How do you get medicine into a child who simply refuses to take medicine?

[Ginger]

ds2 is 2.5 years old. i simply cannot get medicine into him. i try holding him down and syringing it into his mouth but he refuses to swallow and spits it all back out. it is quite distressing for both of us.

[Sammiejane]

We used jam in hospital... Mix it in and pop it on a spoon.
What are you trying to give?


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[HotI]

my LO spits out panadol and a some others. she likes brauers stuff. and i found another one (for pain/fever) that she will take.

can you get an alternative? is it a long term thing? if it was needed and short term, i would go the wrestle, squirt and hope some goes down. if it's needed and long term, can you try bribery or disguising it in food/drink?

[Olive]

to you both, no advice here but i hope J man is better asap xx

[Kmn]

We have no luck with syringes at all - but the spoon works well. And the post-medicine chocolate bribe too.
If it is gluggy medicine then adding a little water may help too.

A lot of this is about control - your little one probably resents being forced to do something, especially something yucky. Try putting the medicine on a very big spoon on the table, and putting the treat next to it and telling him that when he has swallowed all the medicine he can have the treat. And agree with him that its yucky - we call DS's antibiotics "horribus medicine" because that's what he christened it.

I had a similar problem with my DS and teeth cleaning. I used to have to swaddle him in a blanket and sit on him to clean his teeth. But now he is big enough to "do it himself" he does it, and then I just do a quick clean afterwards - no major fights any more.

[diannescruffy]

DD3 won't take Neurofen so I put it in her juice and she's non the wiser. Hope you work something out, hugs.

Regards,
Dianne

[RoyaUK]

my DD1 got easier when she was about 4 yrs old, but before that age it was very difficult - pinning her down was the only way and persisting. When she got older, she learnt it was over quickly and yes, we used treats afterwards. Good luck.

[aussienic]

Does he have a dummy?

Have you seen the tommee tippee (I think) product they is a medicine thingy.

I will PM you the link.. Ds2 used to have a lot of medication when he was a newborn and this worked great and we continued buying it for panadol ect. We don't need them anymore though..

[LaDolceVita]

We mix medicines with a bit of water or milk in a cup and give him a straw, he gulps it all down, worst case we add a dash of cordial to the water or a small amount of Milo to the milk, but make sure he sees us add it and make a big deal of it like 'Oooo, yummy!' etc and there's never a drama.. He doesn't mind the taste of the nurofen and will suck that out of the syringe himself but all others we have to mix..

[Ginger]

thanks for the suggestions. i don't think theres any easy solution with this kid. he is extremely strong willed and defiant. explaining it to him would no nothing. he does not go for bribes. the spoon thing would never work with him...
i also don't understand how you are supposed to get 9ml of panadol into them on a spoon? seems like an awful lot to me.
arrrg, idk....i really don't know what to do anymore.

[onthefly]

paracetemol suppository

[Phteven]

paracetemol suppository

That. It's less traumatic than it sounds.

Or mix it with something insanely sweet like a desert spoon of ice-cream to hide the flavour.

[Olive]

hun i use Dymadon paracetamol and for 12-14kg its only 3.5-4ml, much better than 9ml

[Sopdet]

If you can go down the tablet path, you can grind it up and mix it with something like soft copha, make it into a small ball and use it as a suppository.

[AnyDream]

Experiment with different brands as they taste different. Also, as nickle said, if you get the infant sort (and work it out based on J's weight) it will be a smaller amount of medicine to take. I used to get more success by syringing it into her cheek, followed by a lolly or spoon of honey bribe.

[~StarBright~]

I feel your pain Ginger!!!!

Ds has just needed to start antibiotics and he is flatly refusing to take them. He happily takes nurophen, but the taste of this stuff is just so gross he wont take it!! And whats worse is that with these antibiotics he has to have them on an empty stomach - so we cant just mix it in a drink and hope he drinks it (even though he isnt, like you say he knows and just wont drink it!!!)

We tried pinning him down this morning, and he spat it out, I just couldnt get the syringe in right. So far we have wasted four doses of th emedicine in just trying to actually get him to consume one dose!!

I think i might need to go back to the dr and try for some tablets!!!!

[Ginger]

i just wanted to update this thread for anyone who is going through the same thing we are.

i ended up taking ds2 back to the dr as i knew we had not been able to get the whole course of ABs into him- no matter what we tried, it did not work.

the dr prescribed us a second course of stronger Abs- this time in tablet form. i have been melting a couple of caramel buds (like white chocolate drops) in the microwave until they are soft and then squashing the tablet into the melted chocolate and sticking two buds together and letting it reform itms? then once it is hard again, i have been giving him a little bowl with 3 caramel buds (including the one with the tablet in it) and watching him eat them. so far so good!!!!

[leckert]

We use dymadon here ds would spit out panadol so now we just use dymadon and send an extra bottle with him to cc in case he needs some during the day


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