Anyone else have a child who WILL NOT take medicine?

[Mouse House Mama]

If it makes you feel any better there are certain flavors that my son just cannot take. He too will instantly gag as soon as it hits his mouth.

 

[tonilea]

With Thomas, it isn't the flavor. He would do it as a one year old if I tried to get him to taste something new. If it doesn't pass the smell test, it is not staying down. He actually kept it down this morning.

 

[CampbellScot]

I think you made a very good point when you said "He was mad at me but kept it down..."

A lot of times gagging is a control thing. (sometimes it isn't, but very often it is.)The more of a power struggle you make it, the worse it gets. Don't allow him to smell it. That will only increase the anxiety. None of the stuff smells very good. If the medicine is in a syringe he won't have the opportunity to smell it. He needs to do as mommy asked and open his mouth!

You may be over the hump now as you made it clear that you were going to keep at it until he kept it down. He DID keep it down b/c he chose to. He was mad at you, but he got the meds into his belly and they stayed there. The next morning he kept it down again. He learned pretty quickly that mom isn't messing around! Just keep taking a firm approach. He will NOT want not to keep getting the liquid in his mouth over and over. he'll learn to keep it down the first go and be done with it. Praise him like mad after he's taken the medicine. Acknowledge that it's not fun to take medicine but it's not a choice he gets to make.

I took a ton of meds as a kid and it was not fun. I hated it. I learned to swallow pills by taking them in a spoonful of applesauce!

You are doing a great job!!!

 

[tonilea]

Thank you.

I think the fight is getting worse instead of better. *sigh* At least for the first time in seven days, he didn't have a fever this morning. I think we may be over the worst of it.

 

[tadamom]

I'm glad that your son is feeling better!

I posted before but just keep at it. My son was/is the same way. He has gotten better but it is probably due to the fact that he is older now and can finally take chewables. But before I would put the Motrin/Tylenol in Sprite, Fanta Orange or even Mt. Dew if it meant that he would take it. We would play a game and see how long it would take him. I would say can you drink until I count to 5 and he would. Then I would increase the number that I could count to and then he finally would think it was fun and he would say a # and he would try and finish before I got to it. This helped us a lot b/c he looooooves games and wanted to win! You could even bribe him with this and say if he gets it all down before you get to a certain # then he gets a little prize. Good luck!

 

[Disneyonmymind]

Seriously, that's what I do. They swallow the med quickly and then I'm ready to stick the spoonful of sugar in their mouths to kill the bad taste. This has worked every time - no puking it back up.

 

[CampbellScot]

I hope your little one is doing better today!

I thought of you this morning as I was giving a dose of liquid sudafed to my step daughter. She's terribly congested and feels horrible. I gave her the sudafed in a little dosing cup and the child lingered over it like it was a glass of fine wine! She took a sip, commented on it's flavor...compared it to children's Nyquil...went over the pros and cons of both flavors... Sounds like her daddy and his collection of red wines!

I had to tell her to chug it down b/c all the medicine needs to get in there in one dose so it can do it's job!

here's wishing you as easy a time with your little one as I have with mine!

 

[tonilea]

I hope your little one is doing better today!

I thought of you this morning as I was giving a dose of liquid sudafed to my step daughter. She's terribly congested and feels horrible. I gave her the sudafed in a little dosing cup and the child lingered over it like it was a glass of fine wine! She took a sip, commented on it's flavor...compared it to children's Nyquil...went over the pros and cons of both flavors... Sounds like her daddy and his collection of red wines!

I had to tell her to chug it down b/c all the medicine needs to get in there in one dose so it can do it's job!

here's wishing you as easy a time with your little one as I have with mine!

That is too funny! I do have to say, Thomas eats a ton of veggies and other healthy foods, so I am very fortunate. I think his favorite food is broccoli.

He is an entirely different kid today, still has a bit of a cold, but acts like himself! I was afraid something else might be going on or it had turned into something that needed antibiotics.

 

[tink15823]

we found with our youngest ds to give him a Ice pop first it helps to make the taste not as Strong.

Good luck

 

[hoosiergirl7]

I'm sorry you're having this problem. My DS 4 LOVES medicine and doesn't have a problem taking it. Although the last round of antibiotics he was on for ear infections tasted pretty gross. I checked to see how gross it was before I gave it to him. What we did is the pharmacy gave us one of those little medicine syringes that we'd fill. We'd allow him to do it himself and that he would follow it up with some gummy bears. The gummy bears helped him forget how bad it tasted. And we told him over and over what a good job he did.

We also told him that he wouldn't get better if he didn't take his medicine and if he didn't get better he couldn't watch TV, play his V-Smile gaming system, go outside and play with friends, etc. Worked like a charm. Kids don't like being told they can't do something.

Our doctor told us that we could add any of his medicines to juice and they would still work. I was also told they can be mixed in with applesauce.

 

[tonilea]

Good Grief! He has a fever again tonight!

 

[nana2tots]

Amen to that