Giving a 2 1/2 Year Old Medicine

i did "special milk" that we said was a "treat". i mixed antibiotic in with about 2 tblspns milk and about 2 tblspns chocolate syrup. it's a small enough amount that she would drink it all, but so chocolately that she would not complain. my daughter is EXTREMELY picky and would spit the meds out of her mouth - even if she knew she would get in trouble and be disciplined. this was the only way i got her to take it. good luck!

Hi K.,

I mix my sons antibiotic with some applesauce, he loves applesauce. I have found that the antibiotic seems to be chalky and has made my son vomit too. I put one tsp spoon of apple sauce with his antibiotic in a syringe and then followed up with some plain apple sauce by spoon. I hope this helps.

He is 3.5 years old.

C.

I had this problme with my son also. Tried EVERYTHING. Called the doctor while he was standing there next to me and they said "if he won't take it, he"ll need an injection." I repeated this loudly and said "I'll call you back." Then I gave my son the choice. Take the meds or get a shot. Last chance, you have to keep it down or off we go to the doctor's. He took it, kept it down and never had a problem again. If he picks the shot, take him off to the doctor's office and quit worrying about it. If he truly can't keep the meds down, a shot will do the trick.

I have struggled with this exact thing and it is so stressful. I, like you, tried everything. Finally, I was able to put it in a danimals drinkable yogurt and it masked the taste of the antibiotic. I hope this works for you, too! Let me know!
Best wishes,
Gretchen

The best thing you can do is call your pharmacist about the antibiotic and potential overdosing. You can overdose on antibiotics!

When I had an icky medicine to give, I asked the pharmacist about it. He said that he would give it in cococola! That the little bit of caffiene was nothing in comparison with getting the medicine. That's what he used with his kids.

Now, each medicine is different, so I would talk to your pharmacist about the specific medication your child is getting, and see what it can be mixed with.

If you cannot get it down him, it might be a matter of trying a different medication altogether.

My best result has come from mixing it with the juice from a bottle of marichino cherries.

I had to give my one year old Tamiflu which was horrid. I had to pull out the medi bottle and give it to her that way. We had just turned the world over getting her off of it. That was just lovely.

Good luck!

They make chewable anitbiotics for kids. See if your Dr. will write you a prescription for those.

wall greens will add flavor to the meds. i would just have a talk with him about taking meds very matter of fact. my son never had problems with meds. but i dont force it on him either. i never held him down. he is very happy about meds. i dont dread it and neither does he. i find with anything (nail clippers, bath ) if i dont force it and i calmly just do it it goes pretty somoothly. its when its froced and in your face and in your space that kids tend to freak out. think about when a boy puts a lizard in a girls face she is totally freaked out. if you put anything by supprize in someones face they are going to react the same way. gently calmly and letting them be in some type of controll might help you.

I've had that problem before, too. You might ask his doctor to give him a shot since your son won't take the medication orally. Have you tried putting the medicine in juice or pedalyte.

My oldest (who is now 11) had to be rushed to Tx Children's in the Medical Center with an extremely high fever after he turned 1. The doctors and nurses were awesome. Anyhow, one of the nurses told me a trick to get them to take medicine. She said to put the medicine in a cup with 1 oz of liquid. At the time he drank, grape juice and fruit punch. The flavor masked it enough that he took his medicine and was better within a couple of days. I tried it again with my other two and had no problems. I hope this helps and that he is doing much better. L.

I would make sure he is eating before the medicine is given. My kids do put up a fight at times and have occasionally thrown up medicine but never every time. As a toddler my older one had to take medicine in the high chair with both of us, one restraining him and the other with the medicine in an oral medicine syringe. My 16 month old was put on Augmentin this winter when she was 12 months and I couldn't get her to take it (even the doctor said it was nasty tasting but it worked a little better). The Dr. switched to another antibiotic (amoxicillin) that she had taken before with no problems. Some antibiotics are harder on the stomach than others and some taste worse. Also my kids from before or about age 2 were willing to cooperate a bit more to get a small treat like a cookie or small piece of candy after taking the medicine, although this may not work if an upset stomach is part of the illness.

Both of my kids did the same thing with augmentim and the Dr. said that they were allergic to it. Try to see if amoxil is strong enough for your child because that one actually tastes like bubblegum and it's pink. It worked for mine. Good luck!

I would talk to your pediatrician right away. I'm not so much worried about your son getting too much antibiotic, as I'm sure you're being very cautious, but I'm worried about him not getting enough to treat 2 serious infections. If it was my child, I would call my doctor, tell them exactly what is happening when you give the child the medicine and ask them if they can give him antibiotic shots instead.
Second thought: Is this his first time taking an antibiotic? Could the vomitting be an allergic reaction symptom and not just a rejection action? Something else to watch and talk to your pediatrician about possibly.
Good luck!

We started giving our son pills when he was 2ish, for similar reason. I was all prepared to have the pill in a mashed potato bite... but he was so relieved not to taste the durn medicine that he swallowed the pill down whole and has never gone back to liquid meds. Chewable meds (for him) were as bad as the liquid kind. He'd taste them and gag.

My pedi prescribed my son an antibiotic that didn't taste so great and recommended giving him a hershey kiss first, to let the chocolate coat his mouth, then the antibiotic, then followed by another hershey kiss. Make sure the last kiss is ready to pop in as soon as the medicine goes down. Good luck!

My son was recently on antibiotics and I had a lot of trouble getting him to take it/keep it down. I felt awful having to hold him down and force it down his throat. At one point out of frusteration I just handed him the syringe of medicine and let him suck on it (the syringe is key...the cup and spoon didn't work at all!). Once he had it in his mouth I said "one, two, three" and pushed the rest into his mouth. He thought it was the coolest thing and asked for more!

My cousin does the same thing and always has (she's 9 now). I think my aunt finally figured out that she could take in in oatmeal sometimes, but now her pedi just give her a shot of whatever the med is. She can't even take OTC Tylenol or Benadryl because she will vomit everything she's eaten for a couple of hours. Niki would much rather have a shot than have to try to swallow meds that she'll just vomit up anyway. Go figure!
Has he always done this? Have you talked to your pedi about it? There may be alternative meds he could take.

My midde child, now 3, went through a phase where he did the same thing. If he is keeping down "better tasting" medicine (tylenol, ibuprofen, etc) then it is mostly mental. We finally told my son that if he would keep it down he would get a treat, if not no treat. It worked for us. Good luck.

See if the doctor can inject an antibiotic. If your son really does need it and can't/won't keep it down, this may be the option that's healthiest.

You might call the pharmacy where you got it and ask about Flavor Rx. They can add a wide variety of flavorings to most meds to make it much easier to get it down.

My daughter has had to take prednisone a few times for pneumonia and asthma problems. No matter what you flavor that stuff with, it tastes horrible. The pediatrician told us to draw up the medicine in the little syringe dispenser, then top it off with some hershey's syrup. Also have some hershey's syrup ready so that after he takes the medicine you can immediately give him another little taste of the syrup. It has worked wonderfully for our little one and she is no longer afraid of taking medicines. Our daughter has always had a strong gag reflex and will vomit if she eats or drinks anything that tastes bad. But so far so good with the hershey's syrup. HTH!

Hi K.,
That's hard, trying to get him to take something he doesn't want. I tricked my two year old into thinking it was "juice" by adding an ounce of water to it and putting it into a turkish tea cup (tiny and clear glass). You might also just let him try to administer the meds, once you have measured it out into the dropper. Mine were a lot more cooperative once they felt more in control. Also, CVS pharmacy offers assorted flavors for the liquid meds. Maybe (next time) you can get him to choose which one he wants. And if none of those tactics work, BRIBERY, Baby!! A little mini chocolate if he takes his medicine might convince him!
Also, depending on where the antibiotic is metabolized, that organ may get "stressed out" if there is an overdose. Liver and kidney damage come to mind, but you would need to research this to find out how much is toxic to the organs. Don't stress out about this, but talk to your doctor if he's not getting the right amounts.
Good Luck!
J.

Have you tried talking with him about how important it is for him to take the medicine so he can get well and feel better? a real sales pitch sort of talk.

I wonder if he's feeling nauseous since you said he's taking a sip here and a couple of bites there or is this his usual way of eating? If his stomach is tender, being forced to swallow combined with a touchy stomach might be too much.

Another idea is to ask the doctor if injections might be necessary. The idea of getting a shot might convince your little guy to swallow it.

My granddaughter preferred pills at that age. This is early for even having that ability but it's an idea that worked for her. Also, if you put a part of a pill in applesauce he may be able to swallow the applesauce and not even realize he's taking medicine at the same time. A piece of a pill in each bit and you'll know how much he's gotten.

Sorry for the late response, I was on vacation, but just in case the yogurt cover stops working, you can also ask the Pharmacist to add flavoring to the medicine..My daughter also hates taking medicine, she doesn't have the issue with vomitting so this may work. Sounds like the taste of the medicine is making him gag / vomit so maybe changing the flavor will make it more pleasant and it will also let you know he is getting the right dosage at any given time.. Hope this helps a little...