Children's medicine - cutting costs

Chris_L_5

I have four children and we seem to be keeping the makers of Calpol & Children's Ibuprofen in business. We buy most of it from Boots currently. Does anyone know of a cheaper place to buy children's medicine or equivalent alternatives to the brand names?

I seem to remember buying an alternative once but although the bottle was the same size the dosage was double so it only lasted half as long...

finc

Hi I buy Asda's version of calpol which is £1.09 for 10 sachets. It's still not that cheap but much cheaper than calpol's version.

tango

tesco do their own brand of paracetamol suspension, twice the size as calpol 2months plus, but same price. they do a generic ibuprofen, not own label, but alot cheaper than nurofen or calprofen :grinheart

callansdad

I buy bottles of Paracetamol Suspension from Lloyds pharmacy which is basically the same as Calpol. Bottle is twice the size and by far cheaper :smileyhea

Spendless

callansdad wrote:

I buy bottles of Paracetamol Suspension from Lloyds pharmacy which is basically the same as Calpol. Bottle is twice the size and by far cheaper :smileyhea

Do you have to ask at the counter for this or is it sold on the shelf? I have had paracetamol suspension on perscription before. Locum asked me if I wanted it and I wasn't refusing:whistle: but wondered if I could buy it once that lots runs out.

amd

Lloyds stuff is kept behind the glass doors - you need to ask. My girls use the 6plus (for age over 6) - orange flavour, sugar free. They don't mind the taste - thankfully. Much cheaper than Calpol.

tk

unfortunately i have to buy the dear stuff. take nurofen, the cheaper generic versions affect my daughters stomach, nurofen doesnt and they are same ingredients! and calpol, the cheaper versions are usually laced with colouring daughter is allergic too!

D&DD

I get mine from the doctors free!! Take one down there when they are ill and they always ask if I have enough..am I just lucky??? Might be worth asking if you haven't already :grinheart

Zziggi

I read a thread on here about people getting calpol from the GP. When DS was ill i just put it on the repeat request form with his other medication with a covering note and asked for a bottle. When i went to collect the prescriptiptions i had a prescription for calpol and it had been put on repeats for us. Saved a fortune this winter.

Apparently health visitors can prescribe calpol too - useful info if getting a GP appointment is near impossible (like at my practice).

tango

hi remember if you want calpol ask the doctor to specifically state calpol. otherwise you may well get a generic paracetamol suspension.