Getting Son to Take Liquid Antibiotic

Some drugstores like Rite Aid offer a flavor additive to liquid prescriptions. I would ask them if it is available for his antibiotic.

Hi K., My son's ear infection just healed as of today. He too disliked the antibiotic the Dr. prescribed, so we alternated a squirt of medicine and a bite of banana until he finished the dose. It seemed to work pretty well for all of us. Good luck.

I go the Mary Poppins route. My daughter and I will sing "A Spoonfull of Sugar" as I sprinkle a pinch of sugar into the dose of medicine. It doesn't take much. It's as much the song and ritual as anything else.

If he likes pudding, yogurt, or chocolate milk , you can try hidding it in that. What I used to do was to put a little choc. pudding on a spoon and squirt some of the medicine on the spoon too, get it into his mouth before he realized it was there and then the next two spoonful would be just pudding, then I would sneak the last bit in again on a spoon and the rest pudding. It worked for a while. Or, add it to chocolate milk if you think he will drink it all.

I would considering asking for chewable ones.

If the antibiotic can be frozen (per doctor), try juice/antibiotic ice cubes or popsicles. Good luck!!

I know your struggle. I think Mary Poppins said it best - "A spoon full of sugar..." We use mini marshmallows as an incentive. My 7 year old takes a bit of the med., a sip of ice water and then a mini marshmallow. We repeat the process until it's done. I would put stipulations on it though. 1/2 the med. before a marshmallow - whatever works. He had to take Cleomycin last time - it tastes horrible - Rite Aid flavored it. They cut it with lemon flavoring first and then added the flavor of his choice. Lemon cuts the taste of most things apparently. Good Luck!

Pharmacy's have flavoring that they can add to stuff now. I would have paid a lot for flavoring if they would have had it for my first son!!

I let my son hold the dropper and put it in his mouth by himself along with the drink in between. It works most of the time.

How old is he? I'm not above bribery with my 4-year-old. Another friend has success with giving hers to her son (also 4) by putting it into the med cup and then topping it with drinkable yogurt (also great way to put probiotics back into his system). Good luck!

Can you put the liquid antibiotic in the juice and then have him drink it but dont let him see you doing it

My 2 1/2 yr. old had to take a foul smelling and apparently not too pleasing to the palate antibiotic recently. What worked for us was promising him a treat after taking the medicine--jello, pudding, sucker, going to the park, seeing his favorite movie, etc.

Also what helped was giving him the antibiotic in an oral syringe so it shot down his throat with minimal tasting. We tilted his head back too so he wouldn't spit it out.

Good luck!!

if you absolutley can't get him to take it, I would call the doctor. Some antibiotics come in chewable tablets. My son always did better with those but prefers the capsules now that he is 8.

We cheered like crazy as a family when on a rare occasion we had one on a liquid antibiotic. Also can I recommend when he comes off again you get him on a pro and pre biotic to replace the good bacteria that the antibiotic kills. This is a cycle of on and off if you are not careful and that is how these super germs are created and we really mess up the little immune system in our precious little ones. That whole thing is scary. I also was of the understanding that it was no longer protocol to put a child on antibiotics for an ear infection for this reason. This is something you might want to Google and look into.

Sincerely,
K. B

www.shaklee.net/takecontrol

If he was on Keflex to begin with, I'll assume his doctor put him on something else for the second treatment. It's probably just plain yucky. Ask your pharmacy to flavor it. Call first -- but most have Tasty Meds flavorings and can make the meds more palatable.

Good luck!

When I can't get one of my kids to take medicine, I sneek it in their juice. I find a drink or pudding or something the same color,concistancy etc,and put it in there. You CAN'T let them see you do it though. I just tell them they don't have to take it anymore. If they bust you doing it though, you have to figure out something else because they WILL remember

I've put it in a small amt of yogurt smoothie first make the smoothie pour a small amt into a cup and mix in the meds. I've also taken it back had more flavor put into it to make it taste better most pharmacies will tell you which flavor works best in the flavor it comes in. I've taken flavor syrup like stawberry added it to a milkshake pour into a cup mix meds has helped hide it important never let him see you mix the meds into it or it's over....sometimes it's mind over matter if his mind sees it he will thinks yuck if he doesn't see it while you mix he may never notice berries cover good.

I was at CVS today picking up some medicine and they offered to flavor it for $2.99. They had grape, watermelon, bubble gum, etc. I didn't get it since the medicine was already flavored so I don't know if it is any good but it might be worth a shot.

Is it flavored? Maybe you can take it back to the pharmacy and have them add another flavor. With my 3 year old I always have a special treat for her so that she can see it, but knows that she can't have it until the medicine goes down. There is 1 antibiotic though(can't think of the name) that is "gritty" and no matter how much flavor we add, she gags and cannot take it. I don't mean will not, I mean cannot b/c she throws up everytime. She tries, she just can't do it.

Good luck and I hope your little one gets better soon.