Giving Medicine to a 3Yr Old

Most cold medications are not recommended to children under 6 years of age (according to the FDA). The reason being is that they find them ineffective in treating the cold symptoms in children that young. However, I know if your child is not feeling well you want to help. I am aware of over the counter options such as dimetapp has a grape flavored bear sucker to get the medicine, many products now offer the dissovlable medication strips that you place on your child's tongue and it dissovles and flavored I think grape and cherry.
Once again the box will read for children under 6 years of age....consult your doctor. I have to state this b/c I am a pharmacist. However if your call your doctor office they will tell you how to dose the medication correctly according to weight, etc.
Hope it helps

Bribery (a piece of candy after she has to take it) but that no longer works for my kid. He hates it as well. We've discovered that if we put the grape flavored rx (I have to buy it from walgreens because they have the biggest selection of flavors rather than Target or Walmart.) in grape juice, he can't tell its there and drinks it up.

How about using an infant dropper? if you let her do it herself, she might be interested enough to forget the flavor. also...there is a lot of different medicines with different flavors...would it help if she had a choice of the flavor??

My sister has a really hard time with her daughter and meds. She makes her a deal. This last time she had a sinus infection, my sister promised her that the Easter bunny would be bring her a DVD. You might want to bribe her...

Just a thought...

J.

I thought OTC cold medications were taken off the shelves for children that young. I guess I would try bribery.

The only way my daughter takes medicine is thru syringe, it gets squirt in her mouth easily. After medicine she get to suck juice in that by herself and squirt by herself as a treat and she really enjoys doing that.

I also limited cold medicines for her after reading enough articles on not to give cold medication to kids under 4. Good luck!