3yo refuses to take medicine - any ideas?

spendingmad

Evening All - After some advice - hope you can help.

My 3 yo DD has Chicken Poxs at the minute but WILL NOT take any medicine. I struggle to get cream on her let alone get piriton into her.

I have tried not making a deal of it, putting it in drinks, bribes, but she will not take it. We end up DH pinning her down while i squirt it down her neck, which obvisously causes much upset for all of us. Do any of you have any ideas on how I can get her to take it?

Any help gratefully received!!!

JBD

OP have you tried a syringe? Also your chemist should sell a syringe/ spoon thingy[sorry I can't describe it.] Failing that, perhaps you could get her to take her a little calpol, also I have heard a little bicarb of soda in her bathwater is soothing.

sallyjh

My eldest ds is/was the same. Couldnt get it down him at all - but my dr told me to use a nurofen type syringe and squirt it into his cheek a couple of mls at a time. If it goes into the cheek then they have to swallow it but if you put it straight down their throats they can spit it out. Still have to hold him to do us tho - hopefully will get better with age!

Sorry dont seem to to have explained that very well - hope you understand what I mean!

Sally

hollythecat

Aw, I really feel for you! My 3 year old had a chest infection recently and the doctor told him the medicine was banana flavoured - great if you like banana - shame he doesn't!

We went through a few things, as you have but the old 'oh, I think this is the ice-cream flavour one' worked for a few doses (please don't judge him, his favourite foods are beetroot and brocolli but I didn't think even my acting skills could convince him it was flavoured with either of those!)

Is there any food you can mix it into? Can you use food colouring to make it her favourite colour? I'll come back if anything else comes to mind. x

matphil

The only way I managed to get any medicine into mine was if I let them do it themselves.
Use one of the syringes that comes with some medicine bottles and let them put it into the bottle and get the medicine out themselves.
Then let them suck it out of the syringe when they are ready. It worked everytime with mine.

tickly1972

I really feel for you here! We have a 2 & 4yr old, our 4yr old has just had Swine Flu and we had the same problem getting the medicine into her.

Do you have a syringe? We got one with some Nurofen a while back and it's how they prefer to take their Calpol .. it had the ml measurement up the side so you know how much to take into syringe.

As for the cream, you could try letting her do it herself or maybe teddy could "help". Distraction is the best thing in our house - usually a favourite tv show while your trying to sneak medicine in (and meals in our case).

I know how distressing it can be, and they can have a will of iron!

gill_hc

I let my 3 yr old take it herself with the syringe - but she has to squirt it quickly or it won't work!!

spendingmad

Thanks All, we do use the syringe and i have tried the ol' ice cream flavour trick. I will try letting her take it herself that may just work!

Or the into the cheek idea as we normally just fire it down her to get it over and done with as quickly as possible!

We just feel so arwful forcing it down her, it even upsets DS (6) he leaves the room while we do it.

Oh well - at least i have a couple more ideas to try tomorrow. :rolleyes:

Thanks!

jenhug

strawberry medised in a strawberry yoghurt.
medised is piriton and calpol combined so will be easier than trying to get 2 seperate meds in them.

Becles

Does she need to take it? My two year old had chicken pox a couple of months ago, but we just used aqueous and calamine cream on her spots.

If she's not itching badly, I wouldn't bother fighting to get medicine into her.

tandraig

If she isnt ill why give her medicine? I get the impression she is just itching? a little calamine lotion will help that. if you can dab it on all the better but if not just put a glug in her bath water!

am struggling to understand why piriton was prescribed - its an antihistamine which is great with allergies and can calm irritated skin - but for chicken pox? maybe i am old - but my kids went through chicken pox with calpol and calamine lotion - oh and a really old fashioned remedy - a little honey in their bath.