Help! 4 yr old won't take meds

[Mumto2at]

Flu seems to be doing the rounds with us atm! First baby (he was fine after 2 days temp wise), then me and I've had a temp on and off for the past week, hubbys started and 4 year old started yesterday.
she HATES paracetamol and ibuprofen! Yesterday I managed to get them down her being half asleep and some bribery (temp over 39). Today she just will not take any, had ibuprofen at 8 but then nothing, only just managed to get half a dose of calpol down her just now but as again I think with her feeling soo rubbis and half asleep and telling her she can't have a hug till she has some (feel awful).
is there any other methods we could try? I hid some in some milk earlier but she was only having sips so I had to throw it. Not wanting to eat so can't hide it in yoghurts. She's been like this since a baby but touch wood she's hardly ever ill (plus when she was a blow in the face worked back then with it). Bribery just isn't working, I've tried gentle and tough love, husbands tried

My little girl is older now but when she was a bit younger she hated Calpol and Nurofen, she would gag on them. And it was the ultra sweet strawberry flavour she didn’t like about them! We found a cherry flavoured own brand paracetamol in Tesco I think at the time and she took it much better. She’s since grown out of her dislike and does take any of them now but would it be worth trying a different flavour of them? Not sure if cherry is still available but I think I’ve seen orange flavoured versions of Nurofen before?

My ds spat his out all the time. The best thing I did was use Calpol 6plus. It's the same ingredients but twice the concentration so you need half the liquid. Makes it half as hard at least! But check with a pharmacist if you are unsure, I wouldn't normally recommend messing with doses. Unfortunately a child with a fever...paracetamol is a non negotiable..

I would wrap mine in a towel like a burrito to stop them pushing me away and syringe it into the back of their cheek. Have you tried different flavours my daughters hate strawberry but they liked cherry flavour. As long as its paracetamol or ibuprofen it doest matter what brand it is. Worse comes to the worse you could ask the gp for suppositories lots of European countries use them with children but its not as popular in the UK.

I'd just leave it. A temperature is a sign that her body is fighting off the infection as it should. It's not inherently bad to have a temperature. Make sure she's dressed appropriately and heating is off/window is open, light blanket and not a big duvet etc, but she should be ok without. Take her temperature regularly. If it's climbing it's a concern, but if it's stable at 39 I wouldn't worry. Make sure she's drinking plenty as well or ice lollies if she won't drink.

We just pin ours down and squirt it into the back of the cheek

Definitely go for the cheek when administering. We had awful trouble with oldest as baby and toddler and there was often a lot of vomit involved. Would something like a fruit purée help? I know your child is not a baby but we used purée for medicine for a long time.

It won't help tonight, but you can get both paracetamol and ibuprofen in suppository form for children and adults. Especially useful if they are vomiting and not tolerating anything orally. Not ideal with diarrhoea though!