Getting medicine in

[lucyem]

My 4 yr old hates tylenol. No matter the flavor. We used to crush up grape flavored pills and put them in grape juice but he caught on. We have tried bribary with no luck. Forcing him backfires because he will throw it back up. I am a little worried the day is coming where we will need to give him antibiotics and have no way to get them into him. Other moms I know have kids who will happily eat/drink tylenol or other meds. My son will not even eat the flintstones type vitamins. He hates them.

[serenetabbie]

My kids both have had take meds that tasted nasty from time to time. Unless they really need it I do not force the issue. BUT, if they need it I just give them a big glass of water to wash it down and explain that if they take it, they will feel better soon. My pharmacy also sells flavors you can add to meds now (which is so worth the $2 extra cost!)... they have something like 25 different flavors. Does yours offer something like that?

Do you have to give him tylenol? Can you try different brands of other analgisics? How about a liquid you can just squirt into his mouth with one of those medicine syringes? Can he swallow a pill yet? When my DS was 4 or 5 he begain to prefer to just swallow a pill, rather than taste the medicine.

BTW, in my experience, ABX are usually fairly palatable to little kids (bubblegum flavor I think it usually is). It's stuff like oraped (a steriod) that tastes really terrible.

[OakBerry]

I buy the liquid and ds drinks it himself. He doesn't like it either but doing it himself helps alot. I have a chaser of juice or water standing by for him.

[mamababamba]

Ds has had to take far too many meds as an asthmatic....there was the time he desperately needed prednisone (yes I know it is awful, but he could not breathe) and would not take it mixed in ice-cream. That was the turning point. Dh explained how important it was and convinced ds to put on a magic show to disappear the medicine. He now says avert your eyes everytime and down it goes...of course I peek.

[velochic]

My dd is the same age and thankfully the little junkie LIKES taking medicine. But my niece doesn't. My sister took Mary Poppins' advice and puts the liquid in a spoonful of sugar and dn takes it without complaints now.

[serenetabbie]

mamababama... IKWYM. My DD has athsma and she hates taking so many of the meds. They really taste terrible. It got so the smell of artificial grape made her gag I am very glad we have the option to have it flavored something else now.

[P-chan]

If you must give Tylenol, try the form called "rapid tabs" or "quick dissolving" or something like that. Instead of a dense, chalky pill, it dissolves quickly on your tongue. My son would eat these all day if he could (but he likes medicine in general).

[Roar]

Hershey's chocolate syrup.

[lolar2]

When I take nasty-flavored medicine like barium or colonoscopy prep, I drink it through a straw as fast as I can. Sometimes I drink while counting to 10 and then take a break, repeat as necessary. That might work for a kid too.

[lucyem]

All great idea, thank you! But alas if we say medicine my son refuses point blank. We tried the sugar in the spoon trick today and no luck. Any other ideas for hiding it in something? Like the grape quick dissolve ones we used to put in grape juice he found us out on. Other ideas?

[Wendy2kids]

While I have never had much of a problem with my children taking meds, I recently read an article about this very topic. It's a quick read and has a lot of great hints -- http://parenting.preschoolrock.com/i..._take_medicine

Hope it helps! Good luck!

[lindberg99]

Originally Posted by lucyem

All great idea, thank you! But alas if we say medicine my son refuses point blank. We tried the sugar in the spoon trick today and no luck. Any other ideas for hiding it in something? Like the grape quick dissolve ones we used to put in grape juice he found us out on. Other ideas?

OK, now I'm sitting here humming "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down..."

My DD is older (8) but she will not take Tylenol at all. Any form. So I've just told her that it's her decision whether or not she takes it. She did have antibiotics a few years ago (I think she was 5) and took those fine.

If your son ever really needs to take tylenol you can always try the acetaminophen suppositories. Who knows, maybe the thought of that will make him take it orally!