When they won't take medicine?

Does anyone have a child who won't take medicine?
Even when he wants to because he knows it will help him to feel better DS2 struggles to take any medicine. Syrups just get cough/vomited back up and so do the chewable tablets. Tonight he vomited the chewable tablets all over my sofa (although I caught lots of it in my hands :sick: because I love my sofa) and then finally after lots of tears managed to swallow a quarter of a caplet in honey chased with water but it was struggle for him.
He genuinely can't keep anything down that revolts him even if he would like to :(

Is there anything that works? Or helps?

:wall:

My mum used to give us the chewable tablets crushed up in honey. So if he likes something like that or any type of spread, it may work.
Otherwise you could try and put the syrup in a some cordial or treat drink to try and get him to take it.
Failing those options, a suppository maybe?

Hope your boys are better soon, nothing worse than one being sick let alone both of them :hug:

Have you thought about seeing an OT to help him deal with the sensitivity he has? Poor chook :(

Is it panadol? If so, try the soluble ones.

If he's gagging and can't manage to get it down then you can try crushing and putting in jam/honey/nutella.

Otherwise lots of encouragement and distraction. I hope the boys both feel better soon.

Are you talking panadol?
With the syrups I rarely use panadol, unless they're bad enough to need both, because they don't like it. Especially DD2. She struggles majorly. They are ok with the taste of nurofen, so thats what we use.
Panadol goes ok in a strawberry milkshake. Other flavours of milk are too different in taste & don't work.
Anything else I use bribery... coke when desperate. My kids never ever get coke, so it can work. The older girls can finally have capsules, so we use them. DD2 is still getting used to it, with a big drink of juice to make sure it goes all the way down.
I still struggle to take pills sometimes :/

A friend of mine tried suppositories when her DS was about 18 months old. She's never looked back. Not sure if she'd still do it now he's older though.

we recently went thru something similar. Ended up buying baby panadol in suppository form. That did work - not pleasant (i kept dropping the slippery little thing) but luckily, my DD was so keen to avoid the oral version, she co-operated with this form (to my amazement).

I used to be the same as a kid so I feel his pain. Mum crushed up tablets in sweetened condensed milk which worked for me.

If its panadol try a different brand ds1 wouldn't take panadol but would take dymadon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so may not make sense

It's not just Panadol. He struggles with Nurofen too and cough medicines...... pretty much everything :(

I thought about the suppositories but he's 6 and I just feel like it's too old for them.

He loves Nutella and he's never allowed to eat it so I might try crushing it into a spoonful of Nutella.

Can you put it in some kind if drink and just not tell him its in there?

As someone who has a strong gag reflex I can really sympathise. I think I would hide it in something like honey and tell him that the honey will help soothe his throat (or whatever the symptom is). If he doesn't know there medicine is in there it will help him get it in. Otherwise if he can at least get the syrup down chase it with water or milk to get the taste out of his mouth. I could only swallow tablets as an adult and only this year have learned to take them without shoving them down my own throat.

DD2 takes pretty serious medication every day that she simply has to take and she is terrible with it, so we've gone through quite a few options and find the best is crushing it, mixing with a smidge of water to dissolve the tablet, and then making a very, very small milkshake - literally only 20mls of milk. I found that anything I gave her, ie in a dropper, syringe or whatever was vomitted back up, but if she can drink it herself it seems to help.

Good luck. I hope you find something that works.

He's not too old for suppositories. I have the bottle here, have just had to give my DS one. These particular Panadol suppositories are for children aged 5-12, but suppositories are also available for adults. My DS vomits on contact with oral Panadol (or any other brand of paracetamol) and can't have Nurofen for medical reasons. He is 6, almost 7. I did give him the option of trying the oral again tonight and he wanted to - spewed it straight back at me, fortunately I had a bag ready! He had a temp of 40.6C and I wanted to bring his temp down, so it was suppository.

It is possible to give a suppository in a respectful and dignified manner and I always tell my DS what I am doing. I am very matter of fact about the suppository and I don't make a big deal of the fact that it is going in his bottom instead of his mouth. It really isn't a big deal!

After I had inserted the suppository (using a bit of lubricant and wearing a glove), I held it in for about 20 seconds to ensure the slippery coating dissolved and it didn't pop out. DS, lying on his side, febrile and miserable, said 'mum... get your finger out of my butt!!' and started to giggle in a rather manic manner. Either he is not so sick or he's delirious!!

I don't know if it will help, but I tell DS that he's taking polyjuice potion. Then he gets to turn into his favourite death eater (usually Bellatrix) - sometimes Harry Potter, Hermione or Ron, but usually a death eater. The potion wears off when my patience wears out. (Plus that stuff is supposed to taste foul if you're becoming a death eater.)

DS also takes the spoon as soon as it is in his mouth, so he tips the medicine down his throat.