So how do you get your kid to take medicine?

[isosmom]

Here's the scoop, I've got 3 1/2 yr old dd who is refusing to take her fever controlling meds (Tylenol what have you) right now and she is burning up. I tried putting it in her juice, she spit it out. What do I do?
I wish I could just say skip it, but she's got a history of febrile seizures so I really need to control her fever. Any ideas? TIA

[PikkuMyy]

I'm not normally into this at all but when it comes to necessary medecine, I'd bribe her.

Other than that, put it into her juice in a smaller amount so it's less strong of a taste or buy a differently flavored one? My student with autism won't drink the red ones like cherry or raspberry but he will take the purple grape ones.

[USAmma]

I totally understand your concern. Abi is the same way. She has the seizures and fights taking meds so much!

They make a chewable cold medicine. I forgot the name now. The tablets are not that tasty but I call them "gum medicine" and she's willing to chew them. I break it and give in small pieces in case she spits, she won't waste it all.

Lately Abi will suck meds out of a medicine syringe. You can get them at the pharmacy. Much better than a cup or spoon, because it won't spill. I used to squirt just a tiny bit to the side of her cheek as you would an infant. So little she can't spit it out. After she figured out that grape flavor is not so bad she will hesitate for just a minute and then she will suck it out of the syringe herself.

Of course she is much more willing to take it after she refused to drink and take meds, got severely dehydrated, and ended up at the peds with an injection to stop her nausea so she would drink. If she refuses to drink I just threaten to take her back for another shot.

[bendmom]

The tablets are great, I think they are Tylenol. Ds used to cry and scream and spit it out too. He ended up in the hospital a couple of times from falling and splitting open a knee=stitches, climbing up a rock we told him not to adn falling 12 feet to split his head open. I know this is really bad, but if he refused we reminded him of the ER/ICU and he took it pretty fast : . Now he takes it no prob. The last thing he wants to do is go back.

[MomInCalifornia]

MY daughter is 2 1/2 and when she needs meds, we use a medicine syringe, and get one of her favorite dolls or toys and say, "babies turn" and put it up to her babies mouth and make slirping sounds. She giggles, and hen sometimes we say "okay, now mommys turn" and I pretend, then we say "okay, now Abby's turn" and she gobbles it up. Cheezy and simple, yet some how it works.

[Tigerchild]

Gotta agree with the PP that suggested tablets.

My daughter started refusing or spitting liquid medicine at around 2 years, but fortunately she weighed enough that I could start giving her tablets for most things. I think it is partially a control thing, and partially a texture thing. The 2 times she's needed antibiotics, I even had to ask for children's chewable tablets.

So, it'd be worth a shot, I think. Then she could have a choice--cup, or crunch. I would not try to put it in something, though. Most 3 year olds don't even like their food touching, I bet most would not like the weird change in taste of mixing something bitter in with juice or yogurt. Younger kids don't seem to be bothered by that as much.

[LunaMom]

When my DD was that age, what worked was very simple. I acknowledged that the medicine tastes yucky, and told her that we could get something tasty to have with the medicine and alternate sips with tastes of the good thing. She chose undiluted fruit juice, which was like a treat because we always diluted her juice about 2 parts water to one part juice - and she would take a sip of the medicine immediately followed by a sip of juice until the medicine was finished.

I think that acknowledging her feelings and letting her control things (she held one cup in each hand) is what did the trick.

Good luck, hope this helps!

[L.J.]

I have always allowed my children to guide what goes into their bodies. I tried giving my son tylenol etc. after he started having febrile seizures and he refused. Even if I'd get it in, he'd spit it out or throw up. That told me that it was really not the best thing for his body.

I switched to homepathic remedies. I've found some great ones for fever and have never tried or given the kids medicine again. They work great and the kids are completely okay taking them.

[isosmom]

L.J. - Would you mind sharing the homeopathic remedies you're referring to? I would love to try some out, but don't know where to start.
Thank you all for your suggestions, dd is feeling better today, she took care of herself and slept 13 hours last night and about 3 hours during the day. So she's still warm, but not bubbling like last night. I really appreciate your help.

[wednesday]

We've tried a few different things. Sometimes putting the medicine into a little glass and pretending to drink from it and then offering it to him works--because he always wants to drink what mama's drinking. Most recently that didn't even work and I ended up putting the ibuprofen (which was orange flavor) over some orange-tangerine sorbet (which we have in the house because it's a dairy-free treat). I fed him the sorbet off a spoon and the medicine just kind of mixed in to the melting sorbet. He finished it all. For tylenol I might try a cherry sorbet.

[Aura_Kitten]

when my son was that age and needed medicine, i explained to him why he needed it and what could happen if he didn't take it. ... and he took it.

i think sometimes (maybe, a lot of times) kids understand a whole lot more than we give them credit for.

[Azreial]

: thats we do here. I sat down with him and explained why he needed to take them and what would happen if he didn't. We've never had aproblem with him taking anything, even some huge pills or really yucky stuff

[L.J.]

Originally Posted by isosmom

L.J. - Would you mind sharing the homeopathic remedies you're referring to? I would love to try some out, but don't know where to start.

The best one for fever is Belladonna (usually quite easy to find too). I've also used a good one in the past called Child Fever, it was a mixture or remedies and came in a box. I used it alot with my oldest and he never had a febrile seizure again.

I hope you find something that helps.