Giving antibiotic medicine 'in disguise'

[mejon]

DD has been prescribed some pretty evil tasing antibiotics and whilst she took the first two doses by spoon pretty well, she's cottoned on to the fact that it tastes vile and we had one heck of a job getting her to take a late night dose last night, but finally managed it with a syringe after much crying. It has to be taken on an empty stomach and no food for 30-60 minutes after taking it so I'm wondering if I can add the dose to a small amount of fruit juice (which she considers a treat) just to get her to take it or would that dilute it too much/prevent absorbtion?

what's the name of the antibiotic?

If it says take on an empty stomach it's because stomach acid may reduce the absorption of the antibiotic. I wouldn't use fruit juice (orange/apple) because of the acid content and because it's too thick. You could try blackcurrant squash though.

Thanks AvenaLife - its Flucloxacillin. I was thinking of trying pineapple juice (maybe watered down a smidge?) - would that be OK? I'm not thinking of a beakerful, possibly 10mls or so, just enough to wash the medicine down. Failing that, I'll try a drop of Ribena (though we've only got the low-sugar variety at the mo as only DH and I drink it!)

Fluclox isn't normally too bad. I think pineapple juice should be ok. It's less acidic then stomach acid, I'd water it down though, if it's too thick the stomach thinks it's food and starts to digest it. 10ml should be fine.

I may be completely wrong though.

Thanks AL. I'll try a little diluted pineapple at midnight and hope we have better luck than last night! DD is usually great taking medicine (unlike me) - loves Medised and Nurofen, but this stuff is very bitter and quite revloting.

I think fruit juice can stop antibiotics working.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2585115/Fruit-juices-stop-drugs-from-working-properly.ht ml

Black currant usually best as has quite strong flavour itself.

If this fails, get medicine administration syringe from chemist, have one person (dad?) hold DC, put syringe into side of mouth at cheek and give medicine swiftly. She will swallow and not choke. Key is to do all of the above quickly and calmly... easier said than done, I know. Unfortunately, I am quite the expert .

Oh dear, flucloxacillin is FOUL. My poor daughter had 6 weeks of the stuff last year and it was awful. I tried lots of things - yogurt, full fat ribena, jam - and nothing takes away the bitter taste. In the end I concluded that pinning her arms in a towel, holding open her mouth, aiming with a syringe for the back corner and then rubbing under her chin and popping in a chocolate button was the only way.

I wouldn't worry too much re absorbtion. A little chocolate or juice or whatever should be fine (and it was the hospital pharmacy that told me to use them if it helped). It's certainly best to get the drugs in no matter what.

The chemist may also be able to give you a version mixed with vile pineapple flavoured bright pink syrup. Again, it doesn't take away the bitterness but might distract your child with its alternative horridness.

we try to get the tablets prescribed then crush them to a fine powder and put in a teaspoonful of chocolate spread or jam

we have two toddlers who are drug refusniks. they are very strong and can spit calpol across the room. if they have a high temp we have to use rectal paracetemol

ds was 2 when he was prescribved fluclox. I asked for the stronger strength so he only had to have 2.5 mls, then bribed him with magic stars

Thanks for your suggestions everyone - I think we'll try the direct syringe approach for tonight's dose as DH is home but I may have to resort to other means tomorrow as he's on an early shift and syringing (sp?) is a 2 man job. All I have to do now is calculate how long it takes to have an empty stomach after eating as the late afternoon dose is proving a bit problematic! Thank God its only a 5 day course!

Fluxocillan is evil stuff ,I tried everything to get DS to take it when he was little. He has a septic thumb. I ended up going back to the gp and he gaves him a different ab which seemed to have done the trick.

I agree Fluclox is vile. It tastes like it has just come out of some mad chemists lab with no attempt to disguise the flavour.

Most GPs prescribe Flucloxacillin - which means the chemists dispenses the cheap generic version (cheapest they can get hold of). I have heard rumours that if the GP specifies "Floxapen" they get the originial version of the medicine made by GSK (and hence more expenseive and infrequently dispensed) whcih is exactly the same active ingrediant as Flucloxacillin - it just tastes a bit better apparently.

Personally I am going to challenge the GP next time he tries to prescribe Fluclox cos it is vile stuff (have you tasted it?). I know dammed well that it is not very effective when it has been absorbed by the T shirt rather than the stomach!!!

I tasted it I panicked when my dd had a skin graft and they said she would need it afterwards. DS was normally good at taking meds but DD is awful . Thankfully turned out they gave it to her either introveneously or by injection before she came round from the operation.

probably not the best idea but we had to have tablets as dd freaked out with the medicine.she took one crushed in jam and then refused the next dose so we crushed it and mixed it with calpol. little minx took it fine after that!!

sigh

has this problem with DS1 - it's cos everything is sugarfree now - and the sugar substitute tastes foul. Personally I am of the opinion that if your LO is ill anyway then having some sugar in the medicine is no bad thing if it means they are more likely to take the stuff.