Sick child not swallowing antibiotics :-(

[BlackFriYay]

My DS age 2.5 (likely autistic) has tonsillitis and won't swallow the antibiotic liquid. We have tried disguising it in juice of different strengths - he refuses all juice as he can tell there's something in it.

We've tried swaddling him in a towel whilst trying to use a calpol syringe, blowing on his face, holding his nose, every trick in the book that people suggest for children who won't comply with swallowing the meds. He's getting that distressed he's choking and hurting himself trying to break away from his dad who's holding him, and after all of that he still hasn't swallowed it.

This is also happening for liquid nurofen which he also really needs for his temperature.

I'm worried sick. What on earth can we do?

Would he take a tablet instead?

Bless him two of mine (not autistic) were like this. I'm afraid I abandoned a course of antibiotics for an ear infection for one of them once as I just couldn't get them into my DS.

As important ad the antibiotics are I'd start with the nurofen as he's probably going to be less sensitive once his temp is better controlled. If he's off juice, you can stir into yogurt, or fruit puree or even a spoon of ice cream - the strawberry flavour will probably work better for this. Its less awful than antibiotics so he might tolerate it.

IF you can get the temp under control and get him calm and comfortable in front of the TV or a tablet or something, what used to work for us was choc button in the mouth first melting to coat the mouth, squirt of medicine and then another chocolate button to take the flavour away (plus however many buttons you want to give for bravery). Anything else that coats the mouth like yogurt or ice cream should work.

Parents of children with autism will be better able to advise on this than me - I tried to avoid lying about whether something had medicine in, even when small as a) as you have found out they always know anyway and b) it has the effect that they stop trusting you and if they have a temp the last thing you want is them refusing to drink or eat. But even when quite small ours could get the bargain that we knew it was awful, if they could survive the next five seconds there would be a lot of buttons in it for them...

We mixed our DD's into chocolate mouse. It hid the taste really well and my DD (not autistic mind) went from screaming and chocking when we tried to syringe it into her to asking when her next medicine was due.
I know they say not to give it with food but it was that or nothing and it seemed to still work.

I remember some liquid antibiotics prescribed for DD were very smelly so putting them into yogurt wouldn’t help you needed something stronger. If it’s 4 times per day I would ask for something at least 2 times per day.

I have an autistic child with ARFID, so antibiotics are a last resort and usually via IV. However, I do know the often the worst tasting antibiotics are prescribed first (probably cheaper for the NHS) so it’s worth finding out if there is an alternative that’s more palatable and if you can have the sugar version of it.

We used to have paracetamol suppositories to control fever. How are you getting on with an assessment for a diagnosis?

We had success with DD mixing it in yoghurt or ice cream. Maybe a crushed tablet in a spoonful of ice cream would be easier than liquid.

Thank you kindly for your replies and advice, he has now taken both the nurofen and antibiotics.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this but I got a bit tearful and pleaded with him to just take a little bit, I was so worried and I don't think he's ever seen me cry before 😬

He had a fever of 40 yesterday, i called 111 to try and get an out of hours doctors appointment and they sent paramedics. The paramedics took us to hospital as all his stats were high and he looked so poorly. They managed to get some nurofen into him eventually but it was total mayhem. They had no penicillin so I had to collect it from the hospital pharmacy this morning.

I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am. Perhaps I'll wet my eyes when the next dose is due! Fingers crossed.

RE his autism assessment, he has only just been referred so it'll be a while yet. We've been here before with our eldest.

Thanks again ♥️

Hope he's on the mend soon. The other thing I remember using is difflam spray if his super sore throat is stopping him swallowing. It's available otc.

Hide it in favourite food