How to get a 2.5 year old to take medicine

Mackenzie has an ear infection (again) and needs to take medicine. Easier said than done. She only needs 3 mils but I can't get it down no matter how hard we try. I've tried hiding it in a banana milkshake, in yoghurt, in ice cream in plain milk and she refuses to have it. I've tried a syringe but it comes spitting straight back out. It's chocolate flavoured (we tried banana last time - no go either) and I even offer her a chocolate (her fav thing) if she has her medicine. As soon as she sees it she says 'yuck stinky medicine' and refuses it take it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh I can really sympathize here... Aidyn used to be an absolute shocker to get to take his medicine. One trick I used to do was to feed him a yoghurt or a tub of fruit and I would have another spoon on the side, and on alternate spoonfuls I would spoonfeed him the medicine instead of the fruit, if that makes sense... it never worked all the time though.
Unfortunately on the other occasions we would literally have to pin him down, and I would have to hold his jaw open with my fingers, and not let go until he swallowed, otherwise he would spit it out. It sounds cruel, and I'm sure it is cruel, but with a screaming and very sick 2 year old who otherwise would flatly refuse to take it, it was the only way that worked. :(

Goodluck... :hug:

It is a technique that works (mostly) but is distressing for parents and children alike. Tilt them backwards and hold their nose (it often takes 2 people until you get skilled at it) putting a small amount of medicine from the syringe down the inside of the cheek. They will swallow to breathe (although with some clever chookies this isn't effective either :rolleyes:). It is far more effective if they have a dummy as the sucking mechanism causes them to swallow the medicine at the same time.

Good luck!!

Thanks - i bribed with freddo and santa stickers at lunch time but still had to hold her down and she cried but as soon as I let her up she was happy. I said, "see it wasn't that bad was it"? (meaning the taste - it's very sweet and the only sweet thing she eats is chocolate) and she said "no not that bad'. Hopefully it will get easier as we have 10 days of this!

she maybe to young for this, but my ds doesn't like taking medicine after throwing up after having anti biotics for bronchitis when he was 5yrs old, but you can actually get chewable medicines. even my gp didn't know when i took him there i told her the problem with the medicines and she looked through her book and asked if he would chew a tablet. she also said there were also alot of different flavours like chocolate, strawberry etc in the liquid forms (that was from memory amoxil) so maybe ask your gp they might be able to subscribe something for your dd.

Thanks Michelle, i have the chocolate flavour one but I might ask about the tablets if we don't have any luck.

Gab won't take medicine either. On the odd occasion she'll oblige but usually it's a running battle. We have to hold her down and put it into her mouth with a syringe. Not fun for either party...

We have one of those tiny containers with the nipple on the end (kind of like a dummy with a space for medicine if that makes sense). I measure out the medicine and then top it up with juice and it always goes down.
Maybe if you mix the medicine in with something while you are out of sight (I hide behind the open fridge door lol) it might be easier to trick her into taking it. If she doesn't see it she mightn't be able to taste it - most chefs will tell you that taste has a visual element.

I use a syringe and put it way at the back of their mouths and squirt it down there. My kids are medicine junkies though so generally I have no problems, although there has been occassions when they have spat it all out at me and thats usually when your down to the last lot of panadol or something.

Kimberley is okay with taking medicine now but Alex spits it back at you so i have to add it to his milk when he has a sleep it's the only way i can get anything like that in to him.

Xander's fine, and sometimes declan is, but not all the time, so when they dont want it, theres nothing i can bribe them with to make them have it... i generally sit on the floor, legs out, then lay them down (so their head is close to you) and then tuck their arms under your arms. hen you have both hands free I normally just block their nose and use a syringe to squirt it to the back of their throat and they swallow. They know it doesnt taste bad or anything, they're just up for a battle (generally when im really not in the mood for it!!) I know this sounds really awful, but his is my last resort, when its something they really have to have, like a/b's and they just wont take them...

Good luck...

Gaby hated medicine up until around a year ago then we started to tell her its "Captain Featherswords Magic Juice" (obviously something we made up lol!) but that worked a treat! Sometimes it is "Dorothys rosey tea" especially if it is cough syrup and red. She doesnt like it but she tolerates it - is there any character that you could use perhaps?

if it was a tablet (don't know how this will work with liquids) you could make a suppository, using copha to the size of a capsule, then stick it where suppositories are supposed to go :)

We did this to my nieces & nephews when they wouldn't take their tablets, I also learnt in my Herbal Preparation classes (I'm doing a bachelor of health science, major in naturopathy). On of my girlfriends in the class, swears by making suppositories to get medication into her 3 year old son & 4 year old daughter (she sometimes uses pessaries for her).

Recipe
Get some copha, get to malleable temperature (melt & then let it cool & start to harden again), crush tablet, mix with copha, mould into capsule size, let harden

We have had some success over the past few days, we still have the odd battle. I like the idea of "Captain Featherswords Magic Juice" she loves the wiggles so that just might work! The Doctor did mention suppositorys but I just don't think I can bring myself to do that! We only have 3 days left to go and she's doing really well compared to last time so hopefully we have beaten the infection.

Glenn has a middle ear infection & was a shocker to get him to take his AB's. I foudn the only way to get it all down was to hide it in fizzy drink. I am goin gback to the drs this afternoon as he woke saying his ear hurt again so I want to get it checked just incase he should have another course of ab's. But If I need more I will be buying fizzy drink at the same time. I know coke & fanta isn't ideal for a 2yr old but hey, it gets the ab's down!

milo has got strawberry Amoxil at the moment, and so far so good.
He will normally have a little bit, then open his mouth for more only to close it and grin at me, refusing to take the rest! Its SO frustrating.

DH will not let me force it in to him as he doesn't want 'bad associations' with medicine, but on the other hand I don't want my baby to be sick!