Ways to get your child to take his meds? Post Reply

[Happyfaces]

I'd be so great full for any advice as frankly I'm at my wits end with this and feel like I have exhausted every avenue!! I need fresh ideas.

My son is 4 years old and has been given an 'early' diagnosis of Asthma.
Ever since he was born we have lived in and out of the hospital with recurring chest infections and asthma attacks. He uses a asthma pump daily.

My problem is that he has never taken ANY oral medicine, he HATES it. He hates calpol, neurofen and any kind of liquid medicine, so much so that I have been having to give him children's paracetamol suppository's just to bring his temperature down.

He currently has another chest infection and I'm faced with the same situation, he has been given antibiotics from the doctor and refuses to take them, he spits it out or vomits it back up or just screams. Which then means his chest infection gets worse and were back up the hospital again on oxygen.

I just wondered if anyone had any magic tips of how they get their children to take their medicine, or is my child the only one in the world who hates calpol!! I've spoken to so many mums who are always so shocked that he hates medicine as their children are begging them to take the yummy strawberry syrup.

I've tried hiding it in yoghurt
Milk
Food
Rewards. Nothing seems to work!

Help help help

[supergirl]

I m sorry to hear that and i dont have first hand experience about not wanting to take any oral medecine. But my youngest is 3 and had a lot of problems with recurrent ear jnfections, chest infections, etc.

I found that at 3 i can talk to her. Why does she needs to put the earband on, what will happen if she refuses, takes it off and go in the water? Why does she needs to take the "lellow" medecine, yes thats not cery nice but it will make your chest feel better. What will happen if you dont, it will get worth, we might end up at hospital, etc.

Same for my 4,5yrs. Have you tried to have a rational grown up conversation with him but using practical words that mean something to him? Sorry i really dont mean to patronise you, when something is very serious i found that this is the inly thing that works with my 2!

Good luck. Sx

[SW Nanny]

I'd be so great full for any advice as frankly I'm at my wits end with this and feel like I have exhausted every avenue!! I need fresh ideas.

My son is 4 years old and has been given an 'early' diagnosis of Asthma.
Ever since he was born we have lived in and out of the hospital with recurring chest infections and asthma attacks. He uses a asthma pump daily.

My problem is that he has never taken ANY oral medicine, he HATES it. He hates calpol, neurofen and any kind of liquid medicine, so much so that I have been having to give him children's paracetamol suppository's just to bring his temperature down.

He currently has another chest infection and I'm faced with the same situation, he has been given antibiotics from the doctor and refuses to take them, he spits it out or vomits it back up or just screams. Which then means his chest infection gets worse and were back up the hospital again on oxygen.

I just wondered if anyone had any magic tips of how they get their children to take their medicine, or is my child the only one in the world who hates calpol!! I've spoken to so many mums who are always so shocked that he hates medicine as their children are begging them to take the yummy strawberry syrup.

I've tried hiding it in yoghurt
Milk
Food
Rewards. Nothing seems to work!

Help help help

Hi there

Giving your child choices and letting him do as much as he can for himself helps him with his sense of control. He might want to get the medicine out of the refrigerator. He might be interested in using a syringe or a dropper and putting it in his own mouth. He could choose whether he wants it in the bathroom or the kitchen, standing up or laying in your lap. Some children feel less overwhelmed if they get it in several small squirts rather than one big gulp. Helping him make a favorite food to have afterwards may ease his sense of helplessness. He could even help set the timer for five minutes to signal the time to take his medicine.

If your feeling up for it, role play sometimes helps by filling a syringe of 'medicine' (food colouring and water) and let him give the 'medicine' to his teddy and use lots of encouraging language 'Wow hasn't teddy taken his medicine nicely now it's 'your childs name' turn'

Good Luck

[Pats021]

Hi, sorry I have no useful suggestions, but just wanted to say I share your pain. My 4 year old son is exactly the same and will not take ANY medicine. I live in fear of an illness requiring anti-biotics. I've tried everything too and the only thing that occasionally works is hiding it in angel delight. But he is even growing suspicious of that now. Let me know if you find a magic solution. Hope he feels better soon. Xx

[Helgibbs]

Oh that sounds awful, especially when dealing with a poorly child.
If he is up to a rational conversation maybe you will have some luck.

The only thing I can think of that worked for me was having the child sitting, standing or laying down where they wanted to be, with favourite dvd/tv programme on, special cuddle watching, a chocolate button in each hand.....
......then a quick countdown 3-2-1- go! I would syringe some or all of the dose into the mouth (spoonfuls are so easily knocked off), then in go the 2 choccie buttons, and I begin talking animatedly about what is happening on the tv.... phew!

Good luck with this, I hope someone posts a new strategy and that it all works out for you.
Helen
xxx

[erinisle22]

My son (and now my daughter) is the same as yours. Although he's only 2.5. The only thing that has worked for us is giving him some element of control in taking the medicine. I bought this:

http://www.gadgetbaby.co.uk/non-spill-m ... lly-spoon/

He will now take his medicine! Mostly...

And my 8 month old daughter has spent the last week spitting up the penicillin that is supposed to be making her better from tonsillitis...kids eh?!

[Azilal10]

Hi

Not sure how helpful this might be but my son has to take medication daily for a congenital disorder. Although it is available in liquid form we actually get the pill form of his medication and use a pill crusher (you can buy them at Boots, you just have to ask for them over the pharmacy counter or they may have to order one in for you), to crush the pill and we then dissolve the powder in a syringe of milk (i.e pull a syringe full of milk from the milk bottle/cup, squeeze it into the pull crusher with the powedered medication, swoosh it around a bit and give it a minute to dissolve then suck back up again into the syringe). As my son adores milk he is happy to take it.

Having said that, if your son is anti-syringes this could be a problem, but you could try doing the same thing with a splash of milk in his favourite cup or something.

BTW the pill cutter usually comes with a built in razor that can be very easily used should you need to dispense half or quarter doses of a whole pill which we had to do for a periof. Obviously you'd need to keep it away from the little ones as razor is v sharp!!

As I said at the beginning, I'm not sure how helpful this is, especially as my son has had to do it from 6 months old so he is very used to it now at 3.5years but thought I'd put the idea out there just in case.

Good luck, it must be extremely worrying for you.
xx

[btcmum]

It's awful isn't it!! We had a similar problem with our three year old and antibiotics earlier this year. Unfortunately the only way I could do it was Mary-Poppins-style by mixing the meds with icing sugar (hideous for their teeth I know!!) and gradually weaning out the sugar as the week went on. I said that it was special sugar as a treat for poorly boys and that he could only have one spoonful and he bought it. It does mean more work in the tooth brushing department but we were on the verge of pneumonia with him so drastic measures were required.

Good luck!!!

[Happyfaces]

Thank you so much for your advice.

I have tried having a grown up conversation and any mention of medicine, he completely screams the place down. I've explained the consequences and why he needs to take the medicine but it doesn't seem to matter to him. It is such a tricky thing and it makes me so sad to watch him get even more sick, when I know how simple it could be if he just took the meds. I will give all your suggestions ago and keep you posted.

He hates medicine in a syringe and on a spoon.

Thank you so much erinisle22 I have just purchased this spoon, I've given him a spoon before and a syringe to take the medicine himself and it hasn't worked, I will give this one a try!

Azilal10 - do you know if children can have paracetamol tablets? I didn't think they could until they were 12? It would be brilliant if they could as this would totally solve our problem as tablets have hardly any taste!! Defiantly something I will suggest to the doctor next time we go.

Btcmum - I Have never tried icing sugar, do you mix the icing sugar with the medication? Have you tried it before? Does it taste much better?

Thank you all so much, I do not feel so useless knowing that others have had similar situations with their children.

[btcmum]

It was the taste my son didn't like as opposed to the idea of me administering it - he was actually quite up for spooning it in himself until he tasted the stuff!! After trying everything imaginable to mask it the icing sugar worked a treat. Initially I used a tiny bowl to mix the dose together with a small teaspoon of sugar... it's a super sweet result so he was happy enough. As time went on I reduced the amount of sugar and by the end of the week it was almost neat.

x

[Azilal10]

I think you are right that paracetamol tablets are for over 12s but definitely worth chatting to your doctor about it as he/she may be able to suggest something else perhaps?

Good luck. xxx

[Nanylookingtotemp]

Have you tried a star chart with a picture of the prize he gets when he finishes the antibiotic course? I done this with a little girl I looked after before who was also not very keen on meds! You have to follow through though with the consequences if he does not take it!

Also you could ask you doctors advice about reducing the duration of the antibiotics which is normally 7 days to a shorter course with a higher dose if that makes sense that way it doesn't seem as long for your child! Always offer a drink of water or something more delicious (OJ/AJ) after to take away the taste as he may genuinely not like the taste!

Another trick is to change the bottle so he doesn't recognise it as the Medication Bottle etc.!