Our child won't take medicine

Armorica

GobbledyGook wrote: »

What flavour is the medicine? Have you tried Angel Delight? They do that in banana and strawberry. Make it up into a few dishes, mix the medicine into his and all have it? Same with youghurt, ice cream (strawberry ice cream with bits in can be quite effective for strawberry antibiotics I find), ambrosia do little tubs of flavoured custard as well which are quite good for hiding things.

^^ Exactly - Angel Delight is very very effective.

I absolutely hated taking medicines as a child - could never really take tablets until I was 18 or so. My mum used to very effectively get medicine in tablet form (then crush), or in capsules (which you then open to get at the powder) and mix it up in packet mix angel delight. (As it's made up from powder, it's pretty tricky to notice - in powder form it won't have the taste that liquid does).

Mushed up banana etc. was a recommendation at the time (but I didn't like banana either...)

suejb2

Can you let him have his drink using the syringe. Like Pavlovs dog he may associate the syringe with medicine if he breaks this connection he may be more receptive to the medicine.

Lunar_Eclipse

Sorry you're going through this. We've had similar issues, starting when DD1 was only a couple of weeks old and we had to get medicine inside her before every feed, otherwise she threw it all up! I think the obvious is to handle this calmly and matter-of-factly (DH is much better at this than me.)

At his age, he will understand that you're not in a negotiation, there is no choice and doing it quickly eventually wins over taking hours doing it! However, is he allergic to it?

The vomiting does sound extreme so that's what I would be thinking. And therefore I would be going back to the doctor to rule this out before proceeding.

If this is ruled out, perhaps tablets would work better (though they taste much worse if crushed!) We have had to do this several times however; choosing nutella after trying a few things. It's important to sandwich it, otherwise you get a sour aftertaste off the spoon. Formal frais is another to try. I would try to mask when the spoon containing the medicine was given to him and present him with a follow up spoonful really quickly afterwards, in case he suspects.

j.e.j.

sheramber wrote: »

Correct dosing is important in a child. It is easy to give too much and a little extra can be too much.

A syringe is much more accurate for measuring a dose than a spoon, which might be full to overflowing or full to just under the correct measure.

Oh right. Thinks have changed a bit since I were a lass :rotfl:

I remember the medicines coming with a plastic spoon in the box!

I just thought a child is more used to a spoon and wouldn't see it as something weird or threatening, iyswim.

msb5262

A couple of points - a. you could easily use the syringe to measure the liquid, then a spoon to administer it, and b. it's REALLY important that tablets are not crushed and capsules are not opened! Medicines are dispensed by a pharmacist to be taken as directed; ignoring this can be dangerous.

TBagpuss

Al1x wrote: »

Thank you, I didn't know they would prescribe tablets to children. I think I'll try several suggestions from here tomorrow and if nothing works I'll ask the doctor about tablets.

The doctors weren't keen to prescribe tablets - they were very much of the view that "Children can't take tablets". My brother ended up in hospital and it was only after the nurses have tried and failed to get the sryup into him that they were willing to try tablets. But we might have been unlucky with the doctor.

j.e.j.

msb5262 wrote: »

A couple of points - a. you could easily use the syringe to measure the liquid, then a spoon to administer it, and b. it's REALLY important that tablets are not crushed and capsules are not opened! Medicines are dispensed by a pharmacist to be taken as directed; ignoring this can be dangerous.

I do wonder if it's the syringe that's putting the child off. Even adults get a bit wobbly if someone comes at them with a syringe!

DigForVictory

The vomiting would have me lugging the child back to the GP forthwith, especially if the pharmacist had reassured me there was a pill option to try.

Wrapping a cat to dose it may have worked for James Herriot, but it isn't a technique I'm keen to try on a child I can (in theory!) reason with.

rach_k

Have you tried a Spilly Spoon? It's a measuring spoon that doesn't spill when you lay it flat and the child can use it themselves. It sort of looks like a caterpillar so you might be able to work it into a story. My 3 year old wouldn't take her antibiotics so I got one from Amazon. It only worked for a few days but it was worth it! I also tried mixing the medicine with various things - Nutella was a good one. Letting LO play with a syringe and give 'medicine' to dolls, teddies and parents also helped. Perhaps you could find something with a similar consistency to the medicine that tastes nice (honey, maybe?) to get him used to the feel of the medicine so he might be able to cope with the taste better.

foxymum1977_2

We had this a few weeks back with our son who is 8 he had terrible tonisilitus and was given the horrible thick frothy antibiotic and he hated it, he would stand near the sink ready to sick it up or spit it out as he gagged it was awful, I haven't got any additional advise as sounds like you've been given loads of good advise already but good luck Xx