‘I Wanna Be Sedated’: One Woman’s Solution to Travel with Children
Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 10.02.07 | 8:30 AM ET
I’m not a parent, so I can’t fully appreciate the struggle of traveling with toddlers. But I was fascinated to read Emma Mahony’s story in the Times of London about drugging her son on a long-haul flight. Mahony, the mother of a young boy and infant twins, came across the idea at a social gathering of mothers of twins. She writes: “Before I joined an evening out with mothers of the local Wandsworth twins’ club, I was a virgin to the pharmaceutical names of sedatives. There, after a few glasses of wine, the subject of drugging toddlers to travel came up, and the stories began to flow.”
She continued: “Around the table, the normally reserved mothers were holding forth about the relative merits of Piriton versus Phenergan. ‘I always dose them up with Piriton before a long car journey,’ slurred one mother—‘it’s great stuff, sends ‘em off to sleep in ten minutes.’ She offered to spell it for another mother who got out her diary. ‘Phenergan’s just as good’ suggested someone from the other side of the table. ‘It’s been around for years. Your mother probably used to give it to you’ (She did, I found out later).”
Mahony, tempted, gathers information from the other mothers on recommended brands and the best cover stories to score a prescription. But when the big day comes, things don’t turn out the way the parents expect—they had missed the crucial fine print: “May cause agitation and insomnia.”
As conditions in Airworld get worse and worse, I wonder how many more parents will be driven to the pharmacy in an attempt to cope. If Mahony’s story is any indication, those acts of desperation could wind up simply adding to the chaos.
Related on World Hum:
* Flight Attendant Who Spiked Toddler’s Apple Juice Sentenced
* Ready for Takeoff? Please Fasten Your Seat Belt and Pop the Anti-Anxiety Drug of Your Choice.
Photo by rodrigo senna, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Rachel 10.02.07 | 8:21 PM ET
Drugging children to get on planes? Sure, there are extraordinary cases where this might be necessary, but as standard policy, this just seems totally wrong to me. I understand giving a child medication if they’ve got an ear ache. I understand giving the child medication if they are prone to nausea. But just pre-emptively giving them a sedative? That’s like medicating a kid for being a kid just so mommy can get some sleep.
Anonymous 10.03.07 | 12:34 PM ET
Please! Benadryl works wonders!
Andrea Verity 10.03.07 | 1:57 PM ET
I think the idea of drugging kids is dangerous for so many reasons. But, the idea of traveling long distances, especially in airplanes, does make parents anxious. It certainly did for me…until I discovered the Downtime Sleepy hat! It is a (non-medicating) tool to help get baby to sleep so that parents can have some downtime. Check it out at: http://www.downtimebaby.com.