Teaching 6 Yr to Swallow Med??

My 6 year old has been taking a capsule nightly since the age of 4. We began my putting it in a spoonful of ice cream and it would slide down with it. Then we transisitioned to putting in her mouth and drinking with a straw. Now she is able to take it with just a drink of water.

Hi A..

(Great name!) I have the same problem, and I'm 55! What I do is to take a big bite of my breakfast cereal and chew it part-way, then put the pill in my mouth and swallow it along with the cereal. You can use whatever food he likes. Works for me. I hope this helps. Good luck!

A.
Gulfport

My kids doctor suggested we practice swallowing the tiny m&m's. My 7yr old still has a hard time, but at least she doesn't mind the candy.

Capsules will float to the back of the throat if you turn your head down toward the floor. Have him get a big drink, look down, and then swallow everything at once. It's usually not a good idea to open capsules, especially the time-released ones. If the floating thing doesn't work, I'd talk to his doctor to see what they recommend. Good luck!

A.,

You should definitely tell his doctor that he is having trouble swallowing the pills. There are smaller pills or smaller dosages that he could take for just a little while so he can adjust without the worry of getting the right dosage.

You also need to be very honest with his teacher when school starts. She needs to know about his situation and be prepared to help him. She will if she knows. As a teacher, I always appreciated knowing upfront instead of guessing when we had severe behavior issues to contend with...

Beyond that, there are some ideas for teaching him...Get a little tube of mini-m&m's. Start by just letting him taste a few just to remember that they are okay for him. Then, start having a little teaching time everyday. For my little girl, we did 2-3 times a day when she was learning. Teach him to move it around on his tongue. Then teach him to put a little water in his mouth (if you use this method...some people just swallow dry) and swallow the water. The m&m should go right down with it.

We made a little chart with our little girl's hands...trace them and then put decoration on each finger as she learned to swallow an m&m. When she swallowed all 10 m&m's she got a prize.

We moved up to bigger m&m's once she got the hang of little mini's.

I would suggest if you don't get this solved in the month of July. You need to get an appt. scheduled and talk to the doctor or his nurse. You will need the month of August to help his body get adjusted to his meds. First grade is slow to start in those first few weeks but then takes off like a rocket.

HTH, C.

my oldest son has been taking pills all his 8 year life. (Major Skin Allergies) He could not swallow them down for any cost. They would all come back up. We also tried liquid forum but, that didn't always work. I thought there would just be no way that I can get him to take his meds. Till one day (he was almost 4 years old)his dad taught him to trick his mouth. Use bread, jello, icecream something with a thickness to it. Of course we had him stand near the garbage can for the things that may not make it down south. But it worked. Now he is 8 & takes him meds 2pills 2x a day on his own. (just with water) I've been told by others You need to trick the mind. Make it think you are just eatting & swallowing regular foods.
I hope some of this & what others say will help your child!!

There are a few responses here that I wholeheartedly agree with...taking time-release capsules that are not in their capsules is not really a good thing...if there is such a thing as a patch, I think that is the way to go until you can teach your little one to swallow the pill...

Capsules float. I put water in my mouth, put in the pill, tilt my head forward and the pill floats into my throat and I swallow.

While I was in college one of my professors opened a discussion about medications and side effects. One student told about how a friend of hers committed suicide by taking all the same colored tiny pieces of a capsule without taking all of the rest. It is dangerous to not take it the way it is intended. If your child cannot get the pill down you really need to talk to a Pharmasist about all your options. Pharmasist are specialist in medications, where Doctors are not. They are familiar with medications, of course, but a Pharmasist is an expert.

Gina

Actually, opening the capsules on a time released med could be harmfull. instead of getting the med over a longer time period, he gets an increased dose immediately and that could cause his body to not be able to eliminate the med properly and cause a build up in his system.
Try putting the capsules as far back as you can on his tongue and then having him drink. i know with an older child with ADHD this can be difficult, but it would be more beneficial to him.
i can only imagine that everthing is more difficult, please don't think i am trying to criticize!

L.

I personally didn't learn to swallow pills until I was an adult and started taking birth control pills. What helped me was that they were small and I didn't worry about swallowing them because they were basically unnoticable. Maybe there is something small he can practice with to get comfortable swallowing a pill and then graduate to the larger pills.

When my son was 6, I taught him to swallow small pills by putting a straw in a gatorade or propel bottle and putting the pill in his mouth. He would take a big drink, then tilting head back, until the pill went down. He also has put the pill in a small measuring cup (for medications) with water and drank it down (before the pill disolved). These were fairly small pills. His doctor has put him on 1/2 of one pill and he now (at barely 7) will just swallow the 1/2 without any drink. I think they get used to it?! Good luck!

I taught my kids at a very young age with tic tacs first then graduated to m&m's we made it a game. They had to take a liquid antihistamine that tasted nasty and that is why they wanted to learn pills. I learned at age 2 the same way because I had to take albuterol in liquid if I did not and that was NASTY!! Let me know if this works!!

I have a friend with 4 year old that she puts the pill in a spoon of jelly and tells her to just swallow. It is kind of a treat to just get jelly and the smoothness of jelly helps the pill to just slide down and then they give her somehting good to drink. I know from personal experience that I can not take pills unless I have milk. It is thicker and helps for me to swallow them a little better. I think it gives them a little better coating when going down and I don't taste the pill. Good luck!!

I taught our son to swallow by using the mini M&M's. It took a little while, but once he realized that he could swallow those, we moved on up to his meds.

In the meantime while he was trying to learn to swallow, I emptied the capsule into a spoonful of applesauce. This helped disguise the bitter taste of medicine.

Hope this helps.

I have taught any child to swallow pills by either teaching them to swallow M&M's (you could start out with the Mini version) and that usually works. If it is still difficult for him to swallow something any larger than a plain M&M, try cooked whole pinto beans, while he is eating. Usually M&M's work, though.

B. M.

When I was about 6 yrs old I got Scarlett Fever and had to take antibiotic pills (as did the whole family) at that time my mom was crushing them in drinks for me, but one day we were at a resturaunt (I was well by this time, but was finishing the antibiotics.) My dad told me to take a drink, put the pill in my mouth and take another drink, that way the pill is between the two layers of drink and you wont feel it when you swallow. Sounds silly but it worked for me as a 6 year old. You may try it. My newphew is 11 and can't swallow capsules, he takes them in pudding or cool whip, whatever he's into at the time-but he's got a high functioning autism so that may be at the root of the can't swallow pills issue.

If it is a capsule, it is easier to swallow if you look down at the floor. It makes it float to the back of your mouth and then you just swallow your drink and don't even notice the pill going down. Hope this helps, good luck momma!!!

put the pill in whatever he drinks.

Putting liquid in his mouth first, then slipping the pill in, then swallowing may help. Also, try something with flavor and maybe even "thicker" to swallow it...grape juice or chocolate milk work wonders. When all else fails, use the method that nursing homes use for older patients...applesauce or pudding. :-)

Hi A.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 7, he is now 23. I am surprised that he was put on time released so soon. They usually start with a pill three times a day and go from there. It is hard to teach a 6 year old to swallow a pill. My son chewed them, followed by drinking water and did just fine. When he went into Jr High they put him on time released, and again, he did great and still is. He learned to swallow the pill when he was almost eight. If it is time released, are you suppose to open the capsule? We did not, and were told not to. I would double check with his doctor. I think he should be monitored on regular meds before he is given time released. Time released does not always work.

As for swallowing the pill, he will eventually learn, when you are least expecting it. My grandson has been on medication since he was 2 and is now 6, and still chews it. However, the medication seems to be working great. Now, listen to this. He will swallow the Concerta, it is too hard to chew, but the soft medications, that you think would be easy to swallow, he chews. Go figure kids. They sometimes floor us.

Look into the patches. They are time released and work good also. The biggest side effect is usually skin irritation and can be easily remedied by putting them in a different place each day.

Good Luck
S. Miller

Okay Opening a TIME-RELEASED pill is a bad Idea! It is time released for a reason. You are giving your child the full dose of med at one time instead of it being time-released throughout the day like it is made to. You are not supposed to crush or open time realsed capsules. I am a nursing student and this is STRESSED. Try talking with your doctor for other choices until he can learn to swallow the time-released capsule. You could get the regular pill form and crush it, but may have to give it more times a day. Good luck!

I have a 9 yr old daughter who has adhd and we tried the pill but didn't last long enough and was hard to swallow. She now takes daytrana, a time released patch that works great because I have more control over how long it needs to be working. Hope that helps.

A.: I had to teach my 2 year to swallow pills. This is how we did it. I first got some whole kernel corn and we would practice with that. It is about the same shape size of most pills. This way if she actually chewed it was no big deal. Then I would tell her to put the corn in her mouth, then take a drink of her favorite drink. I told her the secret was that she had to swallow the liquid not the corn. Once she started concentrating on the liquid the corn actually slipped down without her noticing! She was thrilled. The other thing that we used was yogurt and I would put her pills in that and let her just swallow the yogurt down. This does not work as well for an older child because they know that the pill is there and they are worried and concentrating. That is why concentrating on the swallowing the liquid works better because they can think about something other than the pill. Good luck to you!

Everyone has their own method but my kids take a drink of water and hold it in their mouth, purse their lips like a fish, suck the capsule in and swallow immediately.

Hello,
Try putting the pill in a spoon of honey.
Good luck.
J

My mom had the trouble of getting me to swallow capsules when I was young too. But she had noticed that I could literally inhale macaroni and cheese. So, she slipped the capsule into a piece of macaroni and told me not to chew it. Once I had gotten past the medicine, she would leave the room and let me finish my food.

It works with my 7 yr old neice, too.

my older son couldn't swallow pills either, so the way i told him to do is first to put some water in him mouth then put the pill in and swallow, then i had a glass of water for him to chug until it went down eventually he learned how to do it!!

My son takes Focalin XR also a time release, and I open it and put it into a small shot glass with a little juice and stir then he drinks it up with a straw. He seems to get it all. However I had good luck with my daughter when she was younger by putting her medicines like asprin in peanut butter you might could try putting the sprinkles in peanut butter. Also it might just be the medicine is not right for your son. I have had to switch and change several times to find the right one that works on him. If you feel he is not getting the full benefits he may need something stronger my son actually takes a 5 mg in the a.m. and a 2.5 at 3:15 to get him thru the homework hours.

Hi- You are right to think that opening the time released capsule is probably an issue. I agree with other posters that something thick like yogurt or pudding will help. Put a spoonful on his tongue and then pop the pill onto the yogurt. Also, have some luke-warm water ready for him to chug. Something about luke-warm water helps get the pill down- don't ask me why.

Good luck!

My husband told me the way he learned how to swallow pills... he would wad up bread into little pill size and swallow them.
I am not sure how I learned how. My oldest son done the same exact thing my husband done to learn how.. Hope you have some luck.

Dear A.,
When I was little I had to take two pills everyday for my bladder. One was a capsule and one was a little tablet. I couldn't stand the feeling of them being on top of my tongue. My mom (a nurse) taught me to put them under my tongue, take a drink, then flip them back to swallow. Just a thought - if that's the part of the pill-taking that your son doesn't like, maybe that will help! I'm now 38, and I still take tablets that way!

Good Luck!

I know ADHD meds come in patches now so that would definitely be worth checking out. Of course, it may not be something that is covered by your insurance and some of the newer ADHD meds are pretty expensive. Here is the link to one I have seen in a flyer at my pediatrician's office;

http://www.daytrana.com/

I was 14 before I could swallow any type of pill and it was pretty embarassing at that age when I still had to get liquid medicine anytime I got sick ;-)

Just out of curiosity, is your son awake most of the night? Or go for days without sleep? Is he very very slender for his age? Does he jerk spasmodicly without his medication? Does he blurt without his medication?

I know, doesn't seem to have anything to do with how to swallow a pill but humore me, please?
R.

I remember when it was difficult for me to swallow pills. Now I put a handful of vitamins in my mouth every morning and get them down with no problem (one at a time). Tell him to move it to the back of his tongue, take a sip of water, throw his head backward, and swallow. The real trick is to relax your throat. If you tighten, it can lodge. I know this may take a while to teach to a 6 y/o, but once he does it the first time, it will be a "snap" for him.
Good luck!
C., MS

I taught my daughter by having her put the pill in her mouth, taking a big drink and then tilting back her head. It seems to make any pill form medication to go back easier. Hope this helps.
G.