To force him to take it?

[poorlykid]

My 3.5 year old needs a course of penicillin. He had one this afternoon and it tasted bad and now is in melt down refusing to have the next lot!
I've got to give him it 4 times a day for 10 days!
I really really don't want to force him to take it but how am I supposed to get him to take it?! Any ideas? Help!

I bribed DD with a glass of coke after (which if its the yellow syrup takes the taste away)

Ds used to take it in an inch of cola in the botton of a cup with a straw. He never got any pop unless he had medicine to drink so he thought it was a big treat bless him.

Just finished 2 weeks of penicillin 4x a day with DS. We had to go back twice to get the bottle topped up, so had 3 bottles. The first 2 bottles he took fine, the third one was sugar free and he hated it! So maybe ask for a version with sugar? Although maybe the fear will already have set in at this point. Good luck!

Mixing with chocolate milk works well, it totally disguises the taste... my son was sick every time I tried to give it to him straight but with chocolate milk was no problem. Did mean he had a n awful lot of chocolate milk over the 10 days though lol.

You have to do it OP, pin him down and squirt it into his cheek, water or Milk straight away and some chocolate.'it's for his own good (I do hate that phrase by the way so don't say it lightly).

When my DS was in nursery he needed a course of antibiotics, the disgusting liquid stuff. It was a bloody nightmare and he would scream and kick and spit it EVERYWHERE. And then one daft little trick made it easy - I told him if I pinched his nose then he wouldn't taste it. I'm not convinced pinching his nose made all the horrible taste go away but he totally bought into it. From then on he would happily take it as long as I held his nose while I fed in the spoon and he swallowed it. A kid's belief is pretty powerful... might be worth a go. Good luck!

You need to syringe it to the back of the tongue as there are no taste receptors there and follow it up with a drink of squash.

What is he poorly with?
Antibiotics are not always necessary. My daughter would never take them, she has ASD so I can’t reason with her (she doesn’t understand), she has survived several bad bouts of tonsillitis, water infections, ear infections and scarlet fever with only tiny amounts of antibiotics. I now ask for tablets and hide them in a spoon full of yoghurt (sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t).

Speak to your GP, if he gets more poorly then he could end up in hospital but quite often infections can sort themselves out with plenty of fluids and time.

I used to have to force my daughter to take meds when she was only two, she had leukaemia and had to take lots of tablets as part of her treatment. It is hard at first and you feel dreadful, I used to try spoonfuls of yoghurt or jam as some of them tasted awful. She eventually learned to take them herself.
I'd only do this if it was essential that they had the meds, but if they are antibiotics then I daresay it's important he has them.

Blow hard in his face when its in his mouth. He will swallow as a response.

Try a few more food/drink combinations. My son is younger but fromage frais worked for a couple of days and milk seemed to consistently work.

When you mixed it with his chocolate drink did you mix it in a full glass or just a little? Is there another drink he doesn't usually get to have that you can tell him he is getting as a treat because he is ill and put it in that. Good luck. It's horrible.

Ugh. Effing medication. I did various things.

Mix antibiotics in fromage frais. Mix with Nutella. Mix with freshly squeezed orange juice. Mix with anything vaguely palatable. Though the DC became wise to this, and suspicious of anything "tasty"...

He did it!
It took a couple of big gulps of Pepsi Max 🙈 I feel crap about that but thankful he's taken it finally!

Mix it with peppermint flavouring from the baking aisle followed by a glass of milk.

Is it the pink antibiotic? It's vile. It tastes like chewed paracetamol.

Seriously you want to know?.......

Ds2 between my legs. My right leg hooked over restraining his legs. My left arm hooked over restraining his arms. With my right hand using a syringe squirt it into the back of his cheek/throat.

Yes it was horrid!! But way better than the pain he was in when being poorly! Just keep that in mind. By the third day, I didn't need to restrain him, he took it happily as he knew it was making him feel better.

Big hug OP it's not nice at all. Hope your little man gets well soon! X

They give liquid cos it's easier for kids to take, hahaha.
If yours will take tablets or capsules, way to go

Yeah it's a pink chalky tasting thing (I know this as he spat it back into my mouth the first time 😷) I can't understand why they make medicine for kids so horrible tasting!

He has tonsillitis, doctor was pretty insistent that he needed it & that he had to take the whole course of 10 days. 😔

I feel crap about that Don't, a couple of gulps of pepsi max will do way less harm than not taking his antibiotics, it's not like you are giving him glasses of it all day every day.

OP, please really, really don't worry about the Pepsi Max. You'll be grateful if they are just drinking aspartame-loaded shit once they are teenagers...

You pin them down and use a syringe to get it down them. Medicine is non-negotiable.

Mix with honey

Well done. He won't be scarred for life over this don't worry.
It's really important he finishes the course. Taking some of the ABs and not completing the course can result in a worse infection taking hold.

A sticker chart for every dose with a prize at the end used to help mine when little, or you can draw some little bugs for each day and cross them out ("kill them") to make it more fun and help him understand why he has to take it.

Hope he's better soon!

I also use cola for antibiotics, tried everything and had some really desperate moments before trying this!

It didn't work for the bloody awful Piriton syrup she has to take twice a day now for the foreseeable, that she will only take mixed with hot chocolate. The annoying thing is she will fairly reliably swallow small tablets, but you can't always get them in the right dose for a child (Chlorphenamine only comes as 4mg tablets so would mean cutting into 4, and they just disintegrate) and I think antibiotics tend to be in capsule form? So usually bigger and a bit sticky in the mouth.

I had a bit of a row with a GP about how it was all very well saying 'force him' but even if we get mine to swallow it, he then makes himself sick by retching over and over again. The other nice GP gave us suppositories. We've also had success mixing with fromage frais and chocolate custard. But that's no good if they're too poorly to feel like eating.