An effing SPOON? – an open letter to Calpol

Dear Calpol,

Yesterday, my baby girl received her first vaccinations – and it was a horrible experience. A jab in each of her adorably pudgy thighs, followed by a few minutes of inconsolable crying – mostly from me. She only let out a few irritated squawks, which were soothed quickly with my tear-stained and apologetic cuddles.

Once everyone in the room had calmed down, the nurse explained that if my little one started showing signs of fever or pain, I could give her a dose of your medication. In anticipation of this happening, and in a bid to be the always-prepared mummy, we went across the street and I purchased a pack of sugar-free Calpol in strawberry flavour.

Before heading to the tills, I examined the packaging carefully, ensuring I had the correct item. One detail that stood out to me was that the medication came with a double-sided plastic spoon.

This seemed odd and I momentarily envisioned me trying to give my baby anything in a spoon – a bite of cereal or a taste of chocolate ice cream. In my imagination, these attempts did not go well – shredded wheat and Häagen-Dazs all over baby, mummy and the dining table. I couldn’t see how probably-bad-tasting medicine would fare any better on its way into her digestive system – especially when she wasn’t feeling well.

However, I dismissed my uncertainty. After all, I figured, your company has been providing medication for babies and small children years – much longer than the two months I’ve been a mother. You’re the experts, right? I must be underestimating my child’s ability to eat with utensils – it will be fine, I told myself.

I finished this self-inflicted white lie by remembering how well little C ‘drank’ milk from a cup when, in the early days, breastfeeding wasn’t going so well. Maybe in the month-and-a-half since then, she had also mastered eating from a spoon, and I just didn’t know about it.

Purchase made, we headed back home. I was impressed at how well my little one was dealing with the vaccinations and hoped that medication wouldn’t be needed at all. When we got home, I gave her some breast milk, she fell asleep and I felt pretty good about how the morning had gone.

A few hours later, my poor little girl awoke with a screech. Within seconds, the little squawks grew into terrible crying – bottom lip trembling and the most horrible screaming. I picked her up and tried consoling her again, but this time my cuddles didn’t help and I knew it was time to give her some medicine.

I strapped C in her bouncy chair and ran into the kitchen to grab the box of Calpol. I’d already read the instructions thoroughly, so knew just what to do. I squeezed one of the little satchels a bit to mix it, then tore it open and carefully filled the small side of the spoon with the pink syrup. Then, I sat down on the floor next to my screaming and arm-flailing daughter, and attempted to bring the spoon up to her tiny little trembling mouth.
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Within a matter of seconds, my baby, myself and most of the living room were covered in sweet, pink sticky goo. I tried slowly moving the spoon to my Pumpkin’s mouth, but she bashed it out of the way. I tried a faster approach – maybe I could surprise her. This attempt got the spoon to her lips, but she had no desire to swallow the liquid. It oozed down her face and bubbled on her lips.

Between screams, a small amount must have made its way down her throat – it must have, since the crying subsided a few minutes later – but I think that just speaks to the stickiness of your product, rather than the success of my spoon-feeding. Those few lucky drops must have been enough to ease my baby’s discomfort.

After a wardrobe change (for both of us), as well as a wipe-down of the living room floor, baby and I snuggled up on the sofa for an afternoon of day-time television. She fell asleep, snoozing comfortably and I called my husband to request he stop off at a shop on the way home to buy an oral syringe – which he did. Let’s just say the next dose went much more smoothly.

So, Calpol, I ask you to reconsider your dosing device. Sure, new families like ours are on tight budgets and the fraction of a penny saved by getting a free plastic spoon instead of a syringe is appreciated. But I would be even happier to pay a tiny bit more for a box of your medication that comes with everything I need to successfully give my baby her medication – and without the majority of the pain-reliever-and-fever-reducer ending up everywhere but inside my little girl.

Thank you for your time,

Shannon

Note: A few days after writing this, I noticed that the box of Calpol in the local supermarket contained a syringe rather than a spoon. I guess I was just ‘lucky’ to go to a shop that only sells the spoon variety when I actually purchased the medication. It was a lesson learned the hard way, but I really don’t think the spoons should be provided at all – I can’t imagine anyone has any more success than I did. I would still like to urge the company – and any others that sell medications for babies – to carefully consider what they provide in their boxes.