Since Everyone is Sick I Thought I Might Ask...

[mjaclyn]

Does anyone have any advice on how to get a 2 year old to take medicine? Both of my kids are sick, DD4 has a mild case of pneumonia (sounds like most of the podcast crew) and DS2 just came down with similar symptoms. High fever, bad cough, runny nose, etc.. His fever is almost 103 and I have tried everything to get him to take his medicine. I've tried giving him chewables, meltaways and liquid in a dropper. As soon as anything touches his lips he gags himself and vomits. I know he does not have a stomach flu because he will eat other things and not make himself sick. This is only with the medicine. What concerns me most is that if the doctor prescribes an antibiotic that is something he HAS to take in order to get better. I've even tried adding the medicine to his bottle, ice cream, you name it.. he won't take it. I am desperate for advice on this issue because he is going to have to take it at some point and even when DH and I physically hold him down and try to force him to take it, he spits it out.

 

[linnell]

MY DS4 is the worst at taking medicine, so I can relate. What we have had to do is give him a spoonful of chocolate syrup (like Hershey's) then the medicine and then a syrup chaser. Not ideal, but like Mary Poppins says... "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

 

[jcb]

It has been a while I have had a 2 year old (DD turns 20 on Saturday) but Im a big believer in consequences. If your 2 year old won't take his meds, what can you take away or make him do as a way of showing him that there are consequences to this conduct.

 

[HillPete]

See if your pharmacy can add different flavorings to liquid medicines. Maybe if he gets to choose the flavor, he'll take it. These kinds of things are usually control issues with toddlers (esp. since you have ruled out stomach flu, etc.). Letting him pick the flavor will give him some of the control, while still achieving your objective of getting the meds into the boy!

Good luck!

-Hillary

 

[AB6876]

When mine was 2 he was the same way with putting anything in his mouth (although he would put dirt in his own mouth ). The only thing that worked was to use a medication syringe and allow him to push the medicine in his mouth himself. It was the fact HE was controling what went into his mouth. Good luck...

 

[dmccarty]

One word....

Suppository.



Our oldest was an nightmare with meds. I would have to hold her down while the DW used the syringe to get the medicine down. It was HORRIBLE. We tried everything you could think of except the suppository.

THANKFULLY she grew out of it. Our youngest was and is a dream taking meds.

Giving meds to our oldest was so bad grandma would leave the room.

The flavored meds help. As well as having something sweet to eat or drink after taking the meds. Our oldest just decided to make it a battle of wills.

Good Luck!
Dan

 

[magchavez]

When my dd was in the hospital last year, the nurses would melt about 1 inch worth of strawberry popsicle, then stir in the liquid medicine. They then put it in a syringe and squirted it in her mouth. She liked the cool strawberry flavor.

 

[rchristiansen]

I used to give DD her medicine crushed up in a cup of yogurt. Maybe if you mix it in a fruit flavored yogurt and not tell him its in there? Good luck!

 

[Sammie]

Does he like apple sauce and one thing is you have to make sure when you do it, he is not aware there is meds in it.

 

[mjaclyn]

Thanks everybody! I think DS2 just hates the taste of the medicine, even the flavored kind. I had DD4 take her medicine in front of him (she's sick this week too) and usually he is all over anything his big sister does...but that didn't even make him budge. When I took him to the doctor this afternoon she prescribed small pills to crush up into something else like pudding. Since he had almost a 104 degree fever at the doctor's office she offered to give him the first dose of medicine in shot form. I felt terrible, but what could I do? He has croup, so he needs the medicine to get better and I didn't want to chance him not taking it or spitting it out, so I let her give him the first dose. I also ended up using the suppository for pain and fever relief as well. He's feeling much better now thanks to the meds. I just hope he doesn't notice tomorrow when I give him the crushed antibiotic pill in some food! I think he will grow out of this. Right now, he's just turning 2 this month so I can't reason with him like I can his big sister. I put him in time out a few times this morning for not taking his meds, but he sat there stubbornly rather than take them. I can tell I'm in for it with him because he is SO Stubborn! He takes after his dad....

 

[EDuke98080]

After reading your thread I was going to suggest the shot at the Doctor's office but I se eyou already did that. Try calling it something else (not candy tho). I started calling it the "magic get better quick potion" and that helped too. Good luck, two is a tough one to reason with!

 

[bkoehl]

MY DS4 is the worst at taking medicine, so I can relate. What we have had to do is give him a spoonful of chocolate syrup (like Hershey's) then the medicine and then a syrup chaser. Not ideal, but like Mary Poppins says... "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

THIS!!! Our Children's Hospital did a test and found choc syrup (being a little bitter and not super sweet) covers bad flavors the best. There are a lot of decent tasting antibiotics now too so hopefully you get one. Don't put it in a bottle or mix it with large (more than a teaspoon or so) quantities of other things though as then you can't be sure if they took it all or how much if they only took some.

 

[lovetheduck]

We used to take the chewable pills and put them inside a marshmallow. If they ate it without complaining, they got a second one after. I also used the suppositories for fevers. At least that way I knew that vomiting wouldn't be an issue.