Can anyone help- desperate- giving medicine to 2 year old

[babygirlmummy2020]

My DD is two and an absolute nightmare to give medicine to.

She has a fever of around 38 and I would really like to give her some ibo or paracetamol so she has a good nights sleep.

She just hates the syringe and also the spoon. She's also refusing to drink milk.

We've had to force it slowly into her mouth by holding her down and she just shuts her mouth and screams and cries. Tonight we tried that again, as it's literally the only way and she threw up. Now I'm scared to try again. I got some paracetamol suppositories and tried to put them in. But that just freaked me out and she wasn't happy either.

Does anyone have any tips ?? The doctors / nurses have said I just have to force it into her sometimes and some children are just like this. But it's honestly a nightmare.

It's getting so bad that I just avoid giving her fever medicine now and let her ride the fever a bit more naturally. But it's not ideal. I know she'd have a better night if she just had some tonight.

I’d leave it. Temp of 38 isn’t that high and the nhs guidelines now are to not give paracetamol for that kind of thing, better to let the fever do it’s work to kill the infection.

I’m a bit shocked at some of the suggestions here and how forceful they are.

We used suppositories when they were little bit my experience is they become aware of what going on around 18 months ish and so we stopped after that.

I’ve ridden out some high temps with my kids (40/41) watching over them
Through the night. It’s tiring yes. But I’d rather not physically force them when they’re already feeling unwell. And when the fever breaks naturally they’re on the way to getting better

Don't be silly. Use the suppositories

I just treated DD like a particularly large and angry cat, same as other posters have done - wrapped in a towel, claws hands and arms secured, place syringe at corner of mouth, wait for enraged scream, squirt in small amount, repeat until whole lot in, keep hold until certain it's all gone down, offer Dreamies dairy milk buttons.

My reasoning was that today might be paracetamol or ibuprofen, tomorrow, it might be something that could save her life.

My dd was probably a bit older when I started doing this as she was at nursery, so probably 3. She would never take medicine willingly (She has since got an ASC diagnosis), so I’d leave the syringe of calpol in her room and she would take it in her own time. I obviously never knew that she had definitely had it (as opposed to squirting it in the carpet), but She was happy to take it on her own terms, in her own time and as a pre teen, that is definitely how she does everything now. It felt like a far kinder way than pinning her down and forcing it down her And it worked for us.

DD1 was a medicine refuser at that age - she twice agreed to have a tepid bath rather than take Calpol - we gave her the choice. As she got older, we negotiated with chocs afterwards.

Have you tried administering it through the teat of the bottle? Use a blanket to cover DC's eyes (make a game of 'sleepy baby, close your eyes') so she can't see it and then squirt it through

Second the light blowing on the face trick. Worked with my girls who were both REFUSED to take medicine. Good luck and hope your little one is right as rain again soon xx

@Catsstillrock

I’d leave it. Temp of 38 isn’t that high and the nhs guidelines now are to not give paracetamol for that kind of thing, better to let the fever do it’s work to kill the infection.

I’m a bit shocked at some of the suggestions here and how forceful they are.

We used suppositories when they were little bit my experience is they become aware of what going on around 18 months ish and so we stopped after that.

I’ve ridden out some high temps with my kids (40/41) watching over them
Through the night. It’s tiring yes. But I’d rather not physically force them when they’re already feeling unwell. And when the fever breaks naturally they’re on the way to getting better

Sometimes with a high fever you know better than the child and need to force medicine in them. If they miserable and have a fever, why would you ride it out when forcing a little calpol quickly will cool them down and make them feel better? Babies and children don't know what's best; but you do!

A nurse in hospital managed to get my medicine refuser to take sytron (which is foul). She gave him the syringe for him to do it himself.

Sometimes with a high fever you know better than the child and need to force medicine in them. If they miserable and have a fever, why would you ride it out when forcing a little calpol quickly will cool them down and make them feel better? Babies and children don't know what's best; but you do!

38 is not a high fever.

Sometimes it isn’t best for the child to reduce a fever, it is better to ride it out and let the body and temperature kill the infection more quickly. Yes forcing meds may make my child feel better for an hour or so, but prolong the illness. So overall they feel slightly less crappy, but for a longer period of time.

I kno this is an old thread but can you get paracetamol suppositiries from over the counter or does it need prescription?

Syringe into the back of the cheek. Needs to be really far back.

Why are you forcing it on her if its not really necessary? Kids have fevers all the time. They rarely actually need medicine for it. In my experience they recover much quicker if you just let them ride it out. Unless its dangerously high of course or if they are feeling really poorly.

You are better off starting your own thread as posters will only read the OP and respond to that, not noticing that the thread is over a year old.

To answer your question, you can buy paracetamol suppositories OTC but the pharmacy will often have to order them in especially for you. Be warned that they are much more expensive than tablets or liquid because there is limited demand in the UK.