Hello, my 4 yr. old daughter has been sick for 5 days with fever and bad cough. My dilemma is how to get her to take medication. She is seriously stubborn and when I tried to give her chewable children's Tylenol, she promptly threw it up. So now she thinks all medicine will make her throw up. We took her to the ped. today because she is just not getting any better. The ped. did a throat culture and said she thinks my daughter has strep throat, but wont know for sure til Monday when she gets the results back. She prescribed anti-biotics and said I could try to disguise it in her food since she wont take meds. Well, we tried to put it in her juice when we got home, without her seeing, and she took one sip and said eeewwww, there's something wrong with this juice. I mean this girl is so aware of everything, I cant get anything past her. She refused to eat anything, and went to sleep at 6pm. She still has a fever and cough and I'm getting worried about her. Do you wise mama's have any tricks for me to get her to take her medication? I've pleaded, begged, bribed,.....nothing has worked!!! Thanks!
Thanks for all your advice. I have decided to wait and see if it is actually strep. After all, the ped. said she "thinks" it might be and wont know for sure til Monday. I am not going to make her take antibiotics if she really doesn't need them!!
Try putting it in ice cream or pudding. She needs to take that medicine.
If worse comes to worse, get a syringe, hold her down, and squirt into
the back of her mouth. I know it sounds terrible, but you must do what you
have to do or risk her getting critically ill.
tell her if she doesnt take her pills she will have to get a shot :)
Just fyi, many peds have instant throat cultures. When ours gets a negative result, no antibiotics are prescribed. Just wondering if you are going thru all this for nothing.
Also, certain antibiotics taste worse than others, our pharmacist actually said she gagged when preparing one because it smelled so bad (I think it was amoxicillin), so you might ask the ped for a Rx for a different one.
If reasoning with her doesn't work and she's really being that stubborn, pin her little butt down and make her take it.
My husband used to get severe ear infections as a young boy. He REFUSED to take meds also and rather than fighting him, his parents just let it go. The chronic infections got so bad it destroyed the tissue in his ear drums & he wound up hearing impaired. Three surgeries later and he can still only hear about 80% in one ear and 20% in the other.
Good luck!
It maybe easier if you put the medicine in a dropper and shoot it in the back of her mouth but she will have to cooperate somewhat. I feel for you...my oldest was the same way. As a result she choose to learn how to swallow pills when she was pretty young. I think around 5 yrs old.
Is it pills or liquid antibiotics?
Or, what about you tell her to take it... then she can chase it down with her favorite "treat" drink? Or suck on a lollipop....
Or just explain to her... that she is sick. With a bad cold germ. So, she must take medicine. Or she will get worse. Does she want to get worse? Show her the cold germs on the internet... explain to her, that the medicine helps it go away.
For my daughter, showing her and explaining things like this to her, she will then be willing... to take what she has to. Even when at that young age.
But remember... your daughter wasted 1 dose of her antibiotic. Did not take it. THUS... she is 1 day short, of a full regime of antibiotics. Which, antibiotics usually has to be taken, for its full course.... or it will not effectively rid the illness...
so you need to tell the Doctor....
Antibiotics... some of them lose effectiveness, if given with certain foods... dairy for instance. So make sure... you know which foods to mix it with or not... or ask the Pharmacist.
all the best,
Susan
Hi. Here in New Zealand we have a cooking item called sweetened condensed milk. My children love it, so when ever I need them to take a pill i put it on a teaspoon with a dollap of condensed milk. They know the pill is there but they will take it for the reward at the end. With liquid I fill a syringe and squirt it down their throat with the promise of condensed milk after
Well they do make suppositories for a fever that go in rectally. Not going to help much for the anti-biotics, but it will for the fever. I have had to give them to my son a few times that hes been sick and gags on tylenol. They sell them at the pharmacy. Not sure that would be any easier, but worth a shot maybe.
i am sure her throat really hurts. so maybe you could get her to take it with ice cream? that sounds bad probably but at this point, i would try anything. my mom just to take a can of food and crush my medicine when i was little and put it in my food. probably doesnt have as much potency, but it might work. i would also talk to the pharmacist and see if they can put the flavor in the medicine (cherry, strawberry,etc)
I agree, hide it in ice cream. as for rectal... that will just traumatize the poor girl and make her feel shameful and violated... I would never do that to my child, those medieval days are over thank goodness! Ice cream might cool down and help her throat and you get the meds down... or pin her down and put it in the back of her mouth. Is there something that she doesn't normally have that is her fave that you could tempt as a treat for taking the meds?
Good luck :)
We use a syringe with our 3 year old. I draw up the medicine and put it in his mouth, angled toward the back and up against his cheek. You can also use "first medi, then TV" or whatever she likes to do. As for the Tylenol, don't worry about it. Fever will help her fight the infection- no need to knock it out.
Best,
For the anitbiotics, try to put it in strawberry milk and get the strawberry or banana flavored meds if you can. the doc may be willing to get you a new script so you can adjust. I have also been known to put them in a VERY small serving of a smoothie.
I have to disagree with some of the he mamas here (sorry ladies). Medication should not be HID in food. PLEASE DON'T threaten her that she will "have to get a shot". That is a lie.
Unless it is strep throat she most likely does not need the antibiotics so this may all be for nothing. Take some time the next 2 days explaining to he that if the doctor says it is strep throat, she will have to take the antibiotics. Explain that sometimes the body needs help to heal. Tell her that mommy only does the right thing and would never do anything to hurt her. Let her know that if this is not taken care of, she may get sore throats more often. And then, if it is strep, then you have to make her take it. Period. No hiding, no sneaky way, just take it. Just an FYI - it does taste gross. Whenever my kids had to take medicine, they took it, THEN they got a special something. I NEVER hid it in food. They were rewarded afterward. That way it kept the medicine separate from the food.
Medicine does make some kids throw up, there are many forms to take different drugs, just ask.
Here is my advice to my clients ALWAYS - you are the parent. Begging, pleading, bribing, all of that does not work, nor should you use it as a "bargaining" tool with children. You are the parent. She is the child. You say take this and she should. It is the way the relationship goes. Sure kids are entitled to their own opinion and own ideas, but in the end, we as parents do what we believe is best for them. What we say goes. She is 4, you may want to establish this now.
B.
Family Success Coach
Did they do a rapid strep test in the office? A cough is typically not present with strep which is why I ask. I do not give my kids antibiotics because of an "I think" I'd wait until Monday unless you look in her throat and see the white patches. Why go through all of this for nothing.
