Need Suggestions to Get My 9 Month Old to Take Yucky Medicine!

Hi H.,
You are not alone! When my daughter had to take Augmenten, we had the same problem. It's a nasty tasting medicine and the instant it hit her tongue, it was out. Our pediatrician told us that was completely normal...unfortunately. We had to lay her down in our arms and put the syringe down her cheek and as close to the back of her throat as possible. Flavoring helped but since it's already orange flavored, we asked the pharmacist to add more. The last time she took Augmenten the flavoring helped but still, we've worn it a few times.

Best to you!
A.

Can you refridgerate it? He might like it better if it is cold....OR, is it refridgerated? Can it not be, maybe that is what he doesn't like too much also(the coldness of it)? Is there nothing else doc can prescribe?
:)C

Have you tried giving just a tiny bit with it mixed in with food all throughout the whole day? Just put a little in with breakfast, a little in with lunch, and so on. Hope it works.

There is flavoring for medication. I saw in the pain reliever aisle at Wal Mart they sell it where you can mix it yourself. I know that CVS Pharmacy will mix the flavor into the medication when you have the prescription filled for a few extra bucks, and SOOO worth it. Good luck. My five year old daughter takes Zantac and has taken it since she was two months old. The flavoring has worked the best. Good luck.

Try a popsicle half before to numb and half after to renumb

Call your pharmacist and ask him to search and see if that med comes in a chewable or dissolvable tablet (much easier to disguise in food and better tasting). We've had to do that with our son's reflux medicines and now we ask the doctor to look on the electronic medical record system when writing all other scripts for medicines in this form because he will NOT take a bitter liquid no matter how clever we were. Prevacid DOES come in a chewable and it is good, he likes it. >>>> Side thought, since this is an antibiotic it may not come in a dissolvable/chewable tablet, and if not you CAN ask your pharmacist to spike it with different flavors. That may help.

If you can't do that - the only thing that worked for us with icky liquids was to use a medicine syringe and shoot a little into each spoonful of yogurt. He knew something was weird but he liked yogurt enough that he would eat it and with just a little in each spoonful, if he eats the whole yogurt, that took care of the dose. Gosh, but you are speaking of a 9 month old. There were times we had to use the force method - of course that would work if he didn't throw up. One of us held him, the other used a syringe and shot it as close as possible to the back so he would hopefully not taste it -- but hold him (like you would do to make a dog swallow kind of) so that he has to swallow before you let go. Sounds awful but I know how you feel. We would cry afterwords, but if we didn't do it, he suffered.
I feel for you and hope I've given you something to go on.
Thinking of you

Hi H.,
I am sorry to hear about your problem. My 6 year old was exactly like that when he was little, he is just now taking meds without throwing up everywhere. When he was little like yours we had to do a syringe method, but only gave a tiny bit at a time, he would gag, we would let him sit for a second, then give a tiny bit more, with sips of water in between at times, we did that until he was done with the whole dose, this was very helpful. Now once he got to the age of 2 it was a very different story, I couldn't get him to even sit still to take meds, and holding him down was almost impossible not to mention traumatic. So, we found that mixing harsh tasting meds with a small amount of Dr. Pepper worked for us(about 3oz). I am not sure why, but, I think the soda is sweet enough and almost "mediciny" (my own word there lol) enough on its own so the meds are not noticed. We tried it with every other soda, juice and milk product out there and that was the one that worked best for us. I hope that this can help you out, because, I know from experience just how frustrating it can be.
Good Luck,
Annie

This isn't exactly help to get him to take medicine, but keep in mind that cranberry juice will change the pH of urine, which will make it hard for bacteria to live. Make sure you only get 100% juice (mixed with something else is probably best, as 100% Cranberry is VERY sour). Give him some of that every day. Then even if you can't get all the medicine to stay down, you'll have the comfort that at least you're doing something. And cranberry apple, cranberry grape, and other such mixtures, really taste good. :)

Good luck.

Try mixing it with grenadine syrup---i know that you really don't want the sugar or red dye from the syrup, however, i know that it works (my dd took zantac for GERD, it tasted and smelled horrible, but the pharmacist made that suggestion and it worked).

M.

HEB will flavor medicine for you

H.,

I know Walgreens can put flavored syrups in liquid medicine for an extra $3.00. They have quite a variety too. That may help and since your boy is old enough to eat foods, I'd probably pick the flavor that he likes best. I know Walgreens can do it but I don't know about the other pharmacies.

I hope this helps. Let me know.

HI You should try to give it to him while he is sleeping. Just slip the syringe into his cheek toward the back of his mouth and give it slowly. or you could ask the pharmacist to flavor it they have pretty strong and sweet tasting powder that they can put into it. it costs alittle more,but well worth it.
good luck
jas

H.,
have you tried mixing it in icecream/popsicle. i have to mix my son's medicine in mint chocoloate chip icecream. good luck!
jen

The flavoring at CVS is great however it doesn't work with everything. If it is something that has a bad aftertaste and it's not just the flavor of the medicine it won't work. Also, sometimes the generic taste worse than the regular. Worth the extra money if so.

Milk and yogart are really good things to mix it with. Just mix 1/2 or 1/4 of it so it isn't so strong and then a little later use the rest.

If none of this works, I would check with the doctor to see if there is anything else he can give you that would work and taste better.

Good luck!!!

Kirkman Laboratories has 2 flavoring syrups, cherry and strawberry, that can pretty much disguise the most nasty of stuff. Most. Try that. Next, see if the medicine comes in an injectable form, and give your child shots every night, if possible. I have to do that with b12 vitamins, and there is a numbing cream we use to stop the pain/reaction when jabbed. We do this when my son is asleep..otherwise, there is a huge battle. Good luck.,

I don't know what pharmacy you use, but CVS offers flavoring for medicine and I think it is only about $3, that is the only way I could ever get my oldest to take hers. Good luck!

Ok, With my son, my husband started giving him some orange juice (or other special treat) in the syringe. Then he would have 2 syringes and switch between medicine and juice. He would get so excited just seeing the syringe. Now he sucks down his medicine because he knows that I will fill it with juice after. With my 6 month old I get a very thin syringe and squirt a little at a time in the very back of her throat. Then I give her a binki to suck. (She is only drinking breast milk right now) If you put it very far back then it just goes down the throat and they dont taste it as much.
good luck!
K.

Trust me, i feel your pain....my daughter has just now started taking meds without a problem.... what I used to have to do when she needed to take yucky meds I would wait until she was sound asleep and then I would use the dropper and slowly drip it into her mouth.... Surprisingly enough it would not choke her (which was my fear when I first tried this method) and it did not wake her up.... I would just stick the dropper all the way into her mouth and squeeze one drop at a time. Other than that my daughter would NOT take meds even when I would pay extra to have the pharmacy flavor them... I would sometimes feel like I was abusing her by having to have her dad hold her arms and legs down while I held her head... Not pleasent.... good luck to you and if all else fails ask her MD if they have this antibiotic in an injectible form... it's not ideal but at least you can be sure beyond a doubt that he is getting the meds he needs.

H.,
Check with your doctor to see if the antibiotic he is on comes in a powder form. My daughter has the same condition. She will be 4 in January and was diagnosed at 5 months. We gave her a liquid antibiotic until she started refusing it and would refuse food that we mixed it in also. At the time she was on Macrodantin, and her doctor started prescribing it in a capsule. We just opened the capsule and mixed the powder with applesauce usually and that worked for over a year until she figured it out! Now she is on a different antibiotic (Septra) that she likes so she takes the liquid with no complaints.

try mixing it in ice cream or apple sauce. worked for us.

Try putting in a bottle nipple and give it to him to suck it out.

I'd give the Dr. a call and ask him or talk to the pharmacist... explain to them that he's throwing the medicine back up. I'm sure that they've dealt with that problem in other children if the med. is that bitter...

When my son broke his leg I had to take the Tylenol 3 back to the pharmacy (CVS) so that they could add flavoring for him. After we got the flavor in there, he begged to take it.

Hope that helps!
T.

As a mom who is eternaly grateful that I dont have to give my son medicen everyday I have alot of sympathy for you. I know what its like and how fustrating it is, my otherwise easy going child would suddenly turn into a firebreathing mini demon, spitting and razzbeerrying medicen everywhere while he squirmed, hit and kicked! Im sure the neighbors thought I was torturing him.

Ask your doctor if they can add a flavoring to it, or if they have meltaways. My only other advice is to make popsicles with medi in them.

Good luck and hope nothing stains. :)

This works for my kids, hopr it works for you. Have medicine ready in a syringe, grip in your teeth. Cradle baby, put one of his arms in your armpit, hook your thumb in his elbow so he cant swat the medicine. he may fuss a little or a lot and that's ok, it keeps him from choking on the medicine, use your free hand to squirt in little amounts the medicine to the back side of his mouth. if he is crying, do it when he is making noise, not breathing in. as soon as you have some in his mouth, gently blow in his face at his nose, it will make him swallow, continue in small amounts till the medicine is gone. it sounds mean, but it gets the nasty stuff down. if he starts to gag, keep blowing in his face, the swallowing will keep him from throwing up. good luck

Hi H.,
Maybe this will help. I have had to squirt the medicine in my son's mouth when he was little using this method because like you son, it was too nasty. Once the medicine hits the taste buds...it is alll over and that causes the gag reaction.
But try this...when you open his mouth, place the syringe between his gums and the inside of his jaw. Hold his little cheeks as if you are puckering his lips, insert the syringe along the side of his gums and cheeks squirting where the lymph nodes are. That way it goes down without him tasting it and it dosen't make him gag. I hope my explanation was pretty clear...seems I could describe it better by showing it. I had the same problems with my son and a doctor told me this method.
Hope this was helpful.