The History Of Drugs & Baby Sleep
The simple fact is that not all babies are what you would call ‘good’ sleepers and so, since time immemorial, man – adult man that is – has been seeking a ‘cure’ for this problem. Now, it would seem sensible and fairly self evident to any modern parent that giving drugs to their baby to help the little one get to sleep is never likely to be a healthy thing (although it is still surprisingly common, as you will discover later). But, throughout history, drugs of some form or other have been a fairly common aid to the process of inducing sleep in restless babies and infants. For example, there is some evidence that even the apparently ‘civilized’ peoples of the ancient societies of Rome and Greece were quite prepared to administer opiate-based drugs to their babies to get them to sleep. |
At various times throughout history, highly addictive substances like Laudanum have been promoted as a ‘perfect’ solution to the problem of getting sleepless babies to rest.
Even as recently as one hundred years ago, many babies who were tended to by English nannies would grow up having their sleep ‘aided’ by a medicinal concoction known as ‘gripe water’.
This potion, which was for many years widely accepted as a common and harmless ‘cure’ for upset stomachs and baby colic, was actually 3.6% alcohol as originally formulated!
It is no great wonder then that it helped baby sleep!
Read between the lines of these episodes, and it is hard not to conclude that using drugs to make baby sleep stemmed from nothing more than convenience.
The parents convenience that is, of course!
Are Drugs Still Used To Help Kids Sleep?
Perhaps shockingly, the answer to this question is a resounding yes, and in far greater numbers and volumes than you could even begin to imagine.
For example, a study conducted by a team from the Ohio State University and the University of Missouri evaluated 18.6 million children's doctor visits for sleep problems, and found that 81% of visits ended with a prescription for a medication!
For the study, the team worked with information from a large national database, the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, from 1993 to 2004, to find out what doctors prescribed or advised when young patients came in for help with sleep problems.
Now, not all of the children that were assessed in the study wee babies, toddlers or infants, with the majority being between the ages of 6 and 12.
Nevertheless, 4 out or every 5 were given drugs. Most often prescribed for the children's sleep problems were antihistamines, given in 33% of the visits, followed by blood pressure drugs (26%), sleeping pill (15%) and antidepressants.
Whilst these statistics do not entirely relate only to babies and infants, still the fact is that such a study clearly demonstrates that in the vast majority of sleep-difficulty cases, the treatment of first-resort is medication with pharmaceutical drugs.
The fact stands that four out of every five medical professionals is apparently willing to prescribe these drugs to children as young as six years old.
This, in turn, highlights two factors that any and all responsible parents must pay great attention to, because failure to do so could lead to their children suffering far greater physical and psychological problems than necessary in later years.
The first thing is that medical professionals in all developed countries are under increasing pressure to ‘perform’, and that such performance is often measured on the criteria of the greatest number of patients treated at the lowest possible cost.
Thus, the time and cost constraints imposed by such requirements means that in many cases the physician, doctor or pediatrician simply does not have the time to investigate each and every individual case to the fullest extent.
Prescribing drugs is therefore the quick and simple option, plus many times it is very possibly the cheapest one too.
The second factor, one that effectively follows directly from the first, is that it is absolutely necessary for any responsible parent to take full control and charge of all matters that relate to the health and welfare of their babies and infants.
If nothing else is apparent from the study results shown, and the conclusions that we have drawn from it, it is that the opinions and recommendations of even the best intentioned members of the medical profession should be at the very least questioned before they are acted upon.
It is quite apparent that members of the medical profession are quite comfortable with the idea of giving pharmaceutical drugs to your children, whatever their age might be.
They are comfortable with the idea, but what about you?Solving Sleeplessness in Infants Will Help You...
The History Of Drugs & Baby Sleep
What Causes Baby Sleeplessness?
Cry It Out & The Ferber Method
