how to get toddler to take medicine?
- Thread starter bagel
- Start date
even if i suggest it is juice, it doesn't seem to work. i tell him it is OJ or grape juice, but as soon as it is not meeting his taste expectations, he spits or vomits it out.
Works like a charm in our household
chocolate cookies ain't working either. he is spitting out the cookie too!! that's why I am requesting assistance from veterans!!!
yes, i can relate to that. my son was demonstrating the same. hence the question.....sometimes the disguise with yogurt, apple, soups, chocolate cookie works, but a lot of the time it ain't working. maybe you and i should get together to exert peer pressure!!
nicolejoy
Registered User
How old? My daughter was a bit of a booger between the ages of 1 and 2 - if we wanted her to have it bad enough, NOTHING else worked, we just had to force it in her mouth and hope that she swallowed some of it. SOME things we could dilute or mix with juice (but ask your doctor first because some things, such as some antibiotics, are unsuitable to do this) - but other medicines we couldn't, or the taste was too strong and she'd just reject the juice.
Now I think she likes the sweetness of it - she sometimes even asks for more!! She will happily take her medicine now with very little fuss. Maybe she just got tired of fighting us
Now I think she likes the sweetness of it - she sometimes even asks for more!! She will happily take her medicine now with very little fuss. Maybe she just got tired of fighting us
Hi,
I can relate to this - my daughter used to shut her mouth tight and spit everything back up from a very young age. It was a battle every time we tried to give her some medicine and the medicine very often ended up all over her if not on the floor. We tried everything and when it was really necessary to give her some medicine, cruel as it may sound, we sometimes managed to get her to swallow a little bit by forcing some into her mouth and holding her nose at the same time so that she had to swallow. (I know - I felt really awful and usually had to get her Dad to do this).
If she just needed some Paracetamol then I used suppositories. On a trip home I discovered that this was the popular and sworn by method of many mums and they mainly used a brand called 'Paralink' so I stocked up and use them here. (I'm not sure if you can get that brand here but I'm guessing that you could get paracetamol suppositories??)
Anyway also just to say that my daughter (14 months) has very recently (last 2 weeks) taken calpol from a spoon without much hesitation so I'm hoping that will go for other medicine as well when the time comes
I hope my comments may be of some use
I can relate to this - my daughter used to shut her mouth tight and spit everything back up from a very young age. It was a battle every time we tried to give her some medicine and the medicine very often ended up all over her if not on the floor. We tried everything and when it was really necessary to give her some medicine, cruel as it may sound, we sometimes managed to get her to swallow a little bit by forcing some into her mouth and holding her nose at the same time so that she had to swallow. (I know - I felt really awful and usually had to get her Dad to do this).
If she just needed some Paracetamol then I used suppositories. On a trip home I discovered that this was the popular and sworn by method of many mums and they mainly used a brand called 'Paralink' so I stocked up and use them here. (I'm not sure if you can get that brand here but I'm guessing that you could get paracetamol suppositories??)
Anyway also just to say that my daughter (14 months) has very recently (last 2 weeks) taken calpol from a spoon without much hesitation so I'm hoping that will go for other medicine as well when the time comes
I hope my comments may be of some use
Honkyblues
Registered User
I have a 5-yr-old and 3-yr-old, both of whom have spat out medicine since age 1, and no amount of bad cop (pinning down, nose pinching, etc) or good cop (bribes, sweeties, chocolates) behaviour helped. Since then, I've become an expert medicine hider! It can be done. Believe me, if my boys think there's a hint of medicine in their juice or food, it gets spat out.
My tips:
for fevers/pain: use panadol suppositories, available over the counter from the pharmacist in Watsons/Mannings. The brand is Ben-u-ron. There are two strengths depending on age of child. Again, they are (understandably) very resistant to this, so I do it while they are asleep or if wiping their bottoms after they've been to the toilet. A latex glove, a bit of vaseline, it's over in a second and they might squawk, but it's too late then!! ;-)
for colds: Polaramine (again, over the counter from pharmacist). It's an antihistamine, so dries up the runny nose - has very little taste and you only need a tiny amount (1.25ml for age 2-6). Very easy to hide in a Petit Miam yoghurt (mix thoroughly) or in a strong-tasting juice like Ribena
Calpol: blackcurrant flavour, hide in Ribena
Nurofen: orange flavour, hide in orange juice or pour over a chopped up orange
Some other tablets can be crushed up and hidden in ketchup or baked beans.
HTH
My tips:
for fevers/pain: use panadol suppositories, available over the counter from the pharmacist in Watsons/Mannings. The brand is Ben-u-ron. There are two strengths depending on age of child. Again, they are (understandably) very resistant to this, so I do it while they are asleep or if wiping their bottoms after they've been to the toilet. A latex glove, a bit of vaseline, it's over in a second and they might squawk, but it's too late then!! ;-)
for colds: Polaramine (again, over the counter from pharmacist). It's an antihistamine, so dries up the runny nose - has very little taste and you only need a tiny amount (1.25ml for age 2-6). Very easy to hide in a Petit Miam yoghurt (mix thoroughly) or in a strong-tasting juice like Ribena
Calpol: blackcurrant flavour, hide in Ribena
Nurofen: orange flavour, hide in orange juice or pour over a chopped up orange
Some other tablets can be crushed up and hidden in ketchup or baked beans.
HTH