When I was childless, I heard several of my friends who were parents talk about using Benadryl on their children to make them drowsy when traveling or when they just needed a break. Once I became a parent, I certainly understood the motivation behind that, although we never did it.
Now, Dr. Shan Yin, a toxicology fellow at the University of Colorado, has completed a study that says this is akin to child abuse.
The study was just published in the Journal of Pediatrics. Yin and his fellow researchers found at least 160 reports of parents using Benadryl and other medication, including even illegal street drugs, in a severe way to make their children drowsy. The information was obtained by the National Poison Data System. It wasn’t always known why the parent gave the children the medication. Some did it as punishment and some did it just to get a little peace and quiet.
Of the cases reported between 2000 and 2008, many had severe to moderate consequences. In fact, 18 children died – with 17 of them dying from sedatives. One such case was Carolyn Riley. She gave her four year old daughter psychotropic drugs, which resulted in the girl’s death. Riley is now serving life in prison.
Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Amitava Dasgupta, said that parents should never give children under the age of 2 any type of cough medicine or pain killers. He also said he agreed with Yin’s findings – that giving medication to children just to hush them up is a form of child abuse.
Dasgupta said it is a big deal when giving children medication because their little bodies are still growing and even medication that doesn’t have a devastating immediate affect may have long term effects on the child’s health.
Like most studies, everyone doesn’t agree with Yin’s child abuse claim. James Hmurovich, president and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America, said that it is hard to know the parents motivation for giving the medication and without that, it is hard to generalize it as child abuse.
What do you think? Have you given your child something to calm them down when you are at your wit’s end?