To force my child to take medicine...

[WankingMonkey]

I have not done this. But this is the advice of the doctor

So yesterday my son was given antibiotics for a strep infection. He took the first dose, then realised how vile it was (and it is vile, I tried a little to see). When it was time for his next dose he saw the medicine and ran from me. I eventually got him to take a little but that was it.

I called the doctors back today to ask if they have any other kind of the medicine as it says sugar free on the bottle so I thought they might possibly have a nicer tasting version. Doctor says no. She told me to try hiding it in yoghurts, bribing him with a piece of chocolate if he takes it, and so on. I have tried these and he clicks on straight away about it being hidden in food/drink and point blank refuses to take it for treats. So the final advice the doctor gave was to 'pin him down and force it down him' which sounds fucking horrendous.

She says he really has to finish his course. And a minute or two discomfort is worth it to make him better, which I sort of agree with but I just don't think I can bring myself to actually force medicine down his throat...won't that make him sick? He will hate me too.

I don't know what to do here, and any other advice is very welcome

[WankingMonkey]

I will try coke tomorrow..can't really go out to the shop now. Thanks

Yes tried yoghurts earlier. he looked at it funny (as it had an orange tint) ate 2 mouthfuls then refused. So got some of the medicine but not enough

[HerBluebiro]

Ella's fruit pouch saved the day for my little one with penicillin recently. Saw the tip on a parenting group. I'd been pinning and squirting up until then. Unpleasant for both of us. I reason 4 fruit pouches is better than nothing (I tried mixing in sugar. Didn't work!)

[Robinkitty]

I had to pin dd down and force her medicine several times a day (pneumonia) once she realised I meant business she stopped fighting it and took it willingly. You need to be cruel to be kind sometimes

[HerBluebiro]

Why have they all gone sugar free? I remember medicine tasting ok in my childhood. None of these battles

[CatsCantFlyFast]

We are on dd's second (in a year) course of antibiotics which she HATES. She's 3. She's got to have it 3 times a day and hiding it in drinks doesn't work. We do stern and bribery. So explain regularly she's got to have them after every meal. That she can have a treat afterwards. That we are sorry but she HAS to have them and screaming and spitting it out won't be tolerated and if she does that she will have to go to her room. 6 swallows (3 per 2.5ml syringe) and then chocolate. We have honed this technique as we have tried everything else

[isadoradancing123]

All this discomfort and stress to children just so medicines can be sugar free, who makes these decisions, however he does need to take the foul tasting stuff

[umberellaonesie]

My son was on flucloxacilin for the first 5 years of his life 😕 it is vile stuff
Wrap him in a towel hug him tight between your knees, syringe to the heel and back and blow in his face to trigger swallow reflex.

[umberellaonesie]

You need to hold his mouth shut do hecan spit it out. The strength of a toddler refusing flucloxacilin is huge. Be strong

[BadlyStuffedFoxes123]

Try calpol syringe straight into the cheek like you did OP and then plug little mouth with a dummy for a few seconds untill he swallows.

[PersianCatLady]

It's medicine, not sweeties. It's not meant to taste nice
Exactly, imagine how dangerous it would be if antibiotic liquid tasted really nice and kids liked it.

I am sorry but I don't believe that he can taste 2.5ml in a 250ml milkshake, no matter how vile it tastes.

[HerBluebiro]

Fluloxacillin capsules are better than the medicine. I don't know how low a dose they go. But opened onto a spoonful of Nutella they work well

[PersianCatLady]

I used to gently hold dd's jaws together and rub under her chin so she had to swallow (think I got that from James Herriot- though in his case it was a horse)
That is how I make sure that my cat swallows her worming tablet.

[lalalalyra]

The insistence that children's medicines must be vile does my head in. My DD has to take medicine every day, and whilst I can see the thinking behind not wanting kids to think it's nice and actively go afte it I really, really wish there was another option.

I do the towel technique. Towel wrapped tight. Her back against my chest and her legs trapped by mine. One hand tilting up her chin to stop her spitting it out and one to work the syringe.

It's important to make sure they can't throw their head, otherwise you end up in a&e because they are surprisingly strong!

[fabulous01]

I know which one you mean. Vile but I had to do it. Child needs it and I honestly sat it was child abuse as I had to physically hold mine down. But.. it was only one that worked
You have to do it

[Justanothernameonthepage]

Syringe and a spoon of ice-cream afterwards worked for me. First couple of doses he'd cry and fight but he quickly understood it was happening anyway. After the course ended he got quite offended as the ice cream supply stopped as well

[tinymeteor]

I've been there OP, it's so distressing. Got to be done though. Why they can't make kids' medicine taste halfway nice I really don't know.

Syringe and a sweet treat afterwards is the best approach, as others have said. Mixing it into food just makes the whole process take longer which is worse for everyone. And nobody eats yoghurt 4 times a day.

At that age I found DD responded well to me 'giving medicine to teddy' first. So I'd mime giving the bear a syringeful of medicine, or eyedrops, or whatever. Then pretend teddy didn't like it, give him a big cuddle and say he was a good bear for doing so well. Then repeat the whole ritual with her.

It didn't make her like the meds any better, but it took the unpredictability out of it and introduced the idea of calming down after something yucky. Helped a bit.

[gameofchance]

I share your pain. These medicines are generally vile and GPs are generally unhelpful in prescribing alternatives. Also some antibiotics shouldn't actually be taken with food so I always check this. I don't advocate the pinning down technique as whenever I've tried this DS has got so upset he immediately vomits up the medicine thus defeating the point. I have however given all his toys medicine / pretended to take medicine myself (water in syringe) and just developed technique of wrapping him in towel so he can't use hands to knock syringe away and pretending he is sick cat at vets needing medicine.

[LookAtAllTheBullshit]

Lovely bright orange liquid, smells nice and orangey but tastes like shit!
Mango juice hides the flavour quite well.
Mango juice is very strong smelling and very sweet tasting so absorbs some of the bitter flavour of the antibiotic.
Might be worth a try especially if he hasn't had mango before so doesn't know what it tastes like.

[Sidge]

Fluclox is gross, I sympathise.

I wrap them in a towel and clamp them firmly under my arm with one of their arms behind my back, and my legs over their legs.

When you use the syringe and squirt it in, only do 1-2 mls at a time then they can't spit it out. Takes a little longer but they get it all.

He won't remember. I also offer a chocolate button afterwards to take the taste away.

[B19M]

Why have they all gone sugar free?
Because otherwise it causes dental caries -some children have to take meds such as antibiotics long-term.
OP "the towel wrapping /syringing & with the other hand holding his lips together while he swallows technique" is the only way forward with a 2year old.

[hazeyjane]

One of the good side effects of having a DD who needs daily medicine though is that DD has become so used to taking medicine that she now asks for it as a treat! god, I wish that worked with ds, he is nearly 7 and has daily inhalers, and medicines.....he still hates it!

Those saying they wouldn't taste it in..coke/milkshake/ribena etc - ds detects it in everything that he would eat (drinking coke would be worse than necking antibiotics!)

At the moment we have the trauma of trying to get him to have a daily tablet.....hahahahahahahahaha.....

[Bicnod]

I'd ask to see a different doctor and ask again for a different antibiotic. There's usually more than one they can give. My then 3 year old DS2 refused his foul tasting ABs, I was advised to pin him down, I did so which was highly traumatic for everyone and he vomited immediately everywhere and was hysterical. No way would I put my child through that again unless I was absolutely sure there was no alternative. I saw an out of hours GP, explained what happened and he prescribed a different, not completely revolting, AB which DS then took after much bribery.

[Mommawoo]

I read a tip on here that said to microwave a chocolate button, mix in the medicine then put in fridge to cool and then give to child.

Never had to do it so not sure how effective it is!

[PersianCatLady]

The insistence that children's medicines must be vile does my head in
Whilst it must be awful for your DD to have a vile medicine every day, I think that it is important that they do taste vile.

When medicine tastes vile, not only does it stop kids from liking it and wanting it, it also means that if a kid does get hold of some medicine by accident then they would not be likely to drink enough of it to do them any harm.

Imagine how dangerous it would be if a toddler found a whole bottle of nice tasting AB liquid by accident.

[Moanyoldcow]

I haven't read the full thread but I have been through this - it's fucking awful.

I managed to hide most of it in s weetabix with a fruit pot and milk all mixed together. Even add a bit more sugar if necessary.

Why the fuck they can't make them taste better is beyond me.