How do you keep your kid calm to give her medicine?

[ourbabygirl]

DD got her first ear infection, and yesterday went *o.k.* with giving her the antibiotics and pain reliever (liquid, obviously). But this morning she FREAKED out when I gave it to her; threw a tantrum (she's almost 11 months) when I wouldn't let her grab the little dispenser cub or spoon/tube-like thing while I was pouring it into her mouth. Then when she's crying so hard, she's flailing her head and arms around and her mouth's open, drooling from the crying, and I can't get her to close her mouth to keep the medicine in (and swallow). We ended up with a lot of syrup and stuff on me and her- I'm off to give her a bath in a couple minutes. I obviously don't want her grabbing at it because she'll dump out the medicine. I got as close as I could to giving her the full dose of antibiotic (1 & 1/4 t), but I'm afraid if she keeps acting like this when I give it to her, she won't get the full benefits of the medicine. It's not that she's not o.k. with the taste, luckily (bubble gum, I'm assuming, and grape).
I've tried distracting her and giving her the closed bottles to hold on to, and also holding her arms down a bit so she can't grab at it. Next time I give them to her (later this evening), I'll try to wait til the perfect time, when she's in a happy mood. Any other suggestions?

Thank you! :bowdown:

[JBaxter]

honestly..

Sometimes nothing works get a dropper dispenser sit on the floor put her head under your arm and put it way to the back of her thoat cheek side and rub her thoat to make her swallow.

Yes it looks like a wrestling match but sometimes kids just refuse and you cant find a reason and there is no gentle way to do it.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yeah, like Jeana said, sometimes there isn't a gentle way to do it. We used the syringe style dispenser, practically pinned him down, put the meds in, then if he wasn't swallowing we would blow in his face. Blowing in his face made him gasp and swallow. He really and truly hated the Augmentin and by the last days of treatment we had to do whatever it took to get it in him. Might not sound nice but it didn't hurt him.

Beth

[o_mom]

At 11 months, I would use a syringe and not a cup or spoon. Less chance of spilling if they flail around. Squirt in small amounts in the back of the cheek and then blow in her face to get her to swallow.

If you find you can't keep her from grabbing, etc., wrapping/swaddling in a big towel can help restrain them - more of a last resort, but I found it sometimes less traumatic and less chance of injury to both of us than trying to hold all four limbs at once.

[ourbabygirl]

Great ideas! Thanks, Everyone!
I have a couple of the syringes but couldn't get them to 'suck up' the medicine in the right amount. I'll try again today, and will also try the 'towel swaddle' if I need to. Thanks! :tongue5:

[jerigirl]

Ask the pharmacy if they have a stopper with a hole in it and a syringe. That will allow you to turn the bottle upside down and draw the medicine out with the syringe. I find the Target pharmacy to be the best about this. I don't even get my rxs filled there but stop by and ask for one. They have 2 sizes so get both to be sure it will fit your bottle. Walgreen's doesn't really have them. They will give me syringes though.

Or get a set like this:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3532909
The rubber cone with the syringe on the right is a universal stopper that should fit most bottles.

[o_mom]

One of the pharmacies we use has syringes with an extension tube so that you can reach the bottom of the bottle. You can also pour some into a clean medicine cup first, then draw it up into the syringe from there.

[conniez]

When DD got her 1st ear infection her doctor prescribed Amoxicillin (a really thick pink syrup that had to be taken orally). She fought me tooth & nail and spit the meds up every time. I asked the pharmacist if it was okay to mix it with food, and they said it was as long as I made sure she finished it all in order to get the full dose. So I thought of what food could mask the chalky taste of Amox. & I mixed it with Go-gurt. I spoon fed her the yogurt-Amox. concoction & she didn't even notice! Just a suggestion if you're like me and never have success getting your DC to take meds by force-feeding 'em! :ROTFLMAO:

[Reyadawnbringer]

What worked with us when our son was ill was using the syringe like suggested by the pp's but instead of fighting him/wrestling him to the floor we let him play with an extra syringe before we were about to give him the medicine. Then by the time we had to give him the medicine we held the syringe up close to his face and stuck it in the corner of his mouth. He would cooperatively open his mouth a little bit and we would squirt it in a little at a time, giving him a chance to swallow what he had between the squirts. Now this medicine was not flavored by any means and it was actually a little bitter, but it seemed like once he was familiar with what we were doing and approached him calmly and let him have a small amount of control (or what seemed like it to him) he was able to take the medicine without a fight.

We had to do this for a 10 day regimen after every meal and we never had another problem after we did it this way.

Hope it helps- good luck! :hug:

[codex57]

DS is nearly 2. We still use the infant dropper.

And yes, we wrestle and pin him down too on occassion. Sometimes it's the only way. It's over a LOT quicker for everyone that way instead of pleading, etc.

[MommyAllison]

Ask the pharmacy if they have a stopper with a hole in it and a syringe. That will allow you to turn the bottle upside down and draw the medicine out with the syringe. I find the Target pharmacy to be the best about this. I don't even get my rxs filled there but stop by and ask for one. They have 2 sizes so get both to be sure it will fit your bottle.


I love Target's bottles with the stopper that fits the syringe. We do syringes for both the kids whenever possible, and blow in their face if necessary. We have better luck if we have water on hand for them to drink immediately after swallowing the meds. Recently DD was on some abx that could not be flavored, and tasted pretty bad. We tried to give them immediately before food she liked so the aftertaste didn't linger.

[bubbaray]

Syringe (minus a needle, obviously), aim at the far back side of the cheek.

With some meds that taste particularly nasty even with flavoring (is it keflex? Can't remember, there is one that our pharmacist wished us luck with, said they can not flavor it adequately), it takes two of us.

[infocrazy]

I LOVE the stoppers/syringe at Target. They also do free flavorings if you think that would help. We haven't done it in awhile...knock on something, but DS2 had BAD reflux and was on Zantac for about 6 months. He took it ok but our ped told us to shoot it at the back wall of his mouth and blow on his face. The blow on his face causes him to swallow, the back wall has LOTS of little capillaries that quickly absorb the medicine so sometimes the med that comes back out is less than you think because it is mixed with saliva. Of course, zantac is a much thinner med but FWIW.

That is one long run on sentence!

[heatherandlouis]

Have you tried a medicine dispenser with a nipple? We bought ours at walmart and it works great :)