Should you drug babies on flights?
That is the recent topic that has caught the attention of many Netizens, who are debating hotly about its pros and cons on various blogs and on Twitter.
On the Urban Baby website, which allows users to post anonymously, a typical post about how to occupy tots on long flights quickly grows heated:
“Drug your spawn, please. For the love of GOD, anesthetize the little beast.?”
“Do people actually do that? That is a bit extreme to me. Just looking to keep her occupied.”
While the American Academy of Pediatrics says its not recommended to sedate children on long flights, many parents say their paediatricians do quietly advise a bit of the allergy medicine for a flight.
But there are risks. “It’s not a good idea,” says Dr Daniel Frattarelli, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on drugs. Take the drug marketed in the US as Benadryl. “When using Benadryl to sedate, you are using it for its side effects rather than its therapeutic effect."
Jo Andrews, a British mother of three who lives in Dubai, says she takes about three long flights a year with her children and buys them new, small toys to unwrap on the plane and brings extra snacks and sticker books to keep them occupied. “I would never, ever drug my kids when they are young on a flight. Imagine if there was an emergency on the plane," she says.
Read more on www.bbc.co.uk
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