DD has strep throat. AFTER being in hospital for viral-induced wheeze and trying to get her to take Prednisolone (which made her gag and vomit) I am now having to inflict penicillin on her. I have phone the hospital for advice and their attitude is "She has to have it" quite rightly, I get that, but they seems to think the "by any means necessary" route works.
I know for a fact that physically pinning DD down and forcing her to take it will not work as she will just vomit it back up, For whatever reason. Which is what has just happened, and I'll have some bruises to remind me.
The only two doses out of 7 attemots have been when she is half asleep.I have quickly followed with distractipn and ibuprofen and averted any dramas.
The rest of the time its pointless. She is determined and very strong and right now I am so fucked off with the whole thing I have had to go away while I stop shaking.
I have the patience. I would talk to DD all night if it would help. I would take any amount of bruises if she actually swallowed the fucking stuff and kept it down. She will not.
I have tried hiding it in food and drink, tried bribes, tried fucking role-play. Ice cream worked once but there was lots going and she hasnt much of an appetite anyway.
I am doubly pissed off because she actually ate something today and now she has thrown it back up again.
She will take Nurofen. She takes Cetirizine. She even takes Abidec!!! And she would probably take this stuff as well if it wasn't dayglo fucking orange with an equally rank smell and taste!!!
Even making it clear/colourless would help. But no, let's signpost the horrible medicine by making it glow in the fucking dark !!!
Sorry for rant, I can't be mad at her, she is four, so I am venting on here.
I understand this is AIBU, so if you're going to give me a pasting, could you please add some tips on how you managed to give reluctant DC medicine???
AIBU?
To Wonder Why They Cant Make Kids Medicine a tiny bit nicer?
MadameOvary · 17/02/2013 19:55
I still remember the disgusting antibiotic I had to take for recurrent ear infections when I was 6 or 7 - I am 51 now!
It was bright red (may have been orange) and was so horrible that it made the milk that I was given afterwards to try to wash the flavour away taste disgusting 
I am currently taking amoxicillin for a chest infection. Nice convenient easy-to-swallow capsules
. Hate taking antibiotics and resisted going to the GP for 5 weeks about my crackly cough
Oh FFS. It wasn't amoxycillin. It was clarythromicin (sp?) and it's even more disgusting than the other stuff! 
Back to the drawing board. Going to have a look at the Squirrel Tales website now.
DS2 was taken in to hospital a couple of years ago (he was 5 at the time) and the antibiotic prescribed by the on call Doctor made him violently sick. I was fighting to get the next dose in to him when the Consultant came round. He took one look at me holding a screaming DS down while trying to administer the medicine and checked what had been prescribed. The Junior Doctor that had been on call was then told by the consultant in no uncertain terms not to prescribe that particular medicine to children on his ward because it tasted horrible . DS2 got a new medicine and the consultant made the Junior Doctor taste the medicine to see how nasty it actually was.
I have no advice but you have my sympathy Madame and I hope DD feels better soon.
YANBU!
Was it soluble prednisolone? I got given that once as an adult because it was all A&E had available & it was absolutely FOUL. I mixed it with squash & had to hold my nose to get it down, gagging throughout. Made even harder because the wee small of the friend I was staying with was very upset that I had Such Nasty Medicine... At 4 could she maybe cope with the tablets? They are very wee, the 5mg ones & the enteric coated ones taste of sugar, basically.
I think a lot of the official reason for the disgusting taste of medications is to reduce the risk of overdose. Am pretty sure the fact they've no real motivation to make it taste nicer has a lot to do with it too though!
Cannot believe people like Banana Medicine. I had it an awful lot as a child (all the chest infections all the time) & routinely used to weep over the foulness of the taste. I used to get raisins to take the taste away. It didn't work. Even now I sometimes get the remembered taste sneak up on me. Blech.
Have to say I find it particularly harsh that my antiemetic (domperidone) makes me gag. Just having it in my mouth, even under my tongue, produces a foul & lingering taste: I end up not taking it unless things are really REALLY bad & then trying to chuck it down my throat...
My mother used to have to chase me round the house & then sit on me to pin me down in order to administer eyedrops. Even as a toddler I felt bad for her as I knew it was upsetting for her but I absolutely couldn't stand the drops. Still can't bear things near my eyes now 
Don't have any tips to add to those from other people, I'm afraid, but I do hope your daughter's better soon. Might it help to explain if she doesn't take the medicine she'll end up in hospital & they'll have to give IV antibiotics? That increased my medication compliance from being a tiny. It wasn't a threat or making the hospital into some kind of monsterthing, it was an honest explanation of what would happen if I didn't take the medication I needed to get better. It helped me to understand why it was so important I took The Disgusting Medicine[s] & actually gave me some sense of agency, which ill children often feel deprived of.
I always get strange looks when asking for Calpol- not the sugar free one please 
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