There are no reports of the parental perceptions of comfort during the mechanical ventilation of children. We have assessed the quality of sedation in 28 mechanically ventilated children and compared these results to an overall parental assessment of comfort, obtained by postal questionnaire. There was no correlation between the parental assessment of comfort and the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) staff satisfaction with the level of sedation. Parental assessment of comfort was positively correlated with the duration of ventilation, whilst PICU staff satisfaction was positively correlated with the age of the child. Parents appear to become more satisfied with the degree of comfort of their children as the duration of mechanical ventilation increases, which is an effect that may have an important bearing on communication between parents and health professionals. Our results also suggest that the commonly used sedation regime of midazolam and morphine is less effective in younger children.