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Original poster

Impossible to get these antibiotics down my 4 year old

29 replies

antibyebye · 15/03/2024 21:01

Tried every trick, mixed with apple juice, honey, jam, sugar, Ribena etc he just doesn't fall for it. I am resorting to pinning him down and squiring it in whilst he flails and screams which is quite traumatising for him but he's barely getting any down he is spitting 90% of it in my face. Doesn't matter how much I blow or rub his cheeks etc he just spits. He has strep throat and really needs it and I'm so stressed trying to get it down him. He needs it four times a day for ten days. This is day one!!!! Help 😭

OP posts:
HAF1119 · 15/03/2024 21:09

Can you try honesty mixed with bribery? Tell him you know it tastes not nice but it's medicine from the doctor so he's not sick. And ask what he would like after he's taken it? A piece of a favourite chocolate, a haribo, a few mins on a game on a tablet etc?

Mine once I gave up trying to mix it/make it taste nice/say it's not so bad took it better. Not saying it will work with yours! Might be worth a try though!

Original poster
antibyebye · 15/03/2024 21:12

Worked for the first dose and now he's just refusing point blank 😭

OP posts:
Cleaningupthemess · 15/03/2024 21:13

Have you tried letting him choose a sweet from out a selection in a container and letting him hold the one he chooses for him to pop straight into his mouth after swallowing his medicine. The whole thing of choosing then holding the sweet and prospect of having it as soon as the hated medicine has been swallowed just might work 🤞🏼. I don’t like the idea of sweets as rewards but desperate times sometimes need desperate measures. And if he needs the medicine in future maybe he will associate it with getting to choose a sweet after each dose. Good luck

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Behaviour & development
Cleaningupthemess · 15/03/2024 21:15

oh I see this has been suggested and it didn’t work after first dose.

Inyourwildestdreams · 15/03/2024 21:16

No experience @antibyebye but a friend had success popping it in the flavoured Ambrosia Custard pots?

Original poster
antibyebye · 15/03/2024 21:17

I tried yoghurt and that was a fail, he doesn't eat custard so not sure he'll go for that. 4 times a day for 10 days is going to be impossible. There's no way I can send him into school with it either for him to scream and spit it at them if they attempt to give it. I just don't get what I'm meant to do?!

OP posts:
IgoogledYOLO · 15/03/2024 21:17

Have you given teddy the medicine? Played doctor and checked teddy's temp too

Make a game: how far away can I squirt this and you catch it in your mouth? (Alternate juice / med &juice mix). Mummy plays too.

Would the approach "nope, this is MY treat. Get off it DS, it's MINE" work?

Elephantsareace · 15/03/2024 21:18

Have you got him to hold his nose to cut out a lot of the taste (they are revolting)?

BippityBopper · 15/03/2024 21:18

When you mix it with something else, do you disguise it? Maybe it's the association with the dispenser which he hates.

Try putting it in a bottle with very weak squash. Maybe that'll help.

ChillyB · 15/03/2024 21:21

You phone the doctors and tell them he won't take them and ask for something else (with sugar).

I've had the same problem and the only thing that worked here was a chocolate milk chaser and lots and lots of praise. We'd had a big conversation about why he needed to take them and what might happen if he didn't take the medicine, what was he worried about by them (scared of the disgusting taste basically) etc that also helped.

Good luck and I hope he's better soon.

paranoidmumdroid1 · 15/03/2024 21:24

2 of the big chocolate buttons out of the grab bag and a sip of orange juice after. Clarithromycin (sp?) was the worst, any amoxicillin we've had since has been tolerated as he can remember how awful the "yucky" one was! Traumatised.

Katrinawaves · 15/03/2024 21:24

What worked with my daughter was to give the sweet first and then squirt the medicine in as she was eating the sweet. She didn’t want to spit her sweet out so tolerated the medicine. You can follow up with a second sweet as a reward.

tempnameforadvice · 15/03/2024 21:25

Got someone who isn't their parent to give it to him. It's my absolute fail safe, and he worked for my friends too when I told them. They won't "play up" (for want of a much better phrase!" for others like they will for mum and dad. I know this is super tough because it might be 3-4 times a day and you might not have access to other people all the time but it's a game changer!

mollyfolk · 15/03/2024 21:25

I consider myself a bit of an expert in this area! Here’s stuff that has worked for me in the past;

giving him his favourite sweet afterwards
injecting it in to ice cream - the coldness seems to hide it better.
giving it to him to take himself - lots of bribes and praise.
returning to the gp and asking them to give an alternative - there is a particularly disgusting one that they can replace with another one.
and as a very last resort. Holding his nose and squirting it (with the injection dispenser) into the back and side of his cheek. It’s too difficult to spit it out from that angle. Really Horrible thing to have to do - only if all else fails

Matobe · 15/03/2024 21:25

Is it liquid? Call the doctor and say you need it in tablet form to crush up into their food.

tempnameforadvice · 15/03/2024 21:28

Please ignore the 25 spelling and grammar mistakes in my reply. I have conjunctivitis in both eyes!!!

Rennoc30 · 15/03/2024 21:29

I second the getting it in tablet form. We had to do this for my now 5 year old too. He had strep etc and had to take them or he was going to be admitted. We swapped the liquid for the tablets and crushed them up into those drinkable yoghurts and that worked really well because he couldn't see them or taste them

FlabMonsterIsDietingAgain · 15/03/2024 21:31

If it the one that tastes like "orange" then they are big fat liars, it tastes nothing like orange, it is incredibly bitter and truly revolting. I know because after trying to force it down my daughter's throat a few years ago I tried it. She was right, it was absolutely disgusting. If there is any option to get an alternative then do it.

Blessedbethefruitz · 15/03/2024 21:31

If he were in school he'd be on a twice a day one - call the Dr. At the very least, it's half as often. The gritty 4x daily one is horrific. We've been through them all (ds5 has had strep and tonsillitis more than 15x in 2 years).

Have you tried reasoning honestly? Ds is a lot more compliant after a few days stay with IV antibiotics aged 3. He knows if he doesn't take them we'll have to stay in again, which is boring... He seems to like the watermelon one.

Any reason he can't have amoxicillin? That's 3x daily and more palatable.

Whelm · 15/03/2024 21:36

Twenty years ago, but Amoxycillin came in two flavours (orange and banana I think) - we had to change one because there was no way we could get it in the child. Can't remember which way round, but the other flavour wasn't an issue and was taken happily.
Good luck.

Talkwhilstyouwalk · 15/03/2024 21:40

Have you tried them though? Some taste unbelievably bad!! I told my daughter that if she just swallowed it she could have a treat at the end of the course. All she wanted was one of those cheap party bag fillers - a stretchy man....she got about 50 of them. It's very difficult.....if they are for tonsillitis I wouldn't worry too much, it normally sorts itself out.

DontGiveADuck · 15/03/2024 21:41

One of mine was on a course of Flucloxacillin recently and I could not get it into him. I tried every trick I know (and I’m a nurse so I know all the tricks).

I tried it and it honestly was foul. No wonder they won’t take it. Eventually I had to phone the GP and get capsules which I mixed with chocolate spread.

CookieCrumbles23 · 15/03/2024 21:41

I’ve always done it really quickly and squirted it towards the side of their cheek (if that makes sense). Harder for them to spit out.

When kids were v little, I’d pop it into a bottle teat and they’d suck it through.

It’s very subjective though isn’t it?! What works for one may not work for another. Hope LO is better soon x

Pjmasksonrepeat · 15/03/2024 21:43

It's horrible isn't it? Such a battle and added stress as you know he needs them to get better. Like others say check with the gp incase theres an alternative. We struggled with a horrible one recently which was 3 times a day and a friend mentioned theres a 2 a day which tastes better for kids.

Our ds is 5 now and we had an awful battle recently. The only 2 things that worked were squirting it on jam toast and then a fromage frai yoghurt. He called them medicine yoghurts and he got to choose a choc button or mini gingerbread man after.

When he was on it a few years ago we had to mix it with pureed fruit pouch (the ones for babies), honey and yoghurt all combined. Vile stuff.

The nursery were able to administer it to him effortlessly! They refused to come to our house for breakfast and dinner time to do it for us 😂

PrimalLass · 15/03/2024 21:44

When my daughter needed the horrible urine infection medicine I took her to the shop to choose enough sweets to get through it. One per dose.

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