HOW ON EARTH(!!!!!) do you get medicine into a 16 month old who point blank refuses to take it? DESPERATE!

[HeinzSight]

My DD2 has an ear infection, is feeling extremely poorly but just refuses to take any medicine.

We've tried putting it in her milk and juice - but now she's suspicious of any drinks and has hardly drunk anything today despite her milk not having anything in it.

I've tried pinning her down and trying to syringe the medicine into the corner of her mouth, she gets sooooooo upset/histerical and is very good at spitting it out.

I need to get her anti biotics into her and she needs calpol too.

HHHHHEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!!

that should say "put the lid back on", not the lod!

We did brute force too. Syringe right down back of throat, I'm afraid, so no chance to spit out. Followed by lots of cuddles and treats. Sooo not nice but better than IV in hospital...

I feel your pain - my DD had this with her ear infection. In the end, I had to take her to the out of hours GP at the local hospital and asked him to show me how to do it (I'm sure they didn't believe me...).

The GP did it but hated every second and kept apologising. He said that they only way to do it is to put the syringe over the back of the tongue and past the tongue thrust. It was literally right down her throat. She screamed and gagged it was just awful and the poor GP was nearly in tears himself!

So that's what we had to do for the next few days. However, a couple of things that might make you feel a little better, they did say that they don't always need to take ALL of the dose as they tend to overestimate with babies and the infection will clear very quickly.

Something else, when I had a phone appointment with the GP a few days later (as we'd run out of ABs since she'd spat most of it out!), the great GP I spoke to said that they do have something else specifically for ear infections, just one dose a day for 3 days. It's not often given out because it's expensive and generally has to be ordered in, but for babies like ours who won't take medicine, it is a life-saver. He said that his daughter was the same and that's how he knows about it. May be worth phoning your GP and mentioning it.

He also suggested the suppository route but they only do it for the painrelief I believe, apparently the chosen method for babies in France!

HTH

By the way, I didn't mean that I took DD back to the hospital 3 times a day for her ABs! I meant that the way the GP showed me, was how we had to do it. It was awful .

Sorry - I must learn to read the full thread - I see that someone else has mentioned the alternative ABs, just once a day for three days.

My (ahem genius) doctor decided that the best method was to prescribe some horse tablets, split them in half and give them to her in jam. DD2 won't even eat chocolate atm!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm relieved (s000000000) to say that she seems a bit better today. It's been v grim

I'm afraid we do the head lock and syringe thing here too. But it is slightly kinder if you squirt into side of cheek (someone's probably already said that) rather than down back of throat which leads to top gagging opportunities. And then hold their mouth shut briefly until they've swallowed. It is really really horrible and you feel awful but sometimes it becomes necessary.

when they're older, basically you just bribe them with sweets...

Heinz - have you tried this...

When you do the headlock and pinning down - as SOON as the medicine is in, blow very hard and quickly into her face - that will cause her to gasp and swallow as a reflex. She will then continue screaming the place down, but at least they will be down her then. For a particularly bad case you need to jam her chin shut and then blow right on her face.

Works every time - not the nicest way perhaps, but effective and quick.

Pinned DD2 down and pinched her nose until she opened her mouth, put syringe way into the back of her cheek. Then clapped hands very suddenly to shock her into swallowing. Repeated about 5 times over the next few days until she had improved enough to be a bit more reasonable. One of the DCs got ABs in shot form once, in the buttock or thigh iirc, but that was in the US.

One genius doctor we had prescribed eyedrops for a 2 yo DC... Needless to say, whatever it was that was wrong cleared up of its own accord.

Even now, I know the DCs are really sick when they refuse to take medicine

Same prob here... but she does accept tablets so long as they taste OK. Otherwise, we've found that adding the liquid meds to a little juice and freezing it makes good medicated ice-lollies.