was Samuel, of course. Apparently the thought of chocolate was too much for him to resist, even if it was medicine.
Thanks, Combantrin!
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Can a 2yo OD on de-worming medicine?
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7 comments:
This routine is completely foreign to me. Did he get a tummy ache?
I love that quote from Joshua in the side bar re: Anne of Green Gables! How funny.
We need to read Matilda. It sounds like a good one.
Nothing as nice as a tummy ache. Joshua's teacher's assistant had warned us that another child in his class had had worms, and then Joshua and Anna both began complaining of itchy bottoms. This is a sign that they have (had!) intestinal worms, which emerge to lay eggs around the (sorry, I can't think of a nice word) anus at night. Transfer from person to person is via these eggs. Icky!)
We also had to wash all their pyjamas, teddy bears, bed sheets, towels etc in hot water and vacuum the house including couches; all the places where eggs might fall when a kid runs through the house in the nicky noo nar, or places their hands that have previously been scratching unmentionably. (See here.) So I was very busy on Sunday in between church services.
~ Sharon
Whoa. That's very bad news! I'm so, so sorry! Will you ever shake the feeling that your house is contaminated? Ugh. I guess it is good that the meds taste good. Not to be even more icky, but are the eggs microscopic or are you able to see them on linens?
How quickly does the medicine bring relief from the itch and discomfort?
To be honest, I haven't ever looked for the eggs myself. Far too icky. I haven't seen any worms in Sam's nappies, so I don't think he was even infected, but you have to treat the whole family at once. Apparently if you stick sticky tape over a bottom about an hour after the kids goes to sleep, the eggs should stick to the tape. But I don't know too many people who want to wake up their kids an hour after getting them to sleep so they can drag off their pyjama bottoms and stick sticky tape... well, I don't, anyway! I wouldn't have thought to look for them on sheets, especially as the kids all have fluffy flannelette sheets on at the moment (it was down to 1.5C last night; 35F).
So I'd rather just notice they are scratching and de-worm as a precaution, especially knowing someone in Joshua's class had worms. It's just one of those things. I think the medicine pretty much works overnight. Neither Joshua nor Anna has complained since that I have noticed. But we still have to shower them, not bath them, for the rest of the week or so while everything comes out naturally. And then maybe re-do it all in a few weeks, because it only kills the adult worms, not the eggs.
This is all so icky! Although, to be fair, I'd rather do this (and never actually see any worms) than find one or more of the kids have nits or lice. Then you not only have to wash all the same things (plus hats etc), you also have to do all the comb throughs for days. I'll never forget the time one of my science students showed me his lice under a microscope without warning me first! Aargh! I sent him straight to the school nurse, and then found out I had nits (lice eggs) as well... it was a nightmare! I had to go back to my parents' house after work and ask my mum to comb through my hair with the foul smelling treatment and get rid of them all. All the time with the memory of that 10x magnified lice image in my mind! Yes, worms are way better than that.
~ Sharon
I remember when I finally realized that being a "nit-picky" person was an expression that came from the whole yucky process of picking nits from one's scalp. Ew.
What a relief that it works quickly!
Ewwww.... but this life.
My 4 and 2 year olds love combantrin. LOL. They love chocolate, so it's an easy thing to give to them. The stuff really works too - once we gave it to Phebes and later on I found dead worms in her poo. Gross, I know, but there you have it.
Ugh. Yeah, I didn't think Sam had worms as well as Anna and Joshua, but he did. I found dead ones in his nappy yesterday and again this morning. Double ugh. But as you said, Deborah, at least I know the medicine worked!
~ Sharon
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