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DS 4 (asd / ld) will not swallow medicine - we have tried everything! Luckily he is not often ill but is coming down with something at the moment and I can see me needing to take him to the doctor soon .............
Can I insist on having suppositories instead of oral medicine for him? Anyone here knowledgeable on the prescribing rules?

You can ask for suppositories, but they may not be possible/available for all meds.

Your best bet is to start addressing his medicine phobia now. Use syringe and dose him with it regularly [water/juice/something salty], he will most likely get used to it in time and it is a skill he needs just like toilet training or washing/hair cuts.

What sort of meds are you thinking he will need for his current illness? Some can be injected/via drip, but on the whole oral is easier. I think it is actually easier to give the non-compliant meds orally than rectally.

We had to have paracetamol supositories for Dd's 2 and 3. The hosp prescribed them initially because Dd2 had a really high temp and she wouldnt keep calpol down even if you could force it down her throat!!

I knew i could request it by the time Dd3 came along so she had them from a younger age the GP loved to tell me how much they cost each whenever i asked for some.

Luckily the Dd's are not ill very often and have only had anti b's once each.

I would defintely ask about supositories if you are struggling. I finally managed to get Dd3 to take calpol from a sachet. Dd2 started swallowing a tablet when she statred to get period pains, still only occasional though.

Good luck.

I know it's a skill he needs along with toilet training and haircuts etc but we are a very long way off with both of those too!!!
Paracetamol would be very useful.

He had to have sedation medication in hospital before a hearing test. It took 5 of us including a very experienced sister to eventually get it down him - we all had battle scars!!!

Dd3 did eventually start taken calpol from a sachet. She sucks it out so has control over how quickly it goes in. I give her a sachet occasionally even if she is not unwell just to make sure she doesnt forget that she can deal with it. Luckily she is a hypercondriac so there is always something wrong with her.

It is a nightmare and very worrying if you know you cant get anything down them.

Is your GP understanding if he/she is I would go and have a chat.

cwtch4967 sorry, I didn't mean that in a "it's easy" way, it came out wrong. What I meant was it is a life skill and you have to plan to do it in stages, so will need something else till your dc has got there!
I know exactly how difficult it can be. I also have a child who has life threatening seizures when her temperature rises so understand how desperate you can be to get meds in.
I go with syringes because you can get fist fulls from the pharmacy and do stuff like let them play in the bath with them or squirt ice-cream into their mouths with them.
We have got the toilet training but the haircuts are still challenging.

My daughter took a LONG time to be compliant taking any medication. We had the paracetamol suppositories too and found them very useful when she had a high temp. She did get there in the end.

Have you tried the calpol meltlets thingys?

We use syringes in the bath (without needles I should add!)
We use them to drink with and use them as water pistols!
It takes a lot to get used to them, and have no help other than to let ds use them much as possible.

Hello,
We had dreadful problems getting DD4 ASD to take any liquid medicine even the sight of the bottle caused major meltdowns resulting in her being so distressed she would throw up.
Our GP prescribed suppositories but we only got away with the first one before that too became an issue.
I have at last found the solution in Capol 6+ Fastmelts, we have to get the gp to prescribe them due to her age but the are genius and have changed our lives a little.

Thanks for that re the Calpol Fastmelts - sounds ideal as long as GP will oblige!!!

We put Nurofen liquid into half a fruit shoot-still in the fruit shoot bottle.

Have you had to do this and had success with it, zzzzz?

The only time I've ever got medication down DS2 successfully was when he had a torticollis and was in a lot of pain with it and too weak to fight - we managed ibuprofen, but not calpol because he really can't stand the taste so spat it straight out. If i try to give him anything for a fever, even if i get it in his mouth, he throws it straight up.

He's no different with foods he can't stand. Even if he does like the taste, but not the texture, he ends up retching - and that's when he's well.

D2 won't take anything. Nothing at all. I have a cupboard ful of disolvable, melty ones, liquid and chewy and others. NOTHING! She really needed antibiotics a few months ago. I managed to get one out of a week course into her. luckily she is a healthy sort so just got over it in her own time. But she is impossible. She jsut can't.

DS aged 5.5 won't take oral meds either. I have 6 kids and have managed with most of them to take meds except for DS. He was ill recently with a temp of 104 for days and he would only let me give him suppositories, he hated them but he felt it was better than taking something orally. He was also prescribed antibiotics but we didn't even get one dose into him, tried with smoothies, ice-cream, juice etc. He's always been like this. We don't get paracetamol prescribed here, we have to buy all our meds so I just buy them in the pharmacy but they're very expensive. I'll stock up when we go to France in the summer.
I don't think you can force oral meds into someone, I never accepted medicines when I was little but learned to swallow tablets by the age of about 11. I still can't swallow medicine - I had to drink water after I'd had anti-sickness meds before a c-section.

Yes have had success. Though ds does it for dh better than for me. Dd needs her meds so I can categorically say you CAN force oral meds into someone, but in the long run you need to get them to do it willingly.

By far the best method for us is to just use the syringes to eat with/play with. Let them give squirts to you and then you try for them etc... Make sure you change the tastes in the syringe or you will get hooked on it being sugar water or whatever. It is worth just squirting a tiny bit like you are giving meds every day before something they like. So 0.5ml sugar water and then you can watch Octonaughts or whatever. For me it helped to think of it like teeth cleaning as "just another thing to learn". If it takes you a year to do it, it is worth it.

I have to say ds had to have calpol this week and was less compliant than before so I think we need to keep going with the playing/training rather than just thinking that has worked and moving on.

Force method: Wrap child up tightly in a towel/duvet [think cocoon]. Put syringe down between teeth and cheek tip right at the back by molars. Squeeze slowly. It is very difficult to spit out a small amount of liquid, so you need to take time, not squirt to get it over with. Be firm and calm, and do it in several teeny doses if necessary. If your child is verbal it helps to count how many you are giving [so for us I always do 3 squirts, so when I say 3 dd knows it is the last one].

I woudl say it was ok to give calpol occasionally to ensure you are able to when ill....but then temperatures are so scary for us.

DD2 projectile vomits if we try to give her medicine. She'll take it and swallow it, then she vomits it all up again. We've started making paracetamol icelollies for her to eat when she is poorly. It seems to work really well.

Very sneaky Sassyfrassy. I like your style.

Sassy!!! That is sheer brilliance.

I wonder if antibiotics could be frozen too.

I cant believe i have struggled for years and never thought to try medi lollies. [Grin].

Should have been. Stupid phone.

I've jusy started another thread relating to this.
DS,13,asd has impetigo and is refusing his ab's. I've tried mixing it but even with almost undiluted juice he won't swallow it. We have been through the swaddling and forcing techniques when he was a lot younger and have battle scars as well.
When he broke.his leg he had to be restrained to be given diamorphine.
On the whole painkillers are easy, dissolve in juice but ab's can't be messed with, or frozen, and with impetigo it can't be not taken, any tips would,be great

Have done a bit of research this afternoon and it seems that antibiotics should not be frozen .

Still 2 of the parents where I work are pharmacists so I will check with them about the medi lolies and let you all know what they say.

I have no advice sorry Debs, I have no idea how I would get antib's down Dd3 and she is only 9!

When she was a baby she could tell if there was something in her drink even when she only had the tiniest taste of it.

If we force her she just gags and heaves.

we have suppositories for paracetamol and an anti-emitic one too for ds2. Brilliant inventions!

zzzzz - we always have given it very slowly, and if I gave calpol, I gave him the 6+ so I only needed to give him a couple of ml. Still ended up wearing it.

And we definitely can't hide medicines - he only drinks water (and asks for it changed if it's not fresh) and won't even touch the yoghurts he loves if we hide medicines in them - and he goes off his food so easily when he's unwell, anyhow.

I would definitely second the 6+ calpol so you need to use less volume, they taught us that in hospital and it is brilliant. How about starting with 0.1ml? You could give him something he really likes afterwards [eg 0.1ml calpol then lolly????]

Personally I don't mix it into stuff. Like ouryve ds goes off food easily and he only drinks water, milk or McDonalds milkshakes.