Nope. not talking toddlers and tiarrs... am talking about little johnny

little johnny has a raging temperature... requires anti pyrexials (paracetamol) and antibiotics... orally... and plenty of oral fluids... but Mummy says Little Johnny "wont" take medicines..

Doesn't matter what I do (she whines ineffectively) he wont take them, he doesn't like them, I can't make him....

so Little Johnny ends up with a febrile convulsion, requires IV rehydration and IV abx... and a hospital admission

You know this coz you've seen little Johnny everyday for the last 5 days and watched him get sicker and sicker ..... Mum went to the GP, who prescribed appropriately but mum didn't give, she went to the Out of Hours GP who prescribed but mum wouldn;t give, she went to ED who prescribed appropriately but mum couldn't give,

and so Little Johnny ends up an admission to paeds... really quite sick...


Is this child abuse or not?


You can probably gather my feelings on the subject, My belief is that children are like cats... if they wont take their medicine you wrap them in a towel, hold them by the scruff of the neck and simply squirt it into them.... for their own sake....

what do you think???????


IMHO this is neglect...

I think you're exactly right. My little girl isn't keen on taking medications so when she's got a temp I hold her down and husband uses those dropper things and she gets medicated. Same when my son had conjuctivitus, of course he didn't like the eye drops but they were better than him having his eyes glued shut with gunk, he actually likes taking calpol though, always asks for more and cries when you say no!

When you're a parent you have to step up and do things that are hard, unpleasant and your kids might not like it, tough. They're the child and you're the grown up.

Damn straight. My son moans and bitches like mad about taking medicine - but he takes it.

I'm with you on this one. I would term it as a form of parental neglect. The mother had plenty of opportunity to seek medical support if the child was proving impossible to medicate. Surely she appreciated the seriousness of the situation?

As a parent, if she had asked for help and explained that she was not able to medicate the child, I am sure the GP/Medical Services would have taken it seriously and possibly admitted the child until he/she had improved.

It's parental neglect, pure and simple. Is the child going to be okay???

It is child neglect. If my child needs medication, then it gets given, whether or not they want it. Our eldest was the worst, she would kick up a right screaming fuss, but she used to get her head clamped between my knees and her arms and legs held whilst her dad gave calpol or whatever from a syringe. It was the only way to do it. Given the choice between giving meds like that, and having my child admitted to hospital seriously ill, I know what I would choose.

the child is fine.... apart from being at future risk of serious complications of relatively simple illnesses because of the mother....

Mummy couldn't believe how "well behaved" little johnny was for the lovely nurses...

Funny how "well behaved" children become with the appropriately velvet gloved steel fist isn't it?

Little Johnny hasn't been vaccinated against childhood illnesses... not because the mother has researched the whole thing and made a conscientious objection or has been selective ... but because Mummy didn't want to see him crying...



SO his risk increases..... and ours... and our children's... and pregnant womens... in fact society as a whole

Sorry, I'm also one of those children are like dogs brigade who dont think children should be allowed out in public without all their vaccinations too

I hope the kid is OK?

One of mine wouldnt take medicines, untill I reminded the Doctor a certain medicine could also be taken by inserting a pessary in the anus - he took it real quick

Same with vaccinations, would scream at the sight of a needle. We worked out a way, as the needle went in I would stick a chocolate frog in his gob nurses used to crack up laughing.

His fears were caused by some major surgery at 8 months old but he still had to move on and accept medication at times.

My kids have always been given the choice about medicine,


... you can take medicine with a huge fight and fuss, get extremely upset and angry and kick and scream all you like... OR you can just take the medicine...

it's always up to them which way they want to do it... And when they were younger I would explain that at the first sign of refusal.. they knew me well enough that it would be in their best interests to simply take the medicine...

I don't non-negotiate about many things... but this IS one of them...

I really don't know how the hospital staff stayed calm with this mother as I would have wanted to slap herIs the mother not all there?(sorry I can't think of a polite way of saying it)as I guess that could explain it as you would have to be a bit simple to not see you are the parent and have to do what is right for the child not what the child wants.Sue.

Different people have very different ideas about what is right for a child... but surely there has to be some common ground?

a common sense test before people are allowed to reproduce appears increasingly attractive

To be honest I don't think it seems that she wanted to do right for her child she did not want the hassle of making him take his medicine.Maybe I am wrong and she could not cope with him crying but I am sure she could have had a word with her doctor.Sue.

i`d defiiantly agree with that as long as it was tied to the abilty to provide for them as well, to many dole bludging numpties knocking kids out IMO

I have just pinned down my 2 year-old to give him his medication. Little b*****r has now learnt to blow a raspberry once it's in his mouth and I got drenched with the stuff. He got another half dose for his troubles!

I must admit that I am a big fan of the pessary/suppository. Ever since my oldest vomited all his milk all over me every time he was given panadol (thankfully not often) as a baby.

A visit to the mortuary usually works

Personally, on the face of it, I think it is child abuse but good luck with getting care and protection services (or whatever they are called in your neck of the woods) to take any action on that. I once worked with a young girl who became irreparably deaf (basically her ear drum disintegrated because of chronic glue ear and bursts) and despite many frantic calls to the parent (father in this case) and notifying C&P nothing was done and now a very attractive young girl has to wear hearing aids.

Actually my concern would be slightly different - dont suppose anyone has considered MBP have they? (Munchausens by Proxy). I have encountered that presentation before in some MBP parents (very very hard to pin down but something to bear in mind)