Ever been tempted to drug your kid to sleep? Lol. I know that it sounds absolutely awful, but I don't think that I'd believe you if you said that you never thought about slipping your cranky, whiney toddler a teaspoon of NyQuil...
I remember one instance in particular, I was having a terrible time getting my son to sleep. He wouldnt respond to any of my attempts to get him to close his big beautiful eyes. You know, sleep deprivation causes a parent to do some pretty questionable things, such as sitting your child on the dryer in hopes that the repetitive humming and vibrations will put him to sleep or strapping your child in his carseat at 2am and driving around the block, in hopes that the car ride will put him to sleep. Oh, by the way, despite how convincing those tactics looked on the commercials, they didn't quite work for me....
So I called mom, and she said a warm bath would do the trick...It was a trick alright, because after the bath, instead of a sleepy kid, I simply had a cranky, whiney, clean kid. And not to mention, the sound of the running water woke up my daughter. Grrrr!!! So here it is, 4am, I have to be to work in 4 hours without a wink of sleep, and now I have a sleepy, whiney kid; a cranky, whiney kid; and a dead to to the world boyfriend, sleeping peacefully in the next room (Who, by the way, didn't even have to work the next day). It was at that moment that I remembered WHY my dead to the world boyfriend was sleeping so peacefully...he took NyQuil!
Boy was I tempted...
And I'm sure that there are other parents out there that has been in the same or similar situation. Maybe not with NyQuil, but other children's medication such as Tylenol, Benadryl, and Robitussin. All of these medications contain diphenhydramine, an antihistimine that induces drowsiness.
This is a very controversial topic. On one hand, it is taboo and even warned against on the labels of such children's mediction NOT to take as a sleep sedative. In fact, according to abcnews.com, giving a child medication as a sleep aid is a form of child abuse and illicit drug abuse (see article here) however, a doctor will prescribe an antihistimine as a sleep aid. Hmmm...
Have you ever given, or thought about giving your child a sedative to sleep? Share your stories in the comment section!
Below are some NON drug sleep aides, courtesy of babycenter.com. Hope they work for you!
- Thumb sucking
- Nightlights
- Bedtime rituals
- Transitional Objects
- Warm Milk
- Rocking or Breastfeeding
- Pacifier
- Ambient Noise
- Music
Nice Article! Yes some parents do use meds to sedate their little ones to get them to zzzzzz..Im blessed to say that I never encountered any sleep problems with my kiddies, maybe because we all love sleep!! :)
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