Hi Moms,
My 15 month old has to take a pill for six weeks. We used a pill grinder and put it in her food. She tasted it, and then refused to eat. I've tried it in cerel and applesauce. I then put the leftover cereal in milk, and she won't drink it. What tricks have you used to get it in? I was considering concentrating it in juice and using a drooper, but I'm afraid she would spit it out, or if it's even safe to so it that way. It's the only medicine available for her condition.
Thank you so much Moms for the advice. I got a pill crusher, and placed it in her juice. She drank it, but it took her most of the day to do so. She kept sippping on the cup. I also called the pharmacy and discovered that the medicine comes in liquid form, and the pharmacist added flavoring to mask the taste. The doctor didn't know. I got it yesterday, and will start it this evening.
I don't give my son lots of junk, but when he had to take antibiotics I would hold the spoon in one hand and an oreo cookie in the other. (It had to be out in plain sight so he could see the reward coming.) He would take the medicine and then immediately eat the cookie. Saved a lot of tears and heartache. Good luck!
The pharmacy-flavoring suggestion is good and works for many common medications, but if the medicine is quinine-based or like others of its sort, the typically available flavorings rarely conceal adequately. Only Hershey syrup will do! Just a teaspoon, as has been suggested, and then have a handy glass of milk, juice or water for the follow through.
As an "all else fails" comment for you: The earlier you give her the message "this is essential medicine and we WILL give it to you," the better your life will be for any following medicines. As a result, my husband would hold her in his lap, arms keeping her body, arms and head stationary, his leg over hers if the first attempt failed, and I would administer a swallow of the medicine at a time(in our case it was liquid in a syringe) to the back of the throat, hold her lips closed, and gently stroke her neck(throat) telling her to swallow. FROM THE MINUTE WE STARTED,WE WERE EMPATHETICAL, TALKED CALMLY, SYMPATHETICALLY, FIRM AND CAREFULLY QUICK. It is exactly the way you need to give a pet medicine by mouth.
If the pill is really tiny, maybe just cut it in fourths, give her favorite drink through a straw while holding her lips closed to get a swallow...If you can powder the pill (morter & pestle) and syringe with water as described above.
This must be the procedure any time your attempts to give it other ways are rejected. If a child so young, believes it can walk in the middle of the road at any time, will the mom cajole and mollify the child and hope their child will eventually come to them? NO. The road and the medicine are both safety issues. The PARENT decides.
With the above in mind, work as a couple and keep her safe.
Good luck, it's not easy and it may take four or more days of experiencing the effort before a full dosage actually gets swallowed. Also, you may have cooperation after the second or so time, keep having two people home for at least a week before you're over the first hurdle.
I'd ask for a liquid medicine and use a medicine squirter (if you can't mix it with a little juice and have her drink it in her bottle). My son had pneumonia when he was about a year old. I had to use a nebulizer (had to breathe in the medicine) and give him other medicines. He absolutely hated it, but he needed it (otherwise he was going to land in the hospital), was too sick to reason with, but strong enough to push me away with all leg/arms and still sometimes spit out the medicine. I had to sit on the floor, lay him down so his head was toward me. While keeping my legs a little bent, use my legs to gently hold his arms and legs, (I had the medicine in the squirter ahead of time), use one hand to hold his mouth slightly open (was easy to get a finger between his gums (this got harder once his back teeth came in)), then squirt the medicine into his cheek so it would go down his throat a little at a time so he didn't choke. Afterward was lots of hugs and kisses. It sounds awful, but the nurse said he had to have that medicine and anything I had to do that got it in him was saving his life.
First make sure that the pill can be crushed. Some pills cannot be crushed and will cause stomach irritation if crushed.
I would try to mash it into as fine a powder as you can. Then mix it w/ juice/milk...whatever and put it in a medicine syringe and lay her down and squirt the whole thing as far back in her mouth as you can but along side the tongue/cheek. You can try to pinch her nose closed so she has no choice but to swallow. Be quick about it as I am sure she will spew, given the first opportunity.
YOu can also offer a special reward for swallowing and cooperating.
Yogurt or pudding are worth a try too. Sprinkle the crushed pill into a few bites. If you spread it out over a few bites she wont notice. But make sure she is good and hungry and you KNOW she will eat it all.
Good luck and Im sorry they dont have a liquid for her.
I had to do that with my son about a year ago. The ped told me to take a spoonful of hershey syrup, mix the powder (pill) into it and have him swallow it in 1 mouthful. I was leary of this since my (then) 2 yr old had not yet been introduced to chocolate syrup. It worked like a charm! He didn't even know there was med in the spoon and asked for more... The ped insisted that I only had one chance to get the med into his body and assured me that this was the way to go because the med tasted so terrible. I had great success and recommend to anyone with a med issue. It's worth a try. Good luck!
Dr. Karp, author of "The Happiest Toddler on the Block" suggests caffeine-free diet soda. Kids will slurp that down greedily, except for my daughter who hates soda (doesn't like the carbonation). I've also read about using chocolate pudding, which is a twist on the chocolate syrup idea. I really like the chocolate syrup idea, I'll have to remember that; quicker and less messy than the pudding. Of course, if your daughter hates chocolate, some other flavor of syrup or pudding might work.
Good luck!
Hey K.,
If all that doesn't work, I would contact your doctor to see if there is an alternative medication or generic that is in liquid form.
I know it's not very nutritious, but it works, so here it is. My mom was a nurse and any time she had to give us a pill when we were little, she'd crush it into a fine powder and mix it in the bowl of a regular silver spoon with chocolate syrup. We actually looked forward to taking our pills. She'd always sing the little Mary Poppins song while doing this too. "Just a spoon-full of sugar helps the medicine go down...." etc. I use this method with my kids and *surprise surprise* kids still like chocolate syrup enough to ignore the pill in it. ;)
Just an idea--how about yogurt? I just thought it might be more "masked" that way?
The chocolate syrup method that Dyreka described worked for my daughter when nothing else would. It took only about a teaspoon of chocoate syrup to make it palatable. I hope that does the trick. Good luck.
Have you asked the pharmicist? they have all sorts of tricks for kids medicines- like mixing the dosage in a solution and you can pick the flavor- strawberry, bubble gum, etc. I just picked up strawberry antibiotics for my 18 month old and she loves it. Another thought, are you tense or anxious when you give her the meds? maybe she's picking up on your mood and its adding to her resistance. Just a thought.
The pharmacy should have given you the liquid form of that medicine, if available, especially if they knew it was for a 15 month old; call and check. Is this a chronic med (ie one she'll be on always?). Try chocolate pudding, that covers up a little bitterness. If you dissolve it in juice, use a med syringe to squirt it into her cheek, and hold her chin up so she has to swallow; you have to have the right attitude--be matter of fact: oh, here's your medicine, not anxious that she HAS TO TAKE THIS, you know?
I use to do this for my little one... Crush then use Ice cream it's creamy and stir really well and it has to be small in a small amount of ice cream. ( only one bite )
have a cup of juice handy and don't give her time to think
about it offer it up after of course you appear to be enjoying it yourself. And follow up quickly with the juice to wash it down. Good Luck Jojo
I had the same problem with my daughter. I am sure it is not the ideal way to get medicine, but the only thing that worked with my daughter was to make jello, and put it in single serving cups, and disolve a pill in each serving. I hope you find something that works for you!
Here is an off the wall idea that I only suggest because she is so young, and I assume it is really important she get this medicine regularly.
First, I am a health nut when it comes to my kids nutrition - no juice, skim milk, whole grains, plant based diet, etc. That being said, I would make some icing (Maybe with cream cheese = sugar, butter, cream cheese) and I would mash the pill in that and spread it on a bagel or cracker or even a sweet like a cookie. Just a little bit, a couple bites worth - for "dessert."
It sounds like you really need to mask the pill flavor. Of course, in 6 weeks you will need to overcome the dessert problem, but at least you can be sure she is getting the full dose.
Good luck.
