19 months refusing to drink/swallow medicine...

[leahtaba]

my LO has a temp which i would normally control with fluids/calpol but she is refusing to drink and keeps making a funny face with her mouth but wont let me look to see what is sore..

I took her the walk in center and she wouldnt let the nurse look either and she fobbed us off with.... liquid ORAL antibiotcs...

all day i have been trying to get them and calpol and sips of water in her but she just spits evrything out (shes had to be showered down twice cus she was so sticky).

i am currently so p!ssed off!!!!! i feel uneasy putting her to bed when she has had about half a cup of water all day and no medicine so shes asleep on my lap. her temp isnt too bad atm cause shes in her nappy with the french doors open but it will be warmer in her room.

sorry this is more a rant than anything cus im fed up but any suggestions are welcome

 

[kspey]

This might not be a popular opinion, so be prepared lol usually when my DS is sick, the first day of medicine is the hardest. When he is being absolutely uncooperative for medicine, I've held him down and shot it to the back of his throat with a syringe, then held his jaw closed... My husband hates when I do it that way, but the way I see it is he NEEDS this to feel better and I refuse to waste medicine that we has to pay for that we'll need for days. I don't know if he starts to feel better the following days or he just doesn't like having stuff shot to the back of his throat, but he takes it easier every day.

Also, I visit happy hour at Sonic often so my DS knows the cup and that he can't have it. I'll fill it up with water and he thinks he's doing something naughty and is basically tricked into drinking. So if there's something you drink that she normally takes an interest in, I'd try putting water in that. I hope something I said can help - I know how frustrating it is when LOs don't take the medicine they need. You can't get better if you're not taking it!! Lol

 

[MrsButterfly]

I'm with the pp. it sounds awful and goes against all natural instincts but if my lo is poorly enough and is resisting the medicine I have had to resort to holding him down and shooting the medicine into the side of his cheek. It's a time where tough love is absolutely needed.

 

[leahtaba]

I tried and she spat it out OH had to pin her down and she wouldnt open her mouth for ages and then she just choked it all back up. And I got so annoyed I stormed out and slammed the door and upset her

What a crap day I'll try again tomorrow...

Thanks ladies xx

 

[happysaurus]

I've given my LO medicine on my fingers - I measured out the 5ml in a syringe and then applied it onto my finger and put that in her mouth, to the cheek. It took a bit of time to get the full dose into her but she didn't spit it out. Also, it does get easier once you can bribe them with stickers.

 

[MrsPear]

I mixed it with nutella x

 

[Eleanor ace]

. When DS was a bit younger and was bad at taking medicine I resorted to mixing it with Nesquick milkshake, it was the only thing that worked. I tried with Ribena, smoothie and a couple of other things which didn't work for us. I feel your pain- it is SO frustrating when they need the medicine but it is an almighty battle to get it into them.

 

[mandy_grovie1]

is she eating? if so, put her meds in her food! This is what I had to do, my DD gets super bad ear infections! She hates the medicine, so the doctor suggested that I try mixing it in with her food so she can't taste it. Since your LO is older and is probably eating more solids, try mixing her dose in with applesauce, pudding, or yogurt.

 

[leahtaba]

Thankyou everyone I still havent got any anti biotcs in her! I am going to try and mix it with her yogurt after lunch sp hopefully that works xxx

 

[leahtaba]

well no luck mixing with yogurt either, one taste and she threw it all at the floor nevermind! I give up, hope she doesn't get any worse! xx

 

[KatieB]

I can only sympathise. We have tried all the tricks in the book with Louis, mixing it with loads of sweet treats, syringing into side of cheek, making a game out of it, etc. Every time Louis goes ballistic and almost vomits he gets so worked up. It makes me so stressed when he needs antibiotics and may as well chuck half of it down the sink for the amount he must actually get in his system. Doesn't help that he's allergic to penicillin and the antibiotic he has to have is rather bitter tasting.

 

[RcdM]

I know it's hard. My dd wouldn't take medicine when she was younger (she's 25 months now) and now she takes it like a champ. She has to take a daily low dose antibiotic for her recurrent UTIs. She's had 4 or 5 UTIs and 2 ear infections in her life, plus a few sinus infections, so I definitely understand the frustration with getting them to take medicine, believe me.

Did the pharmacy mix in a good flavor for it at least? I assume they did but that does help. I've tried all the tricks you said too, mixing it in with food and stuff but she would never take it. I had to resort to what others have said, holding her down and basically forcing it down. It's a little dramatic but it's necessary. I basically put her on the ground, sit right across from her and put my thighs over her legs and my calves over her arms. And I squeeze my calves together so that her head is in between and cannot move or turn. I don't hurt her of course but she cannot move. Then I pry her mouth open (this was a lot easier before she had teeth, lol) and I do little drops at a time at the back of her throat, maybe like 1/2 mL at a time. Because if she does spit it up at least it's just a tiny bit and not the whole amount. And as soon as I squeeze in some medicine, she is screaming of course but I lightly blow in her face. This causes a reaction to swallow. My dr taught me this when she had a liquid vaccine and it really works! She hate it but she swallows it. And yes some may come up but I'm happy as long as she had most of it. Then when we're done we make a big deal about her being a good girl for taking it and have cuddles and hugs and like a light switch she's fine and done crying and ready to play. Lol oh kids are crazy. I think she's suffered through that enough times to know now that it's much easier to just take the medicine and get it over with, because she takes her daily antibiotics just fine with no fight now. At first it was really rough and my patience was tested so badly, so I understand. Hang in there!

 

[Scally]

We have had to do the tough love approach this week. We tried the pinning down but it was a nightmare and she spit so much out so we went at it a different way. She is mega clingy so when she wouldnt take it i said ok mummy's going, walked out of the room and shut the door. Five seconds later i went back in and offered it again- this took 3 times first time (and an extra time halfway through the meds) and soon she was just taking it, i always praised her loads after, cheering, high fiving and giving her a treat. She never had the problem before but it seemed like her mouth was sore aswell as the throat infection so it might have tasted horrible or stung- i was crying alot worrying how she wouldn't get better without it, and her temp was over 40 every day and i didnt know how much calpol/nurofen/antibiotics she was getting. Hope you manage to get some in x

 

[A_Z]

We've had to to do this with oral steroids, which taste really, really awful and can't be disguised in anything. The steroids were absolutely necessary, though, so we had to go tough love.

We pin my daughter (one person holding her down and keeping her hands away from her face), and then pinch her cheeks to keep her mouth open a little. We squirt the liquid, one CC at a time, past her teeth and wait until she swallows. With the small amounts, it's not enough volume for them to really spit it out, if that makes sense.

It takes a while to get it all down like that, but it works. The only real danger is sometimes they'll throw up after.

 

[kspey]

Is there any way you could request an antibiotic via shot? We just did 2 Rocephin shots for LOs ear infection recently and it was so nice not to have to mess with oral medication. It also wiped out the infection in like 2 days. Best thing ever

 

[A_Z]

We've had to to do this with oral steroids, which taste really, really awful and can't be disguised in anything. The steroids were absolutely necessary, though, so we had to go tough love.

We pin my daughter (one person holding her down and keeping her hands away from her face), and then pinch her cheeks to keep her mouth open a little. We squirt the liquid, one CC at a time, past her teeth and wait until she swallows. With the small amounts, it's not enough volume for them to really spit it out, if that makes sense.

It takes a while to get it all down like that, but it works. The only real danger is sometimes they'll throw up after.

BTW, this is the technique the nurses at the hospital showed us. We had been trying to squirt it all into her mouth at once, but the trick really seems to be to use the small volumes so that she can't get it out.