If a small child has a fever or pain, most often they resort to drugs that contain paracetamol, because they are relatively safe for babies and effectively cope with both fever and pain.
One of the drugs with such an active substance is Calpol. It is presented in a liquid form convenient for children and is easily dosed, but it also has some disadvantages, and its use in babies requires certain conditions.
Release form and composition
Calpol is produced in Germany by the well-known company GlaxoSmithKline in only one form. It is a sweet strawberry slurry that has a pink hue. Usually the medicine is homogeneous, but foam bubbles sometimes appear on the surface when shaken. The suspension is sold in a glass bottle that holds 70 or 100 ml of the drug. In the form of tablets, syrup, drops, gel, capsules or other forms of "Kalpola" does not exist.
The active substance of the drug, as already noted, is paracetamol. Its content in 5 milliliters of suspension is 120 mg. Sugar syrup and strawberry flavor were included to make the medicine sweet and taste good to children. In addition, Calpol contains xanthan gum, dye, glycerol, methyl parahydroxybenzoate, purified water and sorbitol.
Operating principle
Paracetamol has the ability to influence the formation of prostaglandins, due to which such a substance causes antipyretic and analgesic effects. The drug taken orally is rather quickly absorbed, providing the maximum level of paracetamol in the blood 0.5-1.5 hours after ingestion. Metabolic changes in the active substance "Calpola" occur in the liver, therefore, diseases of this organ can affect the action of the drug.
Most of paracetamol leaves the child's body with urine within 24 hours after the suspension is applied.
Indications
The main reason for prescribing Kalpola for children is an increased body temperature, which is a symptom of influenza, childhood infection (scarlet fever, measles, mumps, rubella and others), acute respiratory viral infections, vaccination reactions, and so on.
The suspension is also given to babies with moderate or mild pain, for example, if the baby is injured, the child has teeth or a headache.
At what age is it prescribed?
Calpol is recommended for young patients from three months to six years of age.
Such a suspension is contraindicated in newborn babies, and in babies 1-3 months old it can be used only as directed by a pediatrician.
Children over 6 years of age are usually not prescribed the drug, since they require higher dosages of paracetamol, and it is inconvenient to drink a lot of suspension.
Contraindications
"Calpol" is strictly prohibited in case of hypersensitivity to paracetamol or any inactive component of the solution. The medicine is also not prescribed for blood diseases, severe kidney pathologies and impaired liver function.
Another contraindication for taking such a suspension, as well as its analogues in terms of the active substance, is the lack of an enzyme in the body called "glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase".
Side effects
Since "Calpol" practically does not affect prostaglandins, which are synthesized outside the brain, taking the suspension does not affect the water-salt metabolism, and also does not damage the gastrointestinal mucosa. However, occasionally a medication can cause such negative side effects as allergic skin rashes, nausea, and others.
Too long-term use of the drug adversely affects the liver, blood count and kidney function.
How to use?
The drug is dispensed with a spoon, which is in the box along with the bottle. On the one hand, it is smaller and holds 2.5 ml of suspension, and on the other hand, the spoon is slightly larger and allows you to measure 5 ml of medicine. Having typed "Calpol", the medication is allowed to be swallowed by the child directly from the spoon. It is not necessary to dilute the suspension with water additionally, but if necessary, you can give the baby to drink the drug by offering clean water. The optimal time for taking the medication is called 1-2 hours after a meal.
According to the instructions for use, 2.5 ml of "Kalpol" is usually enough for babies up to a year at a time, but sometimes a single dose is increased to 5 ml. The dosage of the drug for patients 1-6 years old is 5-10 ml. The suspension is given as needed, when the temperature is much higher than normal, usually an antipyretic drug is recommended to be used when the indicator is more than 38.5 degrees, and also if the child complains of pain.
If required, the drug can be taken repeatedly, but not earlier than 4 hours after the previous dose, and no more than 4 times during one day.
At the same time, the duration of admission to reduce the temperature should not exceed three days, and with pain syndrome "Calpol" you can give a maximum of 5 days. If the fever or pain persists after the specified number of days, you need to consult a doctor so that he can give Calpol further (with longer treatment, the child must take blood tests) or change the drug to another remedy (if the cause of the high temperature or pain turns out to be different).
Overdose
If a child accidentally drinks more Calpol than is allowed at his age, it will cause nausea, pallor, abdominal pain and other negative symptoms. When they appear, you must immediately call a doctor, give the child an enterosorbent and acetylcysteine (it is an antidote). With a significant overdose on the second or third day, symptoms of liver damage appear, which in severe cases leads to encephalopathy and coma.
Drug interactions
Calpol should not be given to children together with any other paracetamol-based medications, as this will increase the risk of side effects and overdose. In addition, the suspension should not be combined with many other medications, such as anticonvulsants, anticoagulants, or barbiturates.
If the child is taking any medications, it is better to check their compatibility with "Kalpol" with the attending physician.
Terms of sale and storage
"Calpol", like other paracetamol-based drugs, is an over-the-counter medication. The average cost of one bottle of suspension is 90-100 rubles.
It is recommended to store the medicine at home at a temperature not higher than +25 degrees, placing the bottle in a place hidden from the kids. The shelf life of the product is 3 years.
Reviews
There are a lot of good reviews about the use of "Kalpola" in childhood. According to moms, the suspension quickly lowers the temperature and relieves pain, so it is often kept at home just in case or taken with you on trips, for example, included in the first aid kit for traveling to the Turkish or Egyptian coast.
The advantages of the drug include its liquid form, affordable price, long shelf life and pleasant taste. As for the cons, many mothers mention the presence of sugar, dye and other chemical additives in the composition, which sometimes provoke an allergic reaction.
Analogs
If Kalpol is not in the pharmacy, instead of it, you can purchase any other liquid medicine, the action of which is also provided by paracetamol. Such a preparation can be an orange or strawberry suspension "Paracetamol", as well as a suspension "Children's Panadol" with a strawberry aroma. Any of these funds contains 120 mg of the active ingredient in 5 ml and is allowed from the age of three months, and their indications and single dosages also coincide.
In case of an allergic reaction to paracetamol, the doctor will probably replace "Calpol" with one of the ibuprofen drugs, because they are also safe antipyretic and analgesic drugs for children. In a suspension allowed for babies older than 3 months, "Ibuprofen", "Nurofen" and "Ibuprofen-Akrikhin" are produced.
Any of these medicines will effectively lower the temperature when it rises and relieve pain. Moreover, the therapeutic effect of such drugs lasts a little longer than the effects of paracetamol. In addition, ibuprofen has a more pronounced anti-inflammatory effect, therefore these analogs are in great demand in case of a strong inflammatory process, for example, if the baby has otitis media or bronchitis.
You will learn about what to do if the antipyretic does not help in the next video.
