Montelukast - any experiences of getting a toddler to take this?

[WorrisomeHeart]

DS (19 mths) has just been put on Montelukast to try and prevent his asthma pending a consultant referral. We were told in the hospital to sprinkle it on a spoon of yoghurt or something during his last meal of the day, but he's very determined to do things himself and will not countenance being spoon fed if he's not in the mood. (Darn BLW!). I failed miserably to get any of it near him tonight so wondering if anyone had any clever tricks? Thanks!

Perseverance. It took me a while but now DS accepts that mummy will be feeding him the first 2 mouthfuls of it.

If he is reliable in feeding himself you could mix it in and let him do it himself but I know with DS there is no way I would be able to guarantee enough getting in!

Good luck!

We mixed ours with Tixylix - which DS knows he's not allowed to feed himself as it's "medicine".

Bung the Montelukast on the spoon, tiny dob of the glycerol and mix - he's takes it happily. (And we checked that Tixylix was suitable).

Ds is older now so has the chewable tablet. But when he was younger i put a couple of mouthfuls of something in a bowel and he fed him self and then gave him the rest. I also poured it into his mouth of well when he was ill and not eating

Thanks all. Another failure this evening, he just won't countenance the spoon coming near him. Tempted to try the medicine way to see if it works otherwise I guess it's back to the docs to find a different solution.

Does he have inhalers?

Yep, he's on a salbutamol inhaler. Yet another failure tonight - DH tried it hidden in some apple sauce on a medicine spoon but no go. The plan is that if we still can't get it down him this time next week I'll make a GP appt and see if they have any bright ideas. I assume they won't be keen to prescribe something alternate to the hospital but they might be of some help and I don't want to leave it until DS's consultant appt in 6 weeks.

Did they say why they went straight to montelukast rather than a preventer inhaler? Normally in the UK they try the steroid inhaler before bringing in other drugs

I have to say I am surprised Montelukast is prescribed for children. It is known (and I found so myself) for producing disturbing and sometimes terrifying dreams.

As an asthmatic myself, any asthmatic child and their parents have my full sympathy, and I know how important it is to find something that works for the asthma, but if any child or toddler is developing sleep problems whilst on the drug, this may be why.

I was made aware of that before DS was started on it and it did worry me. However we didn't really have a choice with DS as by age 2 he was on the maximum dose of clenil and still wasn't controlled. Thankfully touch wood he has had no adverse effects from it, infact when he first started on it he actually started sleeping through for the first time.

No, and tbh I was expecting a steroid inhaler as that's my only knowldge of preventers. I think that's what we'll end up with as I can't see us being able to get DS doses regularly with the Montelukast.

thistledew I'd read about the sleep disturbance being a side effect but thought it referred to insomnia rather than nightmares. That's worrying, I'd rather not risk that with a 19 mth old who just won't understand.

Do you think it's likely that our GP will override the hospitals prescription and change him onto an inhaler version?

Its worth trying with the GP, or try to phone the hospital and see if you can get his appointment brought forward or speak to the consultant over the phone about it. Hope you get it sorted soon!

Thanks for your help btw, we've had a rough week of it with DS being hospitalised and trying to get used to the new status quo and your advice has really helped.

Thanks Sirzy we'll give the GP a try and see what they say. Still waiting for the appt confirmation as he was only discharged on Monday but if GP is no joy I'll see if we can get an earlier appt.

Where you given any open access to the ward? You could phone them for some advice too.

The few days after a hospitaliation are horrible as its so hard to relax, hopefully everything settles soon though!

Hmm not sure, will check the paperwork and see.

Yes, just trying to get back to normal now!

Yorkie or rolo puddings. Helps with the weight they've lost while I'll too. I put a few spoonfuls in a separate pot, mix in the monteleukast
And let him feed himself.

Hi- our DD was on this from age 2 and we mixed it with a spoonful of honey- seemed to work.
However... I second thistledew's concerns.
DD was on Montelukast from age 2 until 3.5 as she was regularly hospitalised with asthma symptoms. She had horrible side effects- sleep disturbance, vivid nightmares, tics, and what can really only be described as depression ("oftenly I feel sad all the time", "I'm the saddest child out of all the saddest children in the whole world" drawing pictures of fairy princesses with black rings around them "surrounded by their dark,dark thoughts)

I felt terrible when I realised what had been causing it and struggled to convince DDs consultant. However the changes in DD within days of taking her off the Montelukast were remarkable and within a few weeks we had a happy, bouncy little girl again.

It's worth googling "Singulair" as there is a lot of info online from the USA about this- problems seem to occur with little children and teenagers moving to adult doses. That said, I have heard of some people for whom this is a wonder drug- only 1/20 have side effects....

1/20 seems quite high to me and it's not like we've been through everything else on the market - this is the first preventer med he's been given. I'm starting to feel relieved that he won't take it!!

Tried honey, tried mixing it with yoghurt and no go. The issue is that he won't eat something if he's not in the mood and there's no one thing that I can guarantee he'll eat every day!

Whilst we were recently in with ds I overheard a consultant prescribing this to a child and said they are now trying this as an alternative to steroids x x both my ds's have taken this medicine. Ds2 wouldn't take the granules so it was changed to a chewable tablet which he loves x x

1/20 seemed high to me too. The other weird twist is that the side effects seem to gradually worsen- it wasn't until DD started nursery that we realized how bad everything had become. It's also very difficult to separate this sort of behaviour from "normal" toddler behaviour so not the kind of thing that could be easily identified sad a definite side effect.

Hmm. Tbh I was kinda surprised that DS was prescribed a preventer treatment at all but that might be me being naive - he only gets asthma following a cold so I (stupidly?) didn't feel it was serious enough to warrant a preventer. [slaps self and reminds self of 48 hour hospitalisation from 'non-serious' asthma].

I've got a docs appt this afternoon as DS has a sticky sore eye so will ask then. Poor wee mite, not even a week has passed since he saw his last doc!!

verity I'm definitely not happy trying to force feed him it if it's not the only option!! What did you end up doing, did your DD take it in the end or did you have it changed?