Any ideas to help my toddler take his medicine

M

megs

Cathlete
My beautiful baby has a middle ear infection and has been prescribed antibiotics. At first he took the medicine giving us a yuck expression on his face afterwards but now (day 2)he is refusing to even open his mouth and if I do manage to get some in he either coughs it up or spits it out. The medication has a syrup consistency. I wondered if any one had any tips on how I can encourage my little one to take his medicine.

Thanks, Meg
 
>Sit on em'. :7
>
>Seriously, sometimes it would take some serious measures, GOOD
>LUCK!
>
>~Marcia~


ROTFLMAO!!!

:7 :7 :7
 
My daughter was a tough one too....she still hates taking any kind of medicine and she is 12! What worked the best, although, not the nicest way in the world was those little "plunger" type droppers. Just fill it up, and squirt it in there.....anyway you can....and yes, the sit on em trick does often apply! Good Luck!

Donna
 
My boys are usually good for this. I let them "drink" it out of the measuring thingys the pharmacy gives you.
BUT.... this time Connor was not so good. I had to have hubby hold him and his hands. I used a syringe and put it in his mouth and only squeezed a little at a time so he was less likey to choke or spit it out. I could not do it by myself.
It is hard, but you gotta do it and they get over it fast.
Good luck!!!

Maeghan AKA megadoo

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar072/slider-but3/lb/203/145/159/.png[/img] [/url]

http://www.picturetrail.com/megadoo2
 
Hi Meg,

My son is now five and this has been the first year we have gotten him to take medicine. He would throw up before the medicine even touched his tongue. I tried everything - hiding it in food, making popsicles, etc...nothing worked. Like you said - I could get it in him, but how do you stop them from throwing up or spitting it out??

He did need an antibiotic once for strep throat, so I opted for the doctor to give him a shot. One shot and your done - better than the anxiety and struggle each day to get the medicine down.

Good luck - I know how frustrating it can be!!

Lynn
 
Like the others have said the syringe often works the best when you have a struggle on your hands. Also...it may be too late now...or you may have done this...but many of the pharmacies now have flavoring that they can add to the medicine to make it taste better. Maybe you could try those???

Good luck...believe me I know how frustrating it can be to try and give toddlers meds...my eldest has always been fine with taking medicine...but my youngest is proving to be quite obsitnant whenever he needs any!!

Deni
 
HI - I have no children but I tried this when I was babysitting - it was only cough syrup so not that big a deal.

I had my own spoon with cough syrup and we both slurped it down at one time. On the count of 3. Not sure if your todler is old enough for this kind of persuasion.

Winter
 
I used to offer my daughter a couple of marshmellows to take after the medicine. The deal was she had to take all the medicine and keep it down in order to get the marshmellows. She still takes marshmellows after her medicine and she's 14!
 
I let my son shake the bottle and help poour the liquid into the cup. He thinks he is doing it by himself. Good luck. Melissa
 
A syringe to squirt it on down and gently hold his mouth closed. I have even had to hold one DS's nose so in order to breath, he had to swallow. I know this sounds horrible, but this was a child who had to be recusitated many times as an infant and had to have his meds - regardless.

I'm a mom who has had to give meds to 4 kids for different reasons since infancy.. When they need the meds for their own well-being, it is, unfortunately, not optional and you have to take whatever measures will work for you and it isn't always pretty I'll tell you.:)

And bribery can work well.:)

Good luck.
 
our pharmacy offers dozens of different flavors that you can choose from. i am lucky that i never had to use them, my DS was never a problem with meds.......now shots are another story!
 
I had the same problem with my little GS. I put one ounce of formula in one bottle at feeding time (of course, if you are breast feeding this won't work) and added the medicine. He drank it right up. I had another bottle handy so I could do a quick switch.

But if your baby is a toddler and/or not on the bottle try mixing it with a tiny bit of Jello pudding and giving it with a spoon.
 
When my son used to take prednisone for his asthma, he would always gag and throw up. Just the smell of the stuff used to make me gag.

Our paeditrician gave us the idea of using chocolate ice cream syrup. It worked much better than other food to hide it, just a little on the teaspoon. When we head to the hospital ER with a asthma attack we used to start taking our chocolate syrup with us. The nurses thought we were strange but it worked great. Kim
 
Thank you all for some great ideas. Fortunately I only have to give the medication every 12 hours and this morning I put it in his juice - success! I think I'll get the syringe dispenser as a back up though - sounds like it might do the trick also... and the chocolate ice cream syrup - what a great idea.

I'm grateful for your support and glad to know I'm not alone.

Meg
 
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