any tips on giving medicine at night?

[ilovespagbol]

DD (12 months) has a chest infection and I have to give antibiotics every eight hours which means waking her later tonight. She hates the medcine, its banana flavoured and has tried to spit out last two doses. I have a little syringe that I am using to give to her. Any tips? Could I just syringe it slowly into her mouth while semi-sat up and drowsy or is that askig for trouble? It took forver to get her to sleep tonight and am worried that as well as not being able to give it to her, she'll get awake and angry and won't sleep again. Thanks.

I find that if you direct the syringe towards the back of her cheek (so the medicine goes quite far in but not straight down her throat) and blow gently in her face to make her 'startle'and swallow always works for mine. Also as she'll be sleepy, hopefully she'll just swallow! A small amount of a favourite drink afterwards could help too.

Thanks, good tips, and will try all of them tonight, will let you know how I get on

Good tips but unfortunately, they did not work on her! She woke up before I could wake her, I tried to syringe it in but she clamped her mouth shut and kept bashing at the syinge with her hand, i kept trying and it became a bit of a battle and she then screamed for about five minutes. I felt so dreadful. I had to take her into our bed, she then would not settle withouit breast which she had all night, I was drained, literally. The bottle says three times a day (amoxycillin) any thoughts on if it might be ok to give in day time only and not every eight hours, so not having to wake her, anybody done this?

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, and administering necessary antibiotics is one of those times. I'm afraid (having tried all nicer options first, of course) I would just pop her onto her back, hold her arms briefly and squirt the medicine into her mouth quickly before she has time to turn it into a big struggle, then big cuddles and praise afterwards. I'd be giving it last thing at night, first thing in the morning, no need to wake her up then (in theory!)

Do I assume this is Amoxicillin, if so this is given three times a day, even in hospital we would not wake patients during the night to ensure it is given exactly 8 hourly. Just give morning, midday and at bedtime, hope she gets better soon!

pipsy76, for real, can I do that? it won't matter that there is a prolonged period without it, ie the 11/12 hours while she sleeps? TBH, the label says three times a day, not every eight hours but I just did the maths and worked it out like that.

Pipsy is right, just give during waking hours, far too stressy for all concerned otherwise. I have been known to give it at the very last second before DD goes to sleep, makes me feel I am stretching it out as much as I can!

Antibiotics do work on the basis that you have to give them regularly, however, lack of sleep and upset will certainly not help the healing process.

Good luck!

do not wake her up - first thing, last thing and in the middle is fine

Hi,

Will your DD take it off of a spoon?
We have struggled with our DD and a syringe, in the end we turned it into a game. We would pretend the medicene was on the spoon and then put the spoon in her mouth. We would clap and say good girl and lots of praise, the next couple of spoonfuls would be the medicene, and after each we clap and give her lots of praise.

Before the idea above worked i used to mix the medicene in with a tiny amount of her favourite yoghurt or fruitpot. Could this be worth a try?

Good luck with it and i hope she gets better soon.

Tried the spoon, for some reason she just hates it (loves taking Calpol though!) It is quite potently banana, in a false milkshae way. Now have a dilemma. She has had two doses today, do I wake her a give her a third, or do I start tomorrow on the first thing, middle of the day last thing at night routine? If I give her a dose tonight as well, that won't work as will be four doses? In the day, its easier to slip it into food.

when is bedtime? give her a dose then. sometimes in severe infections kids get double doses so it does no harm having slightly more but just isn't needed

If it is amoxycillin you should not give 4 doses in 24 hours as it is a 3 times a day dosage.

Even though it says 3 times a day ...exactly on the 8 hours is not absolutely necessary. As long as it is three times a day ....every 6 hours is fine....but doses must be evenly spaced as it will build up too much in blood stream if given too frequently. Some antibiotics are four times a day and some are twice or three times. You should not alter the regime you have been given by your doc.

If you are finding it really difficult to get the 5ml dose down her....you can get a concentrated form of it called Amoxil Paediatric...it comes with a pipette and is only a 1.25ml dose. It also taste of tropical fruits which is a bit more pleasant.

thanks all for the advice, I went for the 3x a day dose, in the day only, did not wake her up. The anxiety of trying to give her the medicine by waking her was undoing any good the medicine was doing and she had no restorative sleep. alppaly, may go for that tip, will bear it in mind if we should even need antibiotics again. Cought seems better so hope she will be ok now.