20 Month Old Won't Take Medicine

Lois, my son was the same way! Hated medicine of any sort. We tried mixing it in his milk but he was able to still taste it and then would refuse that. We tried holding it down but I just had a hard time with it. It became a struggle everytime and I knew there had to be a better way! We found if we made the medicine cold, he was willing to take it. We put the medicine in the dropper, flipped it upside down and placed it in a small cup of water with ice and let it sit for a few seconds. Once it was cold enough, we flipped it back over and we would give it to him. He took it every time. I guess the cold makes the taste not so bad! Hope this helps and good luck!

Try mixing it with something in a sippy cup or bottle. He may like it better on his own. Hope it gets better for you.

I know that this is gonna sound really mean but when I had this problem I was told by my doctor to hold my son down and force him to take the medicine. I'm a young mother and I asked everyone I knew and they all said the same thing, hold him down and make him take it. Like I said I know it sounds mean but they need the medicine and you have to get it into them anyway you can. My son is almost 10 now so the advice I got from my doctor might not stand today, but 9 years ago that's what I was told.

When there are two adults, one holds hims, the other does the cheek squeeze the other mom mentioned and in goes the medicine. When it's just me, I lay him on the floor with his arms down to his sides and kind of sit on him. There's no weight on him, but my legs are holding his arms to his sides. Cheek squeeze and in it goes.

For nicer tasting medicine, like amoxicillin, I am able to bribe my son with chocolate or jelly bellies. The steroid for croup is awful so it took physical force. Ditto for eye cream. It's terrible to hold your child down, I know! But the medicine is important.

Good luck, be strong.

You're joking right?
Hold him down, squeeze his cheeks together (forcing his mouth open) and in goes the medicine!
The potential for a raging infection if you don't give the medicine is incredible-
He probably does not like the taste of medicinc-which is the way it is supposed to be-it's not candy afterall.

I used the syringe that comes with the motrin and fill it to where I am supposed to and then push it to the back of the tongue (gently of course I am not a monster) just with force and then released the medicine. I think its just easier to put in the medecine with tey syringe rather than the dropper. My son also spits all the stuff out so I have to do this in doses otherwise it will be all over his face and not in his mouth. I am not sure if you can mix it with juice/milk but maybe that would be ok?? I have to have help to do this sometimes, husband or someone hold the baby. good luck

Well, I bribe with candy. I remember my daughter had an allergic reaction and we wanted her to take Benadryl. She refused until we told her she could pick what she wanted from a vending machine. I remember telling this story at preschool and the mothers gasped (not in a supportive way, believe me). I figure we all bribe ourselves someway (get this work done and you can take a break, have a coffee, etc.) It worked, it has continued to work and she's now a healthy 14 year old who does not only eat candy, I promise. :-)

Remember, it's literally true that a spoonful of sugar can help the medicine go down. Best of luck.

Hi, Lois! I can totally relate to what you are going through. Everyone has talked about mixing the medication with a variety of things or forcing it down your child's throat but you may be able to use psychology to get your child to take the medicine. I get my son's favorite stuffed animal or a character on t.v. or a special friend or relative and I tell him to show the animal or character how he is a big boy and he can take the medicine all by himself. Amazingly, this has worked for both of my children. This has even worked with nasty smelling, thick antibiotics-hopefully it will work for you-good luck!

Hi Lois,
You can mix it in with something he loves to drink. It worked for us.
Blessings,
K.

They sell a baby bottle at Wal Mart that you put breast milk or formula in and there is a spot for a syringe to put the medicine in and you give it to them WHILE they are drinking... IT WORKS!! Here is a link (copy and paste into your browser if it won't let you click on it) to show you what I'm talking about. It is cheaper at Wal Mart.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

I didn't have time to read all the responses, so sorry if this is a duplicate, but it is probably a control issue. Have you tried giving him a medicine spoon so he can do it himself? The medicine spoons work great for both of my kids, (they are both control freaks) and they both will even take meds that taste awful as long as they get to do it themselves. Also with my daughter, she had been on antibiotics for a couple of days, then refused to take them (she was much younger, about 6 months). Turns out the next day she was covered in a rash from head to toe, back to the doctor to find out she was allergic to it. (She was on her second round of antibiotics for the same ear infection. Apparently it can take several exposures to a medicine before you have a reaction). Anyways, it was like her little body was telling her something that we didn't understand. We felt so horrible for forcing the meds on her for an entire day, but the rash cleared and they finally gave us something else and she eventually beat the infection. Anyways, hope that helps.

Hi Lois,

They have an antibiotic powder that you can mix in yogurt or something of that same consistency.

My son also is getting over an ear infection, he doesn't like the dropper and having it be forced into his mouth. Now, if that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do. My son is a little older than yours, he's 27 months, but even at 23 months old (his last ear infection), this is what works for me: I put the meds in a dosage cup (the ones you get with tylenol) and let him drink it himself "like a big boy". He does it no problem. A couple of times he told me he "no like it", but then I said "if you don't drink it like a big boy, mommy will have to do it for you". And everytime he drinks it. I hope this helps and good luck!

I have to agree with the hold him down and squirt it in his mouth method. Just be sure to squirt the medicine into his cheek area not directly into the back of his throat. It's more likely to trigger an automatic swallowing response.

I know it's not fun to think about holding down your child and forcing them to take something they don't want to but the alternatives are even more unpleasent.

Another suggestion ... maybe he'd be more willing to take the chewable tablets they have. I don't know if they have the correct dosage for your son in chewables, but it can't hurt to ask and give it a try, if available.

You have to hold him down and make the medicine go into his body. As a parennt - your child is not allowed to let you give him or her medicaine _ that's your job.

Hi Lois. You need to buy a syringe (look for it at the drug store) which is used to give medicine. If you place the syringe in the back of his mouth he won't have any choice but to swallow. I realize you'll need to hold him down or something like that, but once you get the syringe in the back of his mouth, on the side, you'll get the medicine into him.

My mom told me to do this too, it sounds horrible, but it's the only way that works. That baby needs it's medicine so you have to do whatever works, unfortunately. I am by myself all day so I put her on the couch, sit over her so she can't go anywhere, put her arms under my knees and squirt it into her cheeck. It gets easier. They start to "get it" and just do it and get it over with. Be strong!

Try holding him like you did when he was a baby. Put one of his arms behind your back. Try to hold the other down. Put the dropper in the side of his cheek. Ear infections can turn into meningitous, (sp)? because the bacteria is so close to the brain. Maybe he would eat a chewable? They have that too.

I remember those days! Try putting the medicine in a small amount of applesauce, yogurt or even ice cream. DON'T let him see you do it! These little critters are very smart and catch on quickly. Have a glass of his favorite drink ready to wash it down so he doesn't get the aftertaste. When he gets older you can teach him to hold his nose so he doesn't taste the medicine.
AC

This is a difficult age to get medicine down. Make sure you stay calm (he will pick up on your anxieties), be quick and effecient. Put the syringe in the back pocket in his cheek and close his mouth, so he'll have to swallow. I work in pediatrics, and that's our trick we use. Then quickly reward him with a "great job" and a little special playtime to distract him from what just happened. Good luck!

Some medications, you can take to the pharmacy and ask them to add flavor. You cannot do them with all meds and some meds (such as anti-reflux) have a limited number of flavors that they cna mix with (due to the chemical base of the flavor). But it cotst less than $5 to take the med to the pharmacy and get it flavored (if that med can have it).

Hi Lois,

I had to give my son the same antibiotic when he was about 9 mos and he does not like to be forced. We ended up spooning it to him instead of using the dropper/syringe. sometimes we had to give it with cheerios in between spoons. Hope that helps!

Lois,
While I have some issues with the advice I'm going to give you, here's what worked for us. We did the hold him down and squirt meds from a syringe in a back corner of his mouth when necessary. If a med could be mixed w/ milk or juice, we did that if we knew he would drink the whole thing. If your son only drinks half, you don't know how evenly distributed the med was, and that's a huge deal with antibiotics. Also, as others have mentioned, check w/ the pharmacist to make sure this med can be mixed w/ whatever liquid you are considering. Finally, and this is the piece of advice I feel unsure of, many pharmacies (def Walgreens) can mix a number of different flavorings into kids' meds. So, if you're okay with adding what I'm guessing is just sugar and artificial flavoring, you can make the meds taste almost yummy. Our son seems to enjoy grape bubblegum flavoring. My real issue w/ doing this isn't so much the sugar or artificial flavors -- he's only taking it for a couple of weeks. However, I worry about his equating medicine with candy tastes. My son is old enough for me to talk to him about the difference, and we keep meds way out of his reach, but still. One last thought (OT, though): It is not unusual for Amoxicillin not to work. It is not a strong antibiotic but is absolutely appropriate for an ear infection. I know kids where is has worked fine, and it seems to be what all docs try first. However, my son and others I know, too, (myself included for a sinus infection) did not have success w/ amoxicillin. Your son might need Augmentin after he finishes w/ amoxicillin. I hope that's not the case, but do make sure the doc checks his ears a week or so after your son finishes his meds (earlier, obvs, if your son still has a fever or seems uncomfortable).
K.

I am with Carly. I do not think they could make amox any sweeter-so it is probably not the taste (how thick is it?-if it is much thicker than say soy milk-they may hve mixed it wrong). Maybe it is the dropper. Try the cup (just check the measurements they are not all the same)or the fancy spoon. Or even a teaspoon. Or maybe he will do the dropper for you. I would not mix it-you just can't be sure he will get it all. I also don't oppose the bribe suggestion.

Be sure he knows it is for his owie ears-so he knows he is part of the process of making himself feel better.

Good luck!

stick it on a spoon full of ice cream..they never know the difference. My 9 year old will take medicine of course, but loves to still take it with some ice cream as she did when she was 18 months...the DR. said no problem, doesn't change the effectiveness or potency. I tried the hold down and force method...as it works, I was a 20 year old single mom and just didn't have enough hands to hold every limb and plug the nose and squeeze the dropper...had to come up with something else...

hope this helps. :)

Yep, hold him down and shove in the dropper. Make sure you get it past the tongue and in the back of the mouth before you squeeze or else you'll have lovely pink medicine all over!

Sometimes my son will take it on his own, but when he doesn't I just have to force it. It isn't fun, but I know its best for him.

A pediatric nurse has shown me the best way to get medication down a child. Sit opened legged on the floor. Put his head, on the ground, in front of you, with his body and feet facing away from you. Place both of his arms under each of your legs (so they cant move. His head is close enough to your body, that you can manage to hold his head still and also use your arms to get the medication into him.

this has worked great for my son and i. he just finished 2 separate doses of medications for an earache that wouldn't go away.

Hope this helps
R.

Great advice has already been given.

I, too, have had to administer medicine by myself with my child, so I've had to lay him down and put his arms by his side and sort of sit over him (no weight on him, of course) and hold his arms down by his side with my legs. He's pinned down. It sounds awful. It's not pleasant for anyone. It's surely not his first lesson in learning he must do what his mother says. And if he would take his medicine sitting up like his mother said, it never would go to the pin down on the floor. None of this is done in frustration, though you will surely not enjoy it and might get frustrated with having to administer medicine. I really wish you the best of luck.

The cheek squeeze, as it was referred to, if it's what I did, it means you put the sringe into your sons cheek and then squeeze a little bit at a time. let him swallow. Squeeze a little more and continue this process until medicine is down. giving a small bit into the cheek at a time is mostly so that he won't spit it out or that if he does, you don't lose much.

Giving medicine can be a bad experience for everyone if child thinks it's an option to refuse it.

Whatever you do, do your best to make sure that your child swallows ALL of the prescribed medicine and that only the smallest amounts are being lost. As I'm sure you know, it's important that your child get the full prescription of the antibiotic.

Oh, and my kids have had amoxicillin many times, and it's worked well enough for us. We've never had to follow through with another medication afterwards, though I have heard of that. Just so you know, there is hope that this amoxicillin will do the job.

I know you got a lot of great advice, but this one really worked for us and I don't see it written here. When our daughter had a raging ear infection at about 2 1/2 yrs and absolutely wouldn't take her Amoxi, the infection progressed to a point where we had to take her to the urgent care. The Doc said we had 2 options... force the amoxi or give her an injection of antibiotics. We chose the injection. It was very difficult cause we had to hold her down while they gave her the "shot". Her infection cleared right up! I have to say it was the best thing we ever did... in the future when it was time to take any sort of medicine, and she resisted, I just said, "I am going to call the dr. and make an appt for a shot!" and I would pretend to get on the phone... she took the medicine without incident! I know it may be brutal, but at that point, it was her choice, take the yukky stuff or get another shot! She knows medicine tastes yukky, it is supposed to, but it is better than getting a shot! Good luck!

I feel I must add one more thing. If bribery fails and you must resort to force, try not to have him flat on his back. I worry about him choking, vomiting and ending up with aspiration pnemonia on top of an ear ache. I can't believe he made it to 20 months without an ear infection. After just a couple of them my daugter figured out the cause-and-effect of "the pink medicine" making her earaches go away and gladly accepted it. We did have a couple wrestling matches before that. I found sitting on the floor straddling her(her back to my belly) with her legs tucked under mine worked best.(that way she was sitting upright),having meds measured and next to me, I would wrap an arm around her, pinning both of her arms,and quickly lean back and put medicine in. She barely had time to feel restrained. There are many great suggestions posted here. My favorite is the big boy, do it yourself approach. Hopefully your son will not have many more infections that necessitate using these choices.

Healthy wishes,
Smiles,rainbows & God bless,
T. F

Hi Lois, have you tried mixing the medicine with something to drink? My 8 month old refused medicine too the last time he was sick so I started mixing it in his bottle. Hope this helps.

My son wouldn't take his either at that age - I ended up mixing it into pudding or fruit yogurt. He thought he was getting a treat. The only trick was to make sure that he finished it all. I mixed it so that it was mainly medicine, and told him he could have more if he finished the first bit.

Ask the pharmacist to be sure if you can do this with amoxicillin, but I have had luck getting my kids to take medicines when I put them in juice. Something acidic like orange juice or apple juice will hide the flavor of the medicine pretty well. Or if he likes pudding, mix it in with some chocolate pudding. Also if they didn't do this at the pharmacy already, ask them to add a flavor to it. Most pharmacies have several flavors they can add to make the medicine taste better. Also if you give him some baby motrin or tylenol a half hour before the meds need to be taken, he might feel a little better and would be less combative. Good luck!!

Try putting it into yogurt. I buy the pink and purple Trix yogurts and then pour a little bit onto each bite to get my daughter to take it. It's not because it tastes bad, it's just because they feel like caca and don't want to be forced to do anything. :) Good luck!

Mix the medicine with milk or food. This is the easiest way to get them to take it. My Daughter is 2 and still won't take medicine so I just mix it with something she likes and she never knows the difference.