A Mayo pharmacist has urged parents to get proper advice when it comes to giving their children medicine after new research released this week indicated that 30 per cent of parents are giving their children painkillers to help them sleep at night or on a long journey.
Ultan Molloy from Castlebar is a pharmacist in HealthWest Community Pharmacy in Ballindine.
He said there is a reason medicines are sold in pharmacies and he urged parents to seek out advice from their local qualified pharmacist before giving painkillers to children.
Responding to the research of Dr Aisling Garvey at Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin, Mr Molloy said using painkillers to help children sleep is not appropriate and parents could even cause their child to accidentally overdose by incorrect usage of painkillers.
“Ask your pharmacist about what is the appropriate medicine for the symptoms you want to treat and also about the dosage,” he urged.
“The metabolism of a child is different to that of an adult. Giving a child too much medicine is dangerous and your child could end up suffering side effects.”
He said pharmacists are a free resource for all parents.
“You can just walk in the door of your local pharmacy and get this advice for nothing. Our resources are probably under utilised in that sense.
“Get advice. People in Ireland tend to not use painkillers appropriately and you have to be particularly careful with children,” he stressed.
