Babies and Medication

Being part of two moms' groups - one Indian and the other non-Indian (where I am the only Indian), I come to know of lots of great parenting information. As always, good comes with the not-so-good.

This issue about medication has been bothering me for a while.

So most of the babies in one of my moms' groups are teething, and they are having major sleep issues. My baby is also going through the same. Many of the parents give Tylenol or Advil or some form of pain medication on a regular basis to their babies so that they sleep through the night. They research on what is the right dosage, and sometimes even ask the doctor if its okay, and then proceed accordingly.

I am somehow not comfortable with drugging my child just because (s)he is going through her normal development phase in life. Babies grow immensely during their first year. Each month things change. Their food habits, milestones, sleep patterns - everything changes constantly. When both people are working full time and relying on day care, its just hard. Even for stay at home moms, the first year is very tough coz they are still getting used to everything. Nursing/breastfeeding rules your entire schedule. Lack of sleep helps nobody. These are painful and trying times. You see less of the rewards from the baby coz they are so little and not very responsive.

Having said that, I think most of us jump into the whole parenting thing knowing it will be somewhat like this, correct? At least I did. I am very fortunate to have a spouse who is a very hands-on parent (sometimes needs to be told to do certain things but he always acts upon things when told) and I also have my parents living with us and taking care of the baby as well as the house while we both work full time. Even though I have battled sleep deprivation since the second trimester of my pregnancy, my awesome support system helps make up for it somewhat. Its still hard, but it could be worse.

And I did not once think about giving my child medication just so that I could sleep through the night. We co-sleep, and I wake up 2-4 times every single night to nurse the baby. When she is teething, she wakes up more often. She resists her naps and its hard to put her to bed everyday. But I happily do everything for her. When she smiles, I soak it all in. When she reaches a milestone, I celebrate from within. I don't know if giving her medication will help her feel better. Will it really numb the pain? Even if it does, is it really necessary? or, is it the right thing to do?

Before writing this post, I posted this question on the moms group website and am waiting to hear their opinion.

After becoming a parent, you have to be so much more responsible of all your actions, coz it can affect the life of your own child directly. No one said it was going to be easy though :).