Boy,I feel bad cause I didn’t have this problem.My son didnt like the taste of medicine,but he took it,then drank some pepsi afterwards.I feel for you.When he was real young,he would NOT let me use the “snot sucker” on him.So I did give up on that.
Dori was the same way – I finally devised a method that worked. I put her on the floor on her back, straddled her chest with my knees pinning down her arms and had my husband hold her head steady. Then I pinched her nose shut until she opened her mouth and squirted the syringe full of meds onto the back of her tongue. Of course, she was screaming before, after and during. For an ear infection (which she had many, many of) we had to do this 4 times a day for 10 days. What a trauma for all three of us! The worst was when Kevin was out of town and I had to get a friend or neighbor over to do the head-holding. I chose my assistants very carefully, and still had nightmares about social services coming to the door to arrest me for abuse of a crippled child.
The good news is eventually she got old enough to reason with. She is now almost 13 and will take medicine as needed. She prefers pills to liquids or chewables, though, and has since she was very young. Shes been swallowing pills since age 6 or so.
Not much help to you now, I know… I wish I could offer something besides sympathy!
Jess
Full of 'satiable curtiosity
Have the kid sit at the kitchen table. Put the pill and a glass of water on the table, or the bottle and spoon. Have the TV off and the house totally silent. Bring a book (for you).
Explain to the kid that they can refuse the medicine as long as they like. . . but they will NOT leave the table until they take it. They will not be allowed to play, they will not be allowed to read, they will not be allowed to do anything.
Open your book and begin to read. Act unmoved by any crying. If the kid starts pleading and trying to bargain, reply “fine, if you take the medicine first” every time. If they say they need to use the restroom, guess what? They can’t go until they take the medicine (rest assured that the majority of the time they will be bluffing).
Be prepared for a long wait.
When the child finally caves in and takes the medicine (lack of entertainment is key here), put your book down, smile, give them a hug, tell them it wasn’t so bad, and reward them with a popsicle or something else to “get the ick out”.
This is how my parents (specifically, my dad) got me to take my medicine when I was a kid. I remember being furious when my dad kept telling me “sure. . . if you’ll take the pill first.” I also tried the bathroom trick, but dad wouldn’t let me go until I took the pill first. Then I started crying, only to have him totally ignore me.
Eventually I got the point and took the pill.
– Sylence
I don’t have an evil side. Just a really, really apathetic one.
Jess: I’ve tried that exact method. He still manages to spit it out. Oh, and he’s wise to the hold the nose / open the mouth thing. He clenches his teeth and breathes through his teeth. You have to hold his nose AND pry open his jaws.
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Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com
OpalCat,
That video could have been made at our house only a few nights ago. Our son (2 yrs., 10 mos.) was prescribed a couple of medications for a bad cough he’s had for some time now (albuterol as needed as a bronchodilator, and prednisolone 3x daily – a corticosteroid used to reduce inflammation), along with a two-week course of amoxicillin (of course). He’s reached a point at which he’s willing and able to take the amoxicillin himself from a dosing spoon – no resistance at all, whereas he used to fight it tooth and nail, spitting it out as fast as we could squirt it in with the syringe.
Night one: attmepted to give the albuterol, as he’d been coughing a lot just before bedtime and his coughing in the night had kept him awake the night before. He acted apprehensive but didn’t fight it – you could see his resistance building as he started to smell it. Got a little bit in his mouth, and then he clammed up and refused to take anymore. Cajoling didn’t work, and neither did attempting to restrain him and force it down – even with my wife and I both working on him. He always managed to find a way to wrench an arm free long enough to grab the syringe away, or to wrench himself around so that we couldn’t get to his mouth, and even if we did manage to get the lips apart long enough to get the syringe in and try to squirt some in, he’d spit it right back out. After ten minutes of struggling and a few more of cajoling, we punted on the albuterol, made a desultory effort at the prednisolone (assuming it to be a lost cause after the albuterol), and called it a night.
Day two: my wife didn’t even try during the day, since we also have a seven-month-old daughter who has two daily meds (ranitidine (Zantac) and cisapride) for reflux and who was also on amoxicillin at the time, and while she’s very good about taking them, it’s tough to find a time when it’s feasible to wrestle a two-year-old when you’ve got a littler one to deal with as well. So I stepped up to the plate again. My wife asked my son if he would take a little of the albuterol, then a sip of water, then some more medicine, then more water, etc., which he (to my surprise) agreed to and proceeded to do. Success! Still fought kicking and screaming against the prednisolone.
Day three: tried early in the morning before leaving for work to get the prednisolone down him, to no greater effect than on previous days.
Day four: wife calls pediatrician, who schedules an appointment for him to get the prednisolone as an injection. He hasn’t had a shot since his last immunization, which was far enough in the past he doesn’t remember it, so he has no idea what’s coming until the needle’s in his leg. Didn’t like it, but dealt with it remarkably well according to my wife (and the things that he’s said about it since have given me the impression that he wasn’t traumatized into hating shots, though the real test will be the next time a shot’s necessary).
The good news is that it does seem to have made a marked difference – he’s barely coughed at all in the last three days since getting the shot.
He’s blown hot and cold when it comes to taking non-prescription medicines (ibuprofen, cold medicines) in liquid form, especially the last six to eight months. Sometimes he’ll take them readily, sometimes he won’t take them at all. I noticed that he really enjoyed taking his chewable vitamin tablets, so I tried chewable tablets as the delivery mechanism of choice for these, which has worked very well so far – no refusals yet. Don’t know whether it’s a difference in taste, whether he prefers the crunch of the tablets to having some cold syrupy liquid squirted in his mouth, or whether it’s just that he’s able to have more control by putting the tablet in his own mouth, but whatever it is, it’s been a big help for us (though I noticed you’ve tried the same without success).
This is something I wish there were guidelines on in parenting books, etc.: how far do you go in trying to force a child of that age to take medicine when they’re determined not to do it? On the one hand, I certainly recognize the importance of ensuring that the child completes whatever course of treatment has been agreed on by the pediatrician and parents, and don’t want to give the child the message that taking medicine is up to his discretion. On the other hand, being physically restrained and having liquid forced down your throat is traumatic for anyone, and I can’t imagine it’s going to make future dosings any easier. Obviously, if it’s a matter of imminent death or other grave consequences, you do whatever it takes to get the medicine down, but if it’s not quite so imminently threatening, then what?
Good luck, and hoping someone else has a brilliant suggestion.
Chewables don’t do any better with Nicky, and he LIKES his vitamins!
Today I called the pharmacy to make sure this was ok, and they gave their go-ahead:
I mixed the powdered medicine into water, as per the directions for oral usage, then I filled the syringe, as per oral usage, then I lubed his butt and stuck it in. He complained LOUDLY but didn’t actually cry. None of the medcation was wasted, and the whole process took maybe 1-2 minutes, as opposed to the 15 minute struggle from the other night.
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Teeming Millions: http://fathom.org/teemingmillions
“Meat flaps, yellow!” - DrainBead, naked co-ed Twister chat
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com
You didn’t try Wicca yet?