MOTHERHOOD: Long Trip Coming Up? To Benedryl or Not To Benedryl?

If your family is going to take a long flight would you give your young child Benedryl to help them sleep through most or all of the flight? This is a hot button topic among many parents. Some feel that you are needlessly drugging your child while others think that it helps make the experience tolerable.

Well I will go out on a limb and say that I am pro-Benedryl, in moderation of course. Our entire family lives all the way back East so we have had to endure many a long, long, long flight. And since the boys are still under the age of two we are not required to buy them seats so we hold them on our laps the entire trip. Timmy is a very quiet child and I can’t imagine having him awake the entire time and then there is Xander who is one of those overly active ones. Benedryl is not a sedative although it does make them drowsy. This means they sleep for about 2-3 hours. Xander squirms and screams and yells and kicks the chair in front of him the entire time he is awake and he would think nothing of doing it for the entire 6 hours if awake. Of course I do need to teach the boys how to play quietly but at this age it is absurd to expect them to “behave” for that long. I would also like to note that this was okayed by our Pediatrician. He told us precisely how much Children’s Benedryl to give them. Now, I would like to add that I don’t give them Benedryl just to make them sleep longer when were at home or on short trips.

Work & Family: Should parents medicate kids on long flights?

Thursday, April 20, 2006
By Sue Shellenbarger, The Wall
Street Journal

When Ginger Ogle suggested giving her 3-year-old son an antihistamine to help him sleep during an eight-hour flight to Europe, her husband "was appalled that I'd even consider drugging our child," she says. He bought a portable DVD player instead, to play in-flight movies for his son.

But after four hours on the plane with a kicking, whining, irritable child -- who was unconsoled by the movies or grab-bag of other distractions the Berkeley, Calif., couple had brought along -- he reluctantly agreed to try a dose of Benadryl. The medication didn't seem to have much effect, Ms. Ogle says, but the incident shows how divisive the issue can be.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06110/683728-51.stm

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