Taking Medicine - Northfield,MN

My daughter went (is going) through the same thing. What I found worked was to let her take her time swallowing it. Just a little bit at a time. We also do this ridiculous cheer once she's swallowed. We look and sound like total fools, but it works! :-)

My daughter(5) has strep throat right now and my easiest way to get her anitibiotics in her is to take the syringe thing full of meds and squish it in as fast as I can and I always promise a small cup of whatever she wants to chase it down with, her pick milk,water,juice, whatever! She doesn't like this medication otherwise if it's something that she doesnt' mind the taste of I let her use the medicine spoon thing.

When she was a baby sometimes she enjoyed her meds other times I had to force them in. If I had to do that I would have her on my lap or somewhere I could hold her steady and put the syringe in her mouth and just do one big push of the syringe and then so she wouldn't spit it out I would catch her off guard and make a big noise or laugh or something to kind of shock her and get her attention somewhere else and she would forget about what was going on and just swallow.

Hi A. -

I read this tip in a magazine and it seems to work for us. I have a little boy who hates to take medicine and spits most of it out. Use the dosing syring that comes with most infant/toddler medicines and when you give it to her, lightly blow on her face (I think this is suppose to cause her to swallow) and see if that works.

Good luck!

A. H,

Oh yes, I remember those days! What I would do is use an oral syringe. This sounds means and I felt bad doing it, but I knew they had to have the medicine: I would plug their nose, when they open their mouth to breath, let go of the nose, stick the syringe into one side of the cheeck and push the syringe. You do not want to aim it directly into the back of their mouth because they might choke. When they get a little older, I let them give it to themselves. Kids like to be in control and by letting them do it themselves, they feel they have control (Be taking it right then and there or waiting a few seconds and then taking it). I also let them pick the cup, the oral syringe (still the most popular choice in our house) or the cylindrical dosing spoon. You can request these items for no charge at any pharmacy. Nowadays, they also have a flavoring that can be added to medications to give it a better flavor. I know they carry this at Walgreens. Good luck!

My son who's 18 1/2 months also doesn't care for medicine - although the last stuff we had was flavored Cherry and he didn't mind it. What worked for us was to let him run around and then go up behind him and stick it in his mouth and push only about 1-2 tsp in at a time...otherwise he gags and sometimes throws up. Then he sees it as a game of chase and I'll follow him and he's laughing - then we do it again. I think it takes his mind off what is going on. Once he gets used to the medication we try giving him a sippy cup of water that he can take drinks from between the tries of getting the med in. Once he tolerates the med better we can push a lot more in at a time.

The trick for us was to go slowly.

Hope this helps - meds are no fun.
-J.

I have the same problem! Have you tried letting her hold the medicine dropper/syringe? My 17 month old son likes to hold it and put it in his mouth. Then, while he's holding it, I push the meds into his mouth!

I put it in thier sippy cups as well.
I don't think it makes a diffrence, they are still getting it into thier systems.

we just got through giving our 21 months a round of medicine. first of all, dont give it to them when they are upset, she usually spit it out. i have had some success with these methods: have her use a nuk and squirt the medicine on the side of her mouth and give it to her in the bathtub.

Most pharmacies now will flavor liquid medication, maybe that would be worth a shot. I have a daughter who has acid reflux and I had to switch her meds to something better tasting before she would take it, now I have no problems. Good luck to you!!

What I used to do with my son when he was that age was put it in his sippy cup and he never knew what was going on :).

Does she take a plug yet? They do sell a plug that you put the Meds in and they just suck on it like a regular plug. Otherwise try putting it in about 2oz of juice and have her drink that. Other then that besides the old hold them down and plug there nose ( I do not suggest doing that ) then she will deffinetly hate the meds, thats all that I can suggest. My daughter was on Zyntac for 1yr and a half for acid reflux so she got used to meds tasting horrible and takes meds with no problems. Good luck.