Any Tips on Getting a Baby to Take Meds?

[askew]

So my DD is on seizure meds, and I am having such a hard time getting them into her. The medicine is powder that you mix into something, so it sounds like it would be easy, right? Well she spits everything out! She is 6 months and won't take a bottle usually, but even when she does she is super messy about it and lots of milk will leak out and drip down her face. I have been putting the meds in water and syringe feeding it to her, but still she will spit some out and then I panic about her not getting enough of the meds. Today I even tried applesauce, which is sort of against my solids philosophy, spoon feeding and all. She was okay for the first spoon and then I had to force feel the rest to her just to get her to take the meds. I am constantly panicked about her not getting enough with the drooling and wasting. I was giving her 1ML of liquid at a time, and she will just hold it in her mouth, and I will hold her cheeks together and then massage beneath her ear to make her swallow, but at least once after all that she will spit it out still! Help!

[RiverTam]

Apple juice?

It's a lot sweeter than milk or apple sauce. If she thinks it's a treat, it might be easier to get her to take the meds.

[askew]

Originally Posted by RiverTam

Apple juice?

It's a lot sweeter than milk or apple sauce. If she thinks it's a treat, it might be easier to get her to take the meds.

I tried juice, she spit it out too. I tried my son's HonestTea juice which I guess is only 10% but still kind of sweet. She like that less than the water.

[Lindsay1234]

Can you ask the pharmacist for a 1.0ml oral syringe? I put the meds in that and slide it down her inside cheek. Its super skinny and gives a small amount of liquid so they barely know they are swallowing it!

[sncmom]

A lot of pharmacies can also add extra flavor to prescription meds. I think at Rite Aid, it costs $2-3 extra. I find that works well for my daughter.

[RiverTam]

Originally Posted by Lindsay1234

Can you ask the pharmacist for a 1.0ml oral syringe? I put the meds in that and slide it down her inside cheek. Its super skinny and gives a small amount of liquid so they barely know they are swallowing it!

This worked for my kids when they were babies. I'd place it so it was towards the back of their cheek/mouth and harder to spit out.

Too bad the apple juice didn't work. What about straight sugar water? (Not likely, but maybe worth a shot.)

[moongazer]

For my 10month old, we use Hershey's chocolate syrup. It only takes one drop for 2.5 ml of med. Not something my others kids would have gotten, but worth it for the peace of mind that he is getting all his meds. At the hospital last time he had a swallow study they used Nestle Quik Strawberry powder to flavor the barium drink.
HTH

[theretohere]

I second the 1.0 syringe. And get it as far back as you can. We've also found it helpful to gently blow in their face right after- our peds nurse showed us that and it seems to help them swallow.

[Kailey's mom]

Originally Posted by RiverTam

This worked for my kids when they were babies. I'd place it so it was towards the back of their cheek/mouth and harder to spit out.

Too bad the apple juice didn't work. What about straight sugar water? (Not likely, but maybe worth a shot.)

we did this also, and it worked. If she would start to spit, I would blow gently in her face, forcing her to swallow.

[askew]

Thanks everyone! Lots of good tips. I will try a smaller syringe. I have been using a 10ML one and trying to give on ML at a time. It is bulky though. I am going to try the blowing too, I never would have thought about that! Tonight I tried to pump a little and put it in BM. The first dose got spit out, so I had to mix up a whole new one. Second dose went in okay, but now I am down a dose of meds and the pharmacy doles them out pretty strictly. It only ships from one Pharmacy back east somewhere. I hope they understand.

[PikkuMyy]

I would also highly suggest the 1 ML syringe. The drops come out in a much smaller amount and it's easy to control how slow you make it come out.

We used to use them for feeding baby birds when I did wildlife rehab, and you have to be really careful not to let them aspirate so it had to go down very slowly.

[Lindsay1234]

Originally Posted by pikkumyy

we used to use them for feeding baby birds when i did wildlife rehab, and you have to be really careful not to let them aspirate so it had to go down very slowly.

awwwwwwww!!!!!

[LauraLoo]

We had to administer awful tasting medicine when ds was an infant. We used a bottle/syringe combo. like this and it worked very well.

http://www.medibottle.com/home.html

I can't remember where we got our bottle, but it looks like this one is available at Walgreen's.

[spunk]

I had this same problem with my baby and I ended up mixing with milk and that worked great, but here are some other tips I remember reading about that might work (because a syringe my daughter now does not want to get within 10 feet of, she knows what is coming when she sees it) ...

1 - If you swaddle your baby, I read that administering meds is sometimes easier on a swaddled baby - personally, I think mine would have freaked out and then hated being swaddled thereafter, but some parents said it worked.

2 - Giving a bottle or pacifier right after (though for me that would not have worked either because she would have still spit it all out).

3 - Feeding her milk while she is half asleep and sneaking the meds in (though I think my baby would have woke up and been like what the ...), but some parents wrote that as working, so who knows ...

Also for me, when I mixed in the meds with 1 oz of milk, it did not work, but 2oz worked like a charm.

Good luck - if you were half as frustrated as I was, you need some strong tea to relax and ponder over your successes.