How Did You Teach Your Child to Swallow a Pill?

I taught my children when they were 6-years old. What I did was gather up a number of food items of various sizes like rice, sprinkles, mini M&Ms, skittles, and a big glass of water. Starting with the smallest item, the sprinkles, I'd put a sprinkle on my tongue and showed them, then a big drink of water, then opened my mouth to show them how the sprinkle just washed away down my throat with the water. Then I had my child do the same thing. Once they mastered sprinkles, we tried it with a grain of rice and the mini M&M and the the skittle. Once they master the skittle, they are pretty much ready for pills -- unless they are horse pills.

Hope this helps.

My kids were like 5 and 6 when they learned to swallow pills. I told them to put the pill on their tongue, and take a drink of water (or whatever) and then flip the pill up with their tongue into the drink and swallow.....

My kids are 8 and 9 and can swallowing pills no problem.

just put on the back of your tounge and drink a medium size glass of water. Zyrtec I think are really small pills anything over the size of an aspirin my son still has a hard time swallowing he is 14

SMALL ones my mom had us swallow in applesauce when we were kids. I was definitely younger than 12....around 9. She would just tell us to not chew the applesauce, just swallow. Best trick ever.

An old boyfriend told me that his mother, who was a long time nurse taught him how to swallow pills by having him practice on chocolate m&ms.

Seems like a fun strategy. Good luck.

I always had trouble swallowing pills when I was younger. I finally came up with this method and did it for years:

fill your mouth with water (not too much - enough for 1 gulp), throw your head back, open your mouth and drop the pill in the water in the back of your mouth, with your head still thrown back swallow the water in one big gulp

I think the pill not touching the tongue helps keep the gag reflex inactive and having the head back lets gravity help as well!

My 12 yr old had to learn overnight due to a diagnosis. What we did was use candy toppings for cakes. We started with tiny round balls and moved through our decorating supplies from small to large. Within 3 days she was able to swallow successfully the almost 1 inch capsules. She takes 6 capsules a day.
Best advice, BE PATIENT! It is a difficult task for them to learn and with all things, it takes practice. We had so much fun with our candy pills that my 9 yr old learned as well.
Good luck.

I think it depends on the individual child as to how hard it is for them. Mine learned at age 4. He had both tiny and normal sized pills, and it took him almost no time. The key for me was making sure he was already holding liquid in his mouth, then you slip the pill into the mouth while the lips are still closed, then tell him to tilt his head back a little so the pill would move to the back of the mouth and then he would swallow the whole mouthful at once.

My son was 6. Obviously it depends on the child and he probably is in the minority since whenever he needs an antibiotic hte dr always prescribes the liquid and I have to ask for the pill form. He started ADHD and anti anxiety meds and they don't have a liquid for them so I told him he just had him put it way back in his throat and told him how to swallow. it took 2 or 3 times and he got it. Good luck.

Applesauce definitely! I couldn't swallow pills until I was 18 and I used applesauce and that did it!

My kids-13, 8, 7, 4 all know how to take pills (they always gagged, sometimes threw up, when taking the flavored meds) I told them to first take a small sip of water and keep it in their mouth, then throw the pill in the water (that's already in their mouth), then take a few BIG drinks and the pill just goes right down.

That's about how old I was when I learned to swallow a pill. I used little balled up pieces of bread and M&M's and put them in the middle of a big spoonful of applesauce. If I could swallow the big spoon of apple sauce all at once and then do it with a bit of bread or M&M inside, I knew I could get the pill down and then could do it with water. Good luck!

My daughter learned with tic tacs. From there she moved on to vitamins to swallow. Since she does it every day it has become easy for her. Good luck!