How do you get a 4 yo to take his medicine when it tastes foul?

[Niecie]

DS2 has an infected finger and was prescribed AB's today. He took the first dose with no trouble as he didn't know how bad it was going to be. He only took 3 of the 5mls of the second dose, refused point blank to take the rest. I tasted it, it is awful and I don't think I could take it and it wasn't much better when I tried to put some in a drink.

Any ideas how to make it more palatable or whether you can get it passed his taste buds iyswim.

btw, giving him chocolate at the same time didn't seem to make much difference!

My dd has always been like this! It was impossible to get her to take medicine. I used to have to back to the doctor and ask for the antibiotices in cream form. At least this way you only have to rub it on!

Yuck! Poor him.

1 Use a medicine syringe so it bypasses tongue's tastebuds and goes straight down the throat (available from chemist)

1. Bribery - chocolate buttons etc for afterwards.

mix with ice cream. jelly. chocolate. coke. etc etc etc

Heated - doesn't it make them gag to squirt it so far to the back of their mouths? I had this trouble with DS1 and ended up with tablets hidden in Haribo but I don't want to have to go back to the Drs again. They'll think I am incompetent!

Can you get suppositories? I've used paracetemol suppositories for dd, age 1, and they are fantastic - no revolting sticky pink stuff to spit out or dribble, and they are amazingly easy to use. Not nearly as bad as I thought or imagined.

A cream would work for a skin infection and the suppositories are an interesting idea. Not sure how I feel about that even after 7 years of wiping bottoms! I could see what the Dr says though.

The thing that makes me laugh is that these things are supposed to have fruit flavours - you'd never know.

I put the syringe down the side of the cheek and dispense in 2.5 ml doses so no gagging - especially with choc buttons in obvious sight .

explain to him what they do/the point of taking them and that he has to do it, end of story? it works a bit with my ds anyway. then i just have to be really nasty and firm that he has to take them. if he really won't, maybe you could have a word with the pharmacist and see if there is a better tasting one the gp could prescribe instead?

I have before now held the boys down to get the medicine in but they are getting a bit big for it now. That sounds awful but really it was a sort of bear hug. Unfortunately, we have made DS1 sick, forcing AB's on him and I suppose that is what holds me back a bit from being too firm. I reasoned with him for hours too. Ended up getting more Ab's on his clothers/the sofa/the carpet than I ever did in him.

I will try down the inside of the cheek. That is what I used to do when they were really small but it is harder when they can run faster than you can.

Do you do chocolate buttons even at breakfast time?