To (internally) lose my shit trying to get meds into 4YO and need all the best tips

[Bugsymalonemumof2]

4 year old had adenoidtonsillectomy Monday. Treated with IV fluids Monday night and Tuesday night due to not drinking. Given big course of antibiotics due to persistent low grade fever (still present 5 days later). She won't eat or drink which is almost certainly because these antibiotics are so utterly vile she won't take them and because I forced those in she now won't take Calpol or neurofen. So not only is she not getting her antibiotic she has no pain relief. She has had about 125ml of water and a small bowl of ice cream today and weed once since 1.30am last night.

I need some solutions for an in pain and extremely unreasonable 4 year old who also has ASD...

Antibiotic needs to be taken on an empty stomach (and is vile in all fairness to DD). can't disguise it in yoghurt or ice cream as she will then refuse even ice cream.

As for pain relief, I tried to just force it in and she spurred it back out like a whale.

Any tips?

[YetAnotherThing]

What do the antibiotics taste of- are they bitter? If you know that we can work out what might disguise it.

[Everytimeiseeher]

When my son was around that age he had tonsillitis and I gave him the antibiotics which were vile and they also got spat out.
I ended up putting the dose in an orange flavoured fruit shoot. I’ll get ripped for this advice by the healthy brigade but it worked for me.
Good luck and hugs to you all. Hope your wee one is better soon.

[Coldhandscoldheart]

Will she take an ice lolly? So watery rather than creamy?
I’m wondering if frozen calpol with some extra flavourings might be more palatable? Like little calpol n orange ice cubes or something.

I have also found that Tesco do cherry flavoured calpol which covers the taste better than the strawberry flavour.

[YouCannotFindMe]

Bribery? She can have a smarties/chocolate button afterwards.

[Bugsymalonemumof2]

@YetAnotherThing they are just vile with an awful after taste. Can't quite put my finger on the taste but I genuinely thing I would struggle with them let alone a 4YO.

It isn't helping she won't eat or drink :(

[Smallinthesmoke]

Ice lollies for dehydration?
Chocolate buttons bribery?
Practise giving to daddy/ teddy etc who says YUK I don't like it but I do get choc afterwards which is great, it's not so bad.
Do it while she is distracted with TV, music, puppet show? or in the bath?

[SparklyShoesandTutus]

Have you asked about potential alternatives? My DS was prescribed antibiotics that were absolutely vile and there was no way, despite numerous different attempts at disguising them that I could get him to take them. He wasnt getting any benefit so I went back to the GP and they prescribed an alternative . Might be worth an ask

[butteryellow]

The anti-biotics - I've just had to treat my youngest like a cat - wrap him in a towel, and squirt it in, slowly enough that he has to swallow not spit - it's unpleasant and horrible, but the time he needed anti-biotics, it just had to be done.

For pain relief - it's a long shot, but, could she swallow a pill? My DS1 surprised me one day when we had no calpol (which he hates anyway) but he was running hot, and he just swallowed an ibuprofen with no problem at all - one of the sugar-coated ones. Or old-school fizzy tablets (perhaps mixed with a vitamin C one for flavour?)

[Coldhandscoldheart]

Also is there anything particularly high value, however unhealthy you could use to bribe the abs in with?
With a good deal of advance preparation & chat about how the I dunno, medicine will be in a syringe so it doesn’t taste as bad and it will help her sore throat and then she’ll get xyz thing?

[Coldhandscoldheart]

Is it penicillin v? That’s very bitter and grim.

[SparklyShoesandTutus]

Fluid wise will she have ice lollies or any favourite drinks? Little and often of any fluids even if not particularly healthy at this stage is better than nothing. Really feel for you as it's so horrible when they are sick and reluctant to take meds and fluids which would help them

[Solasum]

At 4 is she not old enough to have a ‘I know they are yucky but you have to take them or you won’t get well’ chat?

[Absofrigginlootly]

If she’s not weed for nearly 24 hours you need to call 111 and see if they think she needs readmitting, especially if you explain the situation about not being able to get her to take her treatment

Have you tried a suppository for pain relief? (Disclaimer - I don’t know if you can buy paediatric ones with out a prescription)

I feel your pain. When my DD is poorly she refuses all calpol etc. When her fever reaches 40C I have to pin her down and force it in

[Notthisnotthat]

My DD takes medicine out of the syringe better than a spoon, it can be a 2 person job, one person cuddles while the other does the medicine giving, and aiming the medicine right to the back of the mouth.

[lms2017]

Have you got a bottle with a teat? Put the syringe of medicine in the other side of teat while in her mouth then push it up through the syringe. (Don't need the bottle bit obviously).

I usually just put it in and bottle of strong juice and let them have it that way. Won't hurt for a temporary solution. X

[RippleEffects]

With DS1 now 15 but also Autistic we use a Nurofen syringe for all medicines.

The spouting whale sounds very familiar.

How able to understand is your DD? DS1 is very intelligent so we can gently coax and reason.

I'm a fan of ice lollies for helping hydration. If you go for rocket lollies or similar I'd guess they don't count as food. If her mouth is slightly numb from the lolly the medicine may not be as vile.

[Notthisnotthat]

If she isn't drinking we give 5 mls of fluid by syringe as well, every 5/10 mins. DD has spent a bit of time in hospital and this was one of there tips, and even better if it has full sugar diluting juice in it.

[Bugsymalonemumof2]

@coldhandscoldheart that's the one!

She is 4 but has ASD and really struggles to verbally reason when she is well let alone when she is feeling awful. Bribery is my usual for Calpol but she is being so stubborn that she would sacrifice just about everything to not have them.

I don't have the physical strength to pin her down and squirt them in. We seem to have got in an awful mess :(

[RavenousBabyButterfly]

When DD (ASD) was 3 she had some vile ABs we did end up treating her like a cat (as described above) but also after every dose gave her a sweet "to take the taste away" and after a few doses, we didn't need to do the cat thing anymore.

Incidentally, I tried the same trick on my cat when he ended up on long term medication. I gave him his tablet just before feeding him every day. He ended up practically eating it out of my hand. Never underestimate the power of a good reward.

[sleepylittlebunnies]

I had this problem with DS when he was small before we even knew he has ASD. I tried the wrapping him tight, pinning him down etc and it would go in, then he’d vomit. In the end I gave him the syringe and he just sucked it in and said it was a lolly. Was shocked it was such a sudden turn around.

One DD hated a pink medicine and I realised after sitting on the loo and seeing a pink dribble on the white skirting board that she had squirted it on the pink wall, very conniving.

When she had shingles we couldn’t get hold of the suspension antiviral that had been prescribed and she ended up happily taking an oro-dispersible form. Would this be an option?

I’ve found with all of them that with paracetamol it depended on the make as to what flavour it was and how easily it went down.

If DC is that averse and has such a poor oral input and urine output they may need to be readmitted for IV fluids, antibiotics and analgesia. Will he be able to take that information on board and be more willing to take orally so hospital can be avoided.

[WatershedMoment]

Been there, wore tshirt. Is it 'flucloxacillin'? I got so annoyed with DC until I tasted it and ive never tasted anything so bitter in my life.
We said to doc, what is worse, taking with food or not taking at all. Doc said fine just get them to take it as best you can.
We tried it mixed in choc ice cream, choc milkshake, tried everything. Tantrums and tiaras for days.
Only thing i think worked was holding DCs nose, having DC take a deep breath, swallow vile medicine mixed with small amount of chocolate ice cream, then before taking a breath, wash it down with chocolate milk.
We found out that it is literally impossible to force a child to take medicine against their will!!!
Good luck.

[emjamow]

We have had success diluting my sons medication with neat crusha. Works better than diluting juice at disguising the taste. I also stopped trying to syringe it in as he could very worked up (as did I) so he gets the dose in an egg cup with the crusha and a cup of strong diluting juice taken with a straw to wash it down - good luck, it is so frustrating when you know they need and will feel better once they have taken the meds.

[emjamow]

Also forgot to say that I think that medicine tastes better out of the fridge and I make sure that whatever I am diluting it with is ice cold.

[WingBingo]

Boots sell suppositories. Not nice for them when administering them, but it is possible to get it in so they stay in. You will need two people for this.

It was the only way to get them into DS4. Now he chooses calpol over the alternative.

[WingBingo]

Gosh that sounds mean. It is quick to get them in.