Possible side effects of Medicines???

[Wivi]

Hi,

DS is 17 months old and has tonsilitis at the moment. Up until one week ago he was sleeping 12 - 13 hours at night and 2-3 hours in the day. He was excellent at going to bed with never even a peep out of him.

The symptoms started last Wednesday with the crying etc, and on Friday I took him to the doctor when he was incredibly stuffy in the nose and very upset. The diagnosis was tonsilitis and they prescribed amoxycillin along with whatever I usually give him for pain relief (nurofen) and his cold (dimetapp).

Now he has the antibiotics three times per day and I have tried to limit the nurofen and dimetapp to night only. The tonsilitis seems to be getting better. My problem is that since last Friday his day sleep has steadily got worse to the point where so far today he has not had one at all. He is in bed right now alternating between whinging and yelling out. He normally goes to bed at midday but would not have a bar of it.

I rang the doctor and she suggested I stop the dimetapp. Ok - I can do that. But she also said she didn't think the antibiotics would make him wakeful.

Does anyone know anything or had any experience with their littlies becoming more wakeful when on meds or sick? This is so out of character that I am totally lost as to what I should do!

[Inforapenny]

Hi
My DD is the same age and recently had antibiotics for a throat/chest infection.
The antibiotics didn't make her sleep worse or better. However, she was more miserable and wanted more cuddles which I put down to her not feeling well.
I used panadol instead of nurofen because I think it is gentler on her stomach. The antibiotics can kill the good bacteria so I also gave her small amounts of "inner health" and yoghurt etc...
We also titled the bed, as this helped the mucus and junk move away from her throat area, she seemed to choke in it after a while.
And lastly we used a humidifier, this helps keep their airways moist which stops the mucus from sticking, which in turn helps them breathe easier and get more rest.
It's not easy when they are sick, good luck I hope he feels better soon.
Cheers I

[Wivi]

Thanks for your reply.

I have an update - he finally fell asleep at 3pm after some more playing outside and starting to look sleepy in front of the wiggles.

I rang the local pharmacist and he has suggested Will might be sensitive to the colour additive in the dimetapp. It seems logical to me as he has had tonsillitis before and all he did was sleep then! I looked at everything that we were doing and that seems to be the only difference.

Now I am wondering if there is a test or something for sensitivity to these things!