Parents let under-5s drink alcohol to help sleep

Parents are giving alcoholic drinks to their young children, even those younger than five years.

According to research of more than 1,500 parents by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, 32 per cent of the parents polled have given alcohol to their children before their fifth birthday.

A total of 43 per cent of these parents did so just to let their child ‘taste’ alcohol.

Shockingly, 16 per cent did so ‘to help encourage sleep’ by putting alcohol in the child’s bedtime milk.

A 29 per cent of parents rubbed alcohol on their child’s gums to ease the pain of teething.

When asked how often they gave their youngsters alcohol, 71 per cent said it was only rarely.

But 13 per cent said they did so frequently

Only 11 per cent of parents said they were strongly against the idea of allowing children under the age of 18 to drink alcohol.