Won't take her medicine - help

DD2 (14 months) has an ear infection and after 2 days of giving her Panadol and Nurofen we have now got antibiotics. The problem is she won't take any of it anymore :( She screams as soon as she sees the bottles. I have tried everything I can think of, a little cup, a dropper, a syringe, I have even tried putting it in her bottle of milk and she could taste it and wouldn't drink it.

The last few days have been an absolute nightmare anway, with her climbing up on me then hitting me till I put her down then crying to be picked up again. Last night she would only sleep for 10 mins max between 10 and midnight and got up at 5 and I am so tired now. I don't know what to do about getting her her medicine.

The last few times I have had to hold her down and force it in but she spits most of it out and I really hate holding her down - it's making her hate it even more.

Does anyone have any good tips? We got the antibiotics today and we have a weeks worth and I just can't face doing this 3 times a day for a week - plus all the panadol :(

TIA

Ech, I've been there and I don't envy you one bit love. Its a horrible horrible thing to do. I found that what worked for us, is to have two people handy. My DH would sorta flip DS in his arms so his head would flip back and he'd laugh and stuff, and have a great time cos he'd think it was funny. It would be then that I would pop up and have the syringe ready to fire it down his throat. I found aiming towards the back of his throat, but up the top of his mouth was the best angle for it not to be spat back in my face.

We had really yummy smelling antibiotics the last time, and we got a different flavoured panadol (was an orange one that smelt like fanta) so he would just suck on the syringe and I would press down on it. I found that he liked it so much he would take the syringe and keep sucking on it, even if it was all gone!!!!

But good luck.. I've been there and done that LOTS in the last 3 months so I know what you are going through!!

strawberry topping, or another flavour that you bubba likes. Sweeten up the medicine and get her to lick the plain topping first and then get her to take the medicine and topping together.
i hear you my DD was exactly the same until she hit 5 years old.
HTH
odette

I agree, add something sweet.. but have you tried giving it on a spoon? I havent been able to give Jesse any medicine in at least 6 months from a dropper.. he just gets scared of it. If i put it on a metal teaspoon (as its a novelty using the big person spoon also) i never have any problems.

Possibly sounds strange, but can your ABs come in another flavour? My Pip was on ABs last week, he absolutely loved the taste! We got the pharmacy subsitution instead of the brand name.

Another tip given to me was to give a drop to taste on the tongue, then after that's tasted, the rest of the medicine.

Else my dad used to mix it up with jam when he gave it to me!

Good luck! It's not easy with a sick bubba.

Speak to your pharmacist as they may be able to make the same drug up in a different flavour, alternatively compounding pharmacists are able to add various flavours to medicines.

Also, if she screams when she sees the bottles, keep them hidden and just bring the medicine over once you've got it all measured up.

The other thing I was going to suggest was a lolly bribe. Very un-p.c. I know but we always made it 'fun' by singing "a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down..." as we did it.

have you seen the tommee tippee medicine thingo. It is like a dummy but with a teat on it..

maybe you could also make up a little sweet drink. Cordial or something maybe juice and give a little at a time. Can she drink using a straw? Maybe have a go at that

Tis a good idea about the spoon from Kel - as long as she is not anything like my DS. I thought the spoon would be good cos he never refuses food at all. He took the medicine off the spoon for about two doses, then refused ANY spoon for the next three weeks. :rolleyes: Made it VERY difficult to give food!!!!!!
Back to the drawing board for us!!!!!

Thanks guys, I have tried with sweet food but she's off her food at the moment so she's screaming as soon as she sees it. I haven't tried off a spoon yet so i'll give that a go.

We've almost used the whole bottle of antibiotics and we've only had them a day :( The flavour we have is strawberry and iit's really nice. I think she just doesn't want to know about anything that tastes a bit different.

This morning I even scooped her favourite food out of the jar (Heinz blueberry oatmeal), mixed the AB's in and PUT IT BACK IN THE JAR so she wouldn't notice and she still knew!

Thanks for all your ideas, I'll get one of the Tommy Tippy droppers too.

Thanks guys :rolleyes:

BTW, does anyone know, if they only get half of the dose, it'll still work won't it?

Hi Rachel,

I had the same problem a few weeks ago with my dd. I tried everything...even the dummy thing. The only thing that worked for me and I hated doing it but I lay her down on the ground, held her arms on her chest, put the abs in her mouth and quickly put the dummy in so she wouldnt spit it out. Its easier with 2 pairs of hands but because df was at work most of the time, I mastered it on my own.

You're only supposed to give them the prescribed dose, so if half of it comes out, dont attempt to measure the amount she missed and give her more (iykwim). its better they get some as opposed to giving them too much. For the first 3 days dd spat out every bit i gave her. Until I started holding her down.

Good luck, its hard work

Hi Rachael,

A little bit is better than nothing. You have no way of really knowing how much she has actually consumed if she has spat some out so it is not advisable to "top up" the dose as you may give too much. A smaller dose is still effective, they usually just need to have it over a longer period of time.

The ideas already given to try and get DD to take the medicine are good. Some other tactics include:
Make a game of it - "How quickly can you gobble this up? Geez you're a clever little girl!" or whatever works for you guys

Tell her it is magic juice that will help her do something she likes - maybe give her special powers or something.

Get her fav toy to have some first. You could have a similar dispenser and get her to give teddy his medicine first (water of course!) and then she can have hers.

Encourage a game of Dr's and Nurses throughout the day which involves giving the patient medicine so when it is time for her to have hers, you can say "just like in the game".

HTH and good luck
MG

I bought the Tommy Tippy dummy thingy and nope, nothing :doh: This morning she has eaten her morning tea and breakfast with no worries so i'm going to try and puree up some fruit and give it to her like that. Fingers crossed for me :crossfingers: