Daughter Refuses to Take Medicine

I know this is mean, but if you force it in with the dropper, and then imediately blow in her face she will swallow.

Did she ever like the pacifier? They have the medicine pacifers that pass the medicine pass the taste buds. I know she may be a bit old for one but if it works try it.

if it comes to forcing it in hook it on the outside of her teeth along the cheek to the backside of her mouth and squirt it in the reflex to swollow then kicks in and it runs into her throat. my 6 yr old is autistic and we have to force her to takes meds and she used to spit them out until he found the right wat. make sure you hook it at tooth lvl and not gum or you'll have a bloody gum but it works.

Depends on the medicine. If it's tylenol or iburophen or benedryl you can add it nicely to sprite or 7-up and they won't know, just don't let them see you adding it.
Amoxicillin or penicillin keep it really cold and add it to a little bit like 4 oz of regular milk or choco. milk mix it up really good. Set it down with their food and go on.
My 5 year old hates medicine when he's sick any other time he'd want to take it.
He's getting better at it though.

Try the reward system...put a piece of paper up on the fridge showing the days your daughter is supposed to take the medicine. Add stickers each time she cooperates, takes and swallows her medicine without a fight.

For a given number of stickers give her a "prize" (not expensive..maybe an ice cream cone.

Good Luck!

Okay, don't laugh, but we did this with our oldest...(He's now 21, well adjusted, etc...)

Hold her nose and blow into her face! She will eventually open her mouth for air and you put in the meds! KEEP on blowing the entire time! She will HAVE to swallow! IT REALLY works!!!

We have also done:
Okay, you don't take your meds you will be too sick to go to one or all of the following,
X's birthday party
the park
the library

And, SICK children who don't take their meds must stay in BED all the time!!!!
AND, if all else fails...
I guess we'll take you to the hospital. They can just give you shots all the time instead of you taking your meds in your mouth.

Best to make this HER choice...
AND....FOLLOW through!!!! If she won't take the meds, put her to bed, and MAKE her stay there!!! This is imperitive, or YOU are NOT being a good mother. She is testing your boundries, and YOU MUST be able to set rules and consequences that MUST be followed! YOU are the person who MUST do this! YOU are the adult!

You could put it on the calendar as to how many days left of taking her medicine, let her cross it off when she takes it and then at the end of her medicine she gets a reward for taking it so good. (if it's a 2 week dose etc.)?? You could discuss the reward with her - (new Wiggles dvd...something you both agree on). Make her feel like a BIG GIRL for taking it and when she takes it, then she crosses it off and sees the check marks to go....then finishes it and gets her reward...she'll feel great and like a BIG GIRL!

My 16 month old is too small for the calendar and spits out her medicine. So, my husband and I lay her down, put the medicine in a syringe, and as soon as it's in we put her binki in as fast as we can, so she has to swallow.....

If there is anything I have learned with my 3 yr old is you can not make a 3 yr old do anything, you can win an argument with a 3 yr old, and damn are they stubborn!! My son has to take meds everyday, including chewables and an inhaler. If it was liquid I would loose my mind!! Anyway, I just had to make it a game. I see how fast he can chew it and make it disappear, then if he can make it go really fast I let him have some Pepsi to wash it down. He loves pop but we dont let him have it often. Make one person the medicine giver, that works better for us for some reason. Make it a game, dont try to force it because they seem to fight that even when they dont know why they are fighting. In the end there are still days when he just wont take it!

T.

I can completely understand. I have a 7 yr old who still to this day will not take his meds. He was sick and the dr told him, he either had to take the meds or end up in the hospital. To make a long story short he was in the hospital for 5 and 1/2 days and had his med in IV form. Then after that for 10 days had a pic line in his arm for a nurse to come out and give it to him. The doctors told me some kids just can't handle the taste. I don't have any wonderful advice for you but I hope you and your daughter will get through, we are still working on it.
Good Luck!!
M.

Try rewarding her for taking it instead of punishing her for not taking it. Associate it with something positive. If you take your medicine you can have 3 M&Ms or whatever she likes. I know some people may frown on bribing her, but I personally feel that when its something this important you do whatever you have to do to make it work. Another trick I read online is to chase the medicine with Chocolate syrup. It did not work for me(my son does not like chocolate syrup), but I read that the chocolate takes the yucky taste out of their mouths. But I dont know how strong willed your daughter is, I did have a friend whose child refused medicine and she had to ask the doctor for suppositories, which amazingly the child sat perfectly still for! Can you imagine?? Good luck!

if it's in liquid form, you may have the best luck with putting it in the medicine syringe. We have to do it that way for my 3 month old. I hate to do it, but, we put the syringe as far into his mouth as we can, so it goes right down his throat, otherwise he will just spit it up.

I lay my girl down on the floor, get her legs behind one arm... hold her arms back with the arm with medicine in it and then hold my daughter's nose with the other hand at the same time I'm giving her med. She has no choice but to swallow when you put it in... because she has to breathe. Yes, she flails and cries, but 9 times out of 10, she ends up taking it willingly, b/c she likes the taste (grape is her favorite) and even if she doesn't do it willingly, this works. It's not pretty but sometimes, you just have to do it that way.

Good luck,
K.

L.,
What kind of medicine is it? Antibiotic? Color? Have you tasted it?
CS

Try mixing it in Chocolate milk or any other flavored milk. It works when my son flat out refuses to take his meds.
Hope this helps.
L.

I know this sounds odd-but my daughter liked her meds crushed in ketchup-yuck. She took them each time with ketchup-no problem!

Make it a positive experience instead of trying to punish her for not taking the medicine. Go buy her small toys, candy, or something she really likes. Then, put the rewards in a basket and let her choose her toy after she's done taking the medicine. That worked wonders with my daughter! In the beginning buy her something she really wants (new cd, doll, etc). Tell her that she cannot have it if she spits it out, she has to swallow the medicine. If she really wants the toy she'll take the med. Positive reinforcement works a lot better in the long run than trying to punish her. Good Luck!

Every child is different but I was able to bribe my son using his grandmother with M&M's. Grandma waited in the back ground with M&M's in hand. I know everyone's not necessarily a fan of candy but you do what you've got to do.

One other thing you may try (I read it in one of the parenting magazines) was to put it on ice first (put the medicine cup on ice to chill). The article said the coldness takes out a lot of the bitter taste (even if you store it in the fridge, it's supposed to help). You never know!! I thought the shot glass suggestion where everyone toasts was pretty good too :) The biggest success we've had with our now 4 yr old was letting her do it herself. It's all about control at this age! Good luck!!

My doctor recommended Chocolate syrup. I mixed it with the medicine in the med. cup ir you can offer her a spoonful of it after she takes her medicine. It helped a lot when she had to take a really gritty antibiotic. The choc. syrup is so strong that it helps get rid of the med. taste.

If that doesn't help...you can always make her put her head back, squirt the med., close her mouth and rub under her chin to make her swallow. This works with my 1 year old.

Maybe you should associate taking her medicine with something positive instead of negitive. It looks to me that you are punishing her for NOT taking the the medicine therefore she is associating "Bad" with the medicine. Maybe reward her for taking the medicine. Example she gets ice cream after diner if the takes it, you'll take her to the park on Saturday to play if she takes it all week, you'll take her to her favorite fast food (probably mcdonalds) so the can play @ their play ground if she takes it, etc........

I am sure this will sound strange, but it works for us.
we use shot glasses. we all have a toast ans down it goes!!! good luck.

My daughter used to be AWFUL at taking meds!! She needed a liquid antibiotic once-- we had to do it twice a day for over a week and I thought it would be hell! I think she was either 3 or 4. Basically, my husband and I teamed up- we put it in the medicine syringe and said, "Easy way or hard way?" Of course we had to do it the hard way. She would spit it out and if she swallowed any, she would throw it up because she'd gotten herself so upset over the ordeal... but then we had to do it all over again later that same day and again twice the next day and so on... so she finally got a clue that she could actually CHOOSE to do it the easy way and get a reward rather than being held down and getting it the hard way. I'm so sorry you are going through this and I hope it's temporary. CVS and Walgreens have flavors- take her to pick which one she wants added maybe?

Some Walgreens and CVS's sell flavors that can be added to medicines, perhaps that would help. If it is a liquid medication, maybe putting it in something a little less noticable like chocolate milk. If it is a pill that can be crushed, perhaps put it in her dinner or in pudding.
Hope this helps.

What has worked for my daughter (almost 3) is to give her a piece of candy if she drinks it all. I don't usually bribe her with food, but she LOVES her gummy letters! I always tell her how proud I am of her and how she did that just like a big girl. If she's hesitant at all, I tell her that it's not as bad and it goes away faster if she drinks it fast. I also tell her "this will make you feel better".....apparently I've been using that line a lot this past week or so with her cold, as this morning she got up at 6:30 and said she wanted some juice. I tried (still trying to sleep a minute) to tell her I would get her some in a little bit and she said "it will make me feel better mama". I couldn't help but laugh.

I know medicine is a hard thing to do. I can remember the battles my mom had with us over it at times and have seen what my boyfriend has gone through giving medicine to his son (now 10). I keep waiting for us to be able to give our kids medicine like they do on Star Trek...lol.

Good luck & know you are NOT alone in this. =)