Getting medicine in?

[JoAlTE]

I have a very wilful three year old who absolutely refuses to take calpol or antibiotics when he's sick. Oral syringes don't work as he still manages to spit it out. I've tried mixing it with his favourite ice cream and even that doesn't work as he can still taste it. Any ideas anyone?

Bribery? For stickers/chocolate/favourite dvd etc.

DD is a Peppa Pig fan so when I tell her Dr Brown Bear says she must take the medicine to get better, that helps too

If he's recovering ok without taking the medication at all then perhaps just let him be ill without medicating him.

He'll be more uncomfortable but he'll recover from minor ailments without meds. He'll grow out of it.

For calpol, maybe. But if antibiotics have been prescribed then just letting him opt out is likely to be unwise.

As adults we can make an informed choice whether or not to treat any condition we might have - a child cannot.

for calpol: ask in the pharmacy for paracetamol suppositories.
wrt antibiotics, I ask the pharmacist or gp to give me capsules instead of liquid. empty the capsules onto a spoon and add strawberry sirup or nutella.

Thanks everyone. I think what you do mousymouse will work best for us. I wondered if you could ask for capsules instead. My son has a very powerful sense of smell and can sniff out strawberry/orange/banana flavoured meds a mile off. I would have more luck disguising the powder I'm sure. Great idea.

I've had this problem before.

My youngest dd had a high temperature and I had a lot of difficulty getting her to take any medicine. My doctor suggested keeping the calpol/nurofen in the fridge as it takes the taste away.

It worked:) Would recommend it.

YOu already said he "absolutely refuses to take calpol or antibiotics when he's sick". So I understood from that that he wont ever take medicine and so far he's been ok without it.

Short of brute force, perhaps little tablets or breaking pills up would work. It's possible a young child could swallow small pills and they don't taste of anything.

Right - I have become an expert in drug hiding.

For amoxycillin (the yellow antibiotic in a bottle) hide in chocolate mousse

For antihistamines or steroids (bitter), crush, pour into melted chocolate and make it into a small slab - put in fridge (very important) so texture is hard. Then allow child to hold it. Best way to do it is to make small lollies. I got a mould from lakeland.

For Calpol/ibuprofen - dissolve in orange juice 5ml to 100ml of juice.