How Do You Get Your Kids (21 Months) to Take Medicaine?

Have you tried letting her do it with the squirter by herself? I do this with my son, but I can't remember at what age we started this. He loves it. After the medicine, I fill the squirter up with water a few times to wash the medicine down--he wants to keep doing it over and over! Ha! A few times early on, after explaining why it was important that he take the medicine, if he still refused, I had to hold something hostage like a favorite toy or show. A long standoff would ensue, but I don't think I ever "lost". Sounds terrible, but his staying sick was more terrible.

Good luck!!

I usually have the medicine syringe in one hand and a lollipop or cookie in the other. I tell my 2 yr old that if he takes his medicine, he can have the treat.

That stuff is so gross, my 23 month old hates it! I lay him on the floor and literally sit on him and hold his arms and tickle him (to keep him happy, not horrified, LOL)... when he opens his mouth a little to laugh, I use a medicine syringe to dispense about 1/3 of the medicine into the inside back of his cheek, then gently blow into his face. Aiming for the back inside of their cheeks is where their glands naturally produce saliva, so they won't choke; it's more natural to swallow it from back there, rather than on the tongue. It's kind of a game... I still have to get 2 shots of 1/2 each of the medicine into his mouth, and he tries not to laugh, but can't help himself ;) I'm not going to lie, it was pretty traumatic the first time, but by the second time my son quickly got the gist of it.

Hope your little one feels better soon!

Best way - Call the doctor or pharmacy. Usually they'll let you mix it into something they like - like applesauce or chocolate milk. Just give them very little food/drink as to ensure all the medicine gets consumed. (This works particularly well with unflavored or powdered meds.) If she just won't take the pink stuff, call your dr and ask if you can get it in powder form.

Tricky but gets the job done - Another "trick" was we got the syringe from the pharmacy. You put it between her cheek and gums towards the back of her throat and squirt in only 1/3 to 1/2 at a time. It's not as pleasant for them, but it does get the job done. Usually I sit on the floor with the child in my lap, held down by my legs and have the back of their head on my chest. It's easier to "hold them" this way while trying to get the meds into their mouths. I get the syringe in, use one hand to squirt and one hand to gently hold their jaw. I don't remove the syringe, I leave it in and squirt it a little bit at a time. If they get a chance to spit or open their mouth to scream, it's all over.

Our kids learned they HAD to take it. So it was my way or sit down and eat it nicely. Even at under two, they "get it".

Note, some meds can be flavored. But even then, some the flavors are gross to some kids. So see if you can check/try the choices before getting a whole bottle full.

My DD (18 months) actually takes it pretty good now. Like Rachel D. we just do a little at a time toward the cheek area (she can't spit it out as easily if it is on the side of the mouth). We usually just put her in our lap and say it's time for medicine and she takes it. For us, showing frustration got her pretty fired up so we just sit calmly now and she takes hers (fluid on the ear after her last ear infection....this is getting old!) with little or no problem. We found once we stopped making a big deal, she did too. are the meds at least flavored? You could also try to put it in their drink or meal. We have used applesauce and oatmeal before but that is a risk of making sure they eat/drink it all. Best of luck!

My oldest we had to literally pin on the floor to get the medicine in her..... after that, with the others, we tried to give them a little bit at a time.... and for the most part, if it was half-way decent tasting, they took it.

My youngest had a lot of problems with ear infections... by the time he came along, we had learned to give it in very small amounts..... he took it readily, for the most part.

This is hard, I know! But SO important to get the medicine down her throat. This sounds bad, but you HAVE to do it, so here goes:

Lay her down on the floor with a towel under her head. Hold the syringe with one hand, her cheeks with the other. Squirt it in her mouth, hold her face still, and stroke her throat immediately (drop the empty syringe on the towel). Stroking her throat will make her swallow. She'll cry - too bad. She has to LEARN that there are no if's, ands, or buts when it comes to taking medicine.

Make sure she gets plenty of water when she's taking antibiotics. Pedialyte pops also help stay hydrated. As she gets older, you can offer a pedialyte pop for AFTER the medicine to get her to be more compliant.

The pink stuff is NOTHING compared to the gritty bitterness of biaxin. My son had to take biaxin because the regular stuff wouldn't work, so you can imagine what I went through. You have to be tough. If she fights too hard, position yourself on the floor above her, with your knees on either side of her face. Tough, I know, but better THIS than her ending up in the hospital with IV antiobiotics!

Good luck!
Dawn

You have received some great ideas so far. My kids always took medicine pretty well. I used a syringe at that age and also squirted into the cheek area a little at a time. Pharmacies like Walgreens have flavoring they can add to medicine which helps. Our doctor also suggested having something sweet like chocolate milk on hand to chase it with. I hope your daughter gets to feeling better soon!
HTH,
A.

My son had pneumonia when he was a year old.
I think I kept him from needing to go to the hospital by being vigilant about taking his medicine.
Avoiding taking his medicine was not an option.
I put a towel on the floor and had his medicines next to me - ready in the squirters.
I sat on the towel and had him lay down with his head towards me.
I put my legs over his limbs (mine were slightly bent) and this kept his arms and legs from hitting me.
I then had 2 free hands - one to pry open his mouth (get a finger between his back gums - this hurts when they have teeth back there) and use the other hand to slowly squirt the medicine into a cheek so he swallowed it bit by bit (not so fast that he chokes).
A few times he managed to spit it out and I had to reload and start over but 9 times out of 10 it worked just fine.
He screamed and fussed but I soothed him afterward and had a bottle ready so he could wash the taste out of his mouth soon as possible.
You'll get through this.
Hang in there!

Okay. I went through this. I finally figured it out. They have steringe pastic tubes now for giving medicine. I think you can purchase over the counter. I get mines from Target Pharmacy. I put a very little little amount at a time in the side of the cheeks. My daughter counldn't spit it out. :) It worked! It will take awhile but it works. Good Luck! :)

I used to bribe my kid. I gave her the little medicine cup and said " if you want this gummy bear you have to take the medicine first"...and she did.

We just told my son it was important to take it for him to get better. This worked once he was about 14-16 months or so. You might ask the pharmacist for a different flavor. Also our pharmacist told us some antibiotics taste a lot better if they are refrigerated even if they don't need to be for the drug to maintain potency.

Use a syringe and squirt in the back of her mouth. It will go down.

Ugh, I gave up trying when he was that age, especially with the Tylenol or Motrin. Forget it. He hated that stuff. The pink stuff, he didn't mind at all... My husband , just naturally sat next to him, and just gave it to him. No big deal. He just was like , "you are going to take this buddy, and then you can have some juice"..Not fair..

Some medicines you can mix with juice/applesauce,etc. Best to ask pharmacist, if you really are having a hard time.

I call it candy medicine, and it has always gone well. Usually the Amoxicillan that we get is flavored like bubble gum so I will say 'ok, time to take your bubble gum candy medicine, yum!" then I do the squirt it in the cheek thing like the other mamas. My oldest did have to take some cough syrup once that was bitter and he hated it! I also told him he could have a little treat if he took it. I think I used those little dum dum lollipops like they give at a lot of doctors offices. Good luck!

Ok, here's what you do. Lay the child on the floor. Sit next to her. Throw one of your legs across her chest holding her arms down. Throw your other leg across her legs to hold them down. Grab a handful of her hair and when she opens her mouth to scream, pore the medicine in quickly. Then grab her chin to close her mouth so she can't spit it out! JUST KIDDING! Of course, you can't do that. But you might want to by the time the 10 days she has to take the meds is up!

Try bribery. Try diluting it in her favorite juice or other sugary drink. Try mixing it with apple sauce or pudding. Try reasoning with her. (Yeah right, did you ever try reasoning with a sick 21 month old?) Try rewarding her when she takes it. Try trickery! What ever it takes, you have to get her to take the medicine. I've use all of these methods with my kids. (Well, not the one about laying them on the floor etc! But I really wanted to with one of my kids! To this day he has a hard time taking any kind of meds and he is now 30 years old!) Good luck to you.....

I use a plunger like device for liquids, aim for the back/side of the cheeks and only squirt a little at a time, usually took 3-4 squirts to get it all, and give her something she really like to drink to wash it down. If its pills/vitamins I tell her its candy, lol.

My son HATED amoxicillin. I just went to the ped. and requested a different antibiotic, since he was so resistant, I couldn't be sure I was giving him the right dosage.