Baby Spitting Out Medicine

Updated on March 27, 2009
P.V. asks from Irvine, CA
25 answers

Help! My 14 month old has an ear infection (second time)...We have been instructed to give her anitbiotics for 10 days. I got the medicine apple flavored but it does not seem to help. We have held her down and given it to her by the plastic syringe but it was a battle we didn't win (towards the side of her mouth and little by little). I tried offering it on a spoon between feeding her and was only successful until she starting spitting it out. I'm so concerned that she has not gotten enough medication to fight her ear infection... I had tried the cherry flavor the last time she had it with the same result, she only gave in and took the syrup the last 2 days of the 10 day routine.

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

So What Happened?

Thanks to everyone for all the help. I called the Pediatrician and he prescribed a once a day antibiotic. This time I got it "grape" flavored and mixed it with her apple juice. No screaming..had to add more juice to mask the taste, she drank most of it! 9 more days of this and we are done!

Featured Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

Just think...you will laugh about this one day. You just have to hold them down and shove it in. I know it would be wonderful if they would just take it all at once and get it over with, but try little bits so there is not so much waste. It gets easier and it happens to all of us, so don't feel bad for this.

1 mom found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

My son used to get frequent ear infections and this was painful for me...I love the syringe they give away at Target Pharmacy's. What I had to do was cradle my son in my arms like I was going to breastfeed and then, hold his cheeks so his mouth was open and then get it in there and squeeze while massaging the cheeks to swallow.

If it's anitbiotics you can call the pharmacy and ask about mixing it with BM or Formula, but I never did that so don't know if you can. After a couple of times I was able to make it a game, and offered my son treats for taking his meds...stickers and stuff after he got older.

Don't worry you're doing the best you can!! Good Luck.

1 mom found this helpful

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

H.W.

answers from Los Angeles on

Hello,
My son did the same thing when he was that age. He suffered from chronic ear infections and was on antibiotics at least once a month. I did one of two things that got the medicine down- first I would mix it in with a little bit of water or milk in his bottle, he thought he was getting a bottle and I knew he was taking his medicine. Also, there is a pacifier (if your daughter uses one) that you can put medicine into and while they are sucking, it releases the medicine. You can get them at Wal Mart, Target and Babys R US. Hope this helps and good luck.
Take care,
H.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

P.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

Try putting it in her cup or bottle with juice, milk or what ever she drinks. Maybe next time you should see if they come in tablets & crush them in food.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.W.

answers from Los Angeles on

My dd loved the bubble gum. From day one I told her is was yogurt, her favorite thing. She kind of looked at me funny, but it worked. LOL This may sound wierd, but with our dogs (our fur kids) we would put it in their mouth and blow on their snout and mouth kind of hard, it forces them to breathe in and swallow. Good luck with that.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.A.

answers from Los Angeles on

use the syringe-squirt in the very back of the mouth, and do not let her open her mouth, 1 swallow. done. do not redose, b ecause you have no idea how much was ingested. just do the best you can.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I have the same problem with my one year old son. It takes two people to get it in and it doesn't matter what the flavor is (we've also had to do it with juice when he was dehydrated and I know he likes that), he won't take it. He scrunches up and thrashes around trying to get away. We had to do the antibiotics too. Eventually we learned that you have one person hold him and the other person squirts it in the side of his mouth. Then the secret weapon...blow on his face! It forces them to swallow.

Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.L.

answers from San Diego on

Hi P V try putting it in her juice. Didn't they give her
amoxacilin? kids love it. well hope it all works out. J.

PS don't let her see you.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

N.W.

answers from Los Angeles on

Good Morning PV,

You may want to consider that your child is allergic to the medicine. You may want to log on to NAET.com and locate an NAET allergist near your home. As far as I know, they are the only allergists who eliminate allergies. If you have any questions about NAET you may email me ____@____.com, Amazon.com has Say Goodbye to Illness by Dr. Devi Nambudripad the creator of NAET.

Be Well.

N.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

M.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

If she would happily drink apple juice.. Get the concentrate, add a little over 1/2 the water called for so it's a stronger apple flavor and mix in the meds to a sippy full. A little underhanded but hey Mom's have to get creative sometimes. :) Good Luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

Try putting it in her food or liquids. You could put the apple flavored antibiotic in applesauce, for example. Good luck.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

The only thing that works for my 17 month old who spits it out (no matter what flavor it is) is to stick it in his sippy cup or bottle when she was going to drink it all (i.e. when going down for a nap). Be careful with antibiotics--you REALLY need to take all 10 days or she can make the infection stronger and the medicine won't work anymore...

Good luck!!

p.s. I checked with the pharmacist when he took his last two medicines and they were fine with me mixing it with juice, water or milk!! :)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.G.

answers from Los Angeles on

I would lay them down, plug their nose, and squeeze it into the size of the mouth inside the cheek. They have no choice but to swallow in order to breath. You could also try giving it with a spoonful of applesauce or yogurt.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.D.

answers from Los Angeles on

i don't know how to keep the meds down but i thought i would suggest also giving her baby jarrow dophillus ..u can get it at Wholefoods..it's good to take when you're taking antibiotics for the tummy and prevents yeast infections..
also u might want to google "serrapeptase" an alternative to antibiotics ..see what it says for ear infections...

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.A.

answers from Los Angeles on

Hi, I have two kids and I had the same problem with my youngest son when he was about a year old. My trick was to hold him down too but had somebody pinched his nose lightly while I'm giving him the medicine and because he would be grasping for his breath he would automatically inhale thereby swallowing all the syrup in his mouth. Hope this trick would help you. Good luck and God bless.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.B.

answers from Los Angeles on

the trick i use is to lie them on their back, put a lil in their mouths, then blow in their face. this way they can not breathe & it causes them to swallow. good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.D.

answers from Las Vegas on

Hi, I've also experienced this problem and this may sound cruel but it was the only way I could make sure my son was getting all the medicine...with the help of my mother, I gently held his nose closed while opening his mouth and dropping the medicine in. It worked like a charm. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.V.

answers from Los Angeles on

First I would hold them with their head tilted back and then I would just put the syringe down in the corner of their mouth as far as I could, hopefully back by their back teeth if they have them and squirt some in and then I would blow air at their faces right away and they would hold their breath for a second and then almost automatically swallow. Not to mention that I had a pretty good hold on them as well. I hope you can get a visual with that description and I hope it helps.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

Try putting it in cereal, or after you syringe it in, put a pacifier in really quick... Helps them swallow.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

Had same problem with my son with antibiotics so the pharmacist suggested mixing it with chocolate pudding. I just got the suger free kind and mixed the meds with a few tablespoons of pudding. She did say chocolate rather then any other flavor masked the meds taste better. Hope this helps.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.A.

answers from Honolulu on

Well, as horrible as this sounds, you might just have to "shove it in there" somehow! lol I know it's hard to do something like that to your kid, but it's for her own good really. The only other option I can think of is to hide it in something - like apple sauce maybe - just check with the pharmacy first that this is ok to do that with this particular medicine. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I had this same problem with my son. We mixed the medicine into fruit like applesauce and we also used other baby foods of that consistancy. He was not eating baby food anymore but my husband tried it and found that he couldn't taste the medicine and my son didn't even notice. He was on this medicine for a long time and we never had a problem when we did it with the food. I hope this helps!!

S.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

D.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

I always had the same problem. What worked for me sometimes was giving her the medicine and then lightly blowing in her face. This was on advice from the pediatrician but sometimes the medicine would go down the wrong way and she'd cough. Does your pediatrician have any suggestions for you?

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.N.

answers from Los Angeles on

I has the same problem with my son. I finally figured out that if I mixed the medicine in with a little bit of milk and put it in a sippy cup he would drink it all with no problems.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

R.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

Hi PV,

Here's a good trick (works for any age -- child or adult).

1. Chill the medication well (most liquid antibiotics should be kept refrigerated, anyway). You can place the bottle in a an ice water bath mixed with some salt, which will lower the temperature well below refrigerated temp, but keep it above freezing (which would destroy the chemical function of the antibiotic). BTW, salt lowers the freezing point of water (remember HS chem?).

2. Chill the child's mouth by having her suck on a popsicle for several minutes. This numbs the taste buds.

3. Pop the popsicle out, quickly spoon or squirt the medicine in. Your child will barely taste the bitterness of the antibiotic and it should go down pretty easily.

I hope this works for you!

R.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions

Related Searches