penicillin. bloody hell. last straw

[goosey123]

Just back from out of hours, ill 3 year old, tonsillitis. In this day and age, why the hell are they giving out sugar free orange medicine, can not get her to take it. Its 11 pm. up since 6. last bloody straw. Don't they make nice yellow banana medicine any more? I used to love being ill so I could have my nice yellow medicine. This is so cruel, she is hysterical now. What did your kid get for tonsillitis, does everyone get given this? rant.....

Our DS (2) can't stomach it either I'm afraid. No matter what we did he'd throw it straight up. The yellow banana stuff is slightly less effective than the penicillin (which i understand is the strongest) but they'd give him a longer course of the yellow stuff to compensate.

Good luck.

goosey is it penicillin V? My DD was given that for tonsillitis and it was revolting.

Can you bribe with some chocolate buttons or smarties? It is so difficult and upsetting when they are ill and then you can't get the medicine in.

Good luck.

After lots of experimenting last week i discovered that dd would only take it hidden in fresh orange juice with a straw if we let her blow bubbles then drink and repeat. Does that make sense? Chocolate bribes failed me for penicillin.

This week we are weaning her off the oj!

Oh, this drives me mad! DS1 has a lot of tonsillitis type things and the antibiotics are discusting. I tried a bit of it and gagged. What was wrong with the delicious sugary banana stuff? I fucking loved that, especially out of the fridge. Why should we make them feel worse by being forced to take that revolting medicine.

My DS got the banana stuff recently for an ear infection. Before that he got the orange stuff for tonsillitis (from the same doctor). So I guess they are slightly different antibiotics suitable for different things. The banana one certainly said ear infections on the bottle and didn't mention tonsillitis.

Banana medicine = amoxicillin which causes a nasty rash if given to someone with glandular fever & glandular fever can sometimes look like tonsillitis so doctors try to avoid banana medicine for throats.

I still don't understand why more effort isn't made to make medicine more tasty though.

we usually ask for capsules for dc. then break them open and mix with jam or nutella - what toddler can resist that.

Littlereddinosaur - you have just explained something to me

As a teenager I was ill had antibiotics got a rash; the GP said it was the type of antibiotics & 'not to worry' then tested me for Glandular Fever; my Glandular Fever test came back negative.......but your explanation clarifies it a bit - thanks

This is what we used to do,

Chocolate button before

Fill syringe with right amount

Get child to open mouth,
Squeeze syringe right down back if mouth
Quick drink water to get rid if taste

2 choc buttons if no fuss, 1 if fuss.

Child and choc button manufacturer both pleased. Dentist not.

We have been given both in the past i think it depends on the severity of the condition as to which penicillin you get, i guess this time around your DD must be that little bit more infected. Hope she feels better soon

Sympathies, two of mine get tonsillitis regularly and are prescribed the orange penicillin. I find a syringe easier, sips of water as they take it bit by bit and a couple of jelly tots when they have taken the full dose.

It really does baffle me why childrens medicine tastes so vile. Surely this is totally unnecessary and the bitterness could be disguised by the manufacturers. Why sugar-free? Surely it's more important for children to get better from serious illnesses than it is for them to avoid a bit of sugar for 5 days.

I refuse to torture my 3 year old by forcing him to take medicine that I have tasted and couldn't force myself to take. Luckily so far he has improved on his own or I've gone back for the banana medicine.

The banana stuff is the most evil thing on the planet.

Ensured a life long aversion to doctors!

It is done to prevent a child accidentally getting hold if a bottle and drinking the lot.

One of mine has had tonsillitis this week for the first time and had strawberry flavoured penicillin. She didn't like it much, but got it down with the help of chocolate buttons and water! She's had the banana one before and it made her gag and throw up!

I could have written this thread! My son, nearly 5, has had tonsilitis this week & we had that orange stuff. We tried every kind of bribe we could think of. He was refusing all food, only drinking water, and the stress of trying to persuade him to take the penicillin means he now won't take any medicine, not Calpol which he would previously. Doctor agreed it wasn't helping so we stopped and he's now getting better . I was cursing whoever made that stuff taste so bad !

oh, and i had been stressing about how to get to school to give him a dose for 4 more days next week as it was a 10 day, 4 x a day prescription. Thank goodness for 2nd doctor who said forget it!

At five (and possibly earlier) they could probably swallow capsules so it could be worth asking for those as an alternative to the orange stuff.

We promised dd2 that she wouldn't have to take her orange medicine if she drank all her special juice. We mixed the medicine in some red berry fruit juice. Still tasted yuck, but not as yuck as the medicine on it's own. Good luck

Wrt getting them to take it at school, dd2 (reception) took it with just water for her teacher.

thanks for all replies, I was tearing my hair out Fri night. I rang around lots of pharmacy on sat, found one who did strawberry and thankfully she took it no fuss at all. so really worth trying different flavour.

she seems loads better after only a few doses, and dd1 is now asleep on sofa with temp, so makes me think this is all viral anyway. ..

how was I ever a nurse ? I can't stand illness, and as for non compliance.. !

blackteaplease

Fruit juice can stop antibiotics being absorbed, they should not be given together.

I realise that is easy for me to say, sitting at a computer and not tearing my hair out trying to find a way to get medicine into a small child.

We've had a terrible weekend trying to get Clarithomycin into our DS (2) this weekend for Tonsillitis. It's a 5ml syringe 2 times a day and its a white chalky type of stuff. Apparently they give it out when they can't tolerate the nasty red penicillin (he throws it up every time). I tried it in his milk but he noticed it so refused milk. So I've had to just force it in through his lips,hideous but it seems to be taking effect really quickly and thankfully he gets over it quickly too.

hope he is better soon minibmw, its awful having to force, and even worse when you are so desperate for them to get better. Such a relief when the temp comes down...

Ds hates banana medicine to an extent he's retching before I've even poured it out. I can't even pretend it isn't banana medicine because of the horrible colour.
He likes Clarithomycin-it tastes like fizzy sweets apparently.

He's an expert in refusing though. I now hold his chin pop the syringe in and squirt, then before he can start retching add a chocolate button. He usually eats it no problem.