Calpol alternative
 

Hi all. I want to ask if there is a good alternative to calpol? Also napisan or metanium?

Re: Calpol alternative
 

You can get Napisan - I usually buy it from Lidl.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

Hello and welcome to the forum.

The Italians give their children something called "tacchipirina" and a Dr, paediatrician and the vaccines staff will often ask you if you have it at home.
It's just paracetamol the same as calpol except it's a pain in the arse because it's not sold in ready dosed measures and age groups in syrup form with those little measuring spoons or those brilliant single use sachets.

It's sold in little bottles with a dropper fixed inside the bottle top. So many drops per kilo are put into a little water and then given to the child ............. which means you always have to know how much your child weighs and count out the drops yourself. It tastes absolutely foul as well. It really does ..... I tried it.

I bought it when I got a lecture for not having it at home when my daughter had her first vaccines and never ever bought it again always choosing Calpol instead. You can get children's Nurofen in syrup form now in the chemist's but I'm not sure if that's just for children over the age of 6 for example and not babies.

Beware of other Italian medications for children. I'll never forget going to get some antibiotics for my child, looking at them in the chemist's and asking how the hell a child was supposed to swallow those giant tablets? They weren't tablets but suppositories. I have never used them and always asked for a syrup version instead.


I haven't ever seen metanium here, but my kids are now 17 and 14 so haven't looked and I always bought Sudocrem in the UK ..... works well on mosquito bites as well as nappy rash. I tried one or two Italian creams but they just seemed to be really greasy rather than good barrier creams.

You can get these things from Amazon but probably not at the same prices as Superdrug or Boots.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

Thank you Lorna and Margaret. I have two babies with cough and colds and the tacchipirina drops are horrid unless in a bucket full of ice cream 🍨. What do you recommend getting sent over from the UK? Calpol, sudocrem, metanium, i also see Olbas and Vick’s plug-ins on Amazon. Shame there is nothing similar here they make life much easier. :britflag::britflag::britflag:

Re: Calpol alternative
 

Any of the supermarket painkillers, paracetamol, ibuprofen etc. are not available in supermarkets here, and are horendously expensive at the farmacia.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

On my next trip to the UK I’ll be coming back with a suitcase full of pharmaceuticals � ����� ����� ���� thank you for the advice.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

I don't have babies now but came across PREP in the supermarket, I believe it's good for nappy rash.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

I buy all sorts in the UK and not just Paracetamol or Ibuprofen. I buy allergy and hay fever tablets, I buy tea tree oil, coconut oil, plasters. Yes I even buy plasters when I find kiddy patterned ones or coloured ones at 39p or waterproof ones and those long metre strips of "cut off what size you need from this roll of plaster". I once got a blister on my little toe and walked or hobbled into a Florence chemist to buy some plasters. He was either very expensive or trying it on when he asked for more than €5 for a normal packet of plasters. I nicely told Mr Chemist to get stuffed. In the piazza was a parked up ambulance with the medics just sitting around. I asked them if they had a plaster. They didn't have any, but they did have disinfectant and lots of gauze and sticky tape and wrapped up my toe for me. They took such good care of me that I was almost ashamed to have stopped them just for a sodding plaster, but they were happy to have something to do and some interaction.

I was stopped two years ago because the stupid OH put my Heinz Salad Cream in hand luggage, but I never been stopped because I have thousands of little white pills in my case.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

I do too Lorna, paracetamol and ibuprofen were just the two most obvious examples. TCP and Marmite whenever I have checked luggage, Cheddar cheese, Branston Pickle, Lemsip - the list can be endless if we stop and think about it. Never been stopped for the little white pills either, but it is a pain doing the rounds of the supermarkets at only 2 packets at a time allowed.:(

Re: Calpol alternative
 

And Cadbury’s milk chocolate for medicinal purposes.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

Found HP sauce at Ipercoop!!!!!

Re: Calpol alternative
 

HP sauce's long journey to the Ipercoop resulted in a Bitcoin like price increase.

Re: Calpol alternative
 

Ah those barbaric foreigners and their suppositories ! Savages !

Re: Calpol alternative
 

That might depend on what the Americans have done to it.