How do you get liquid medicine into a toddler who has learnt how to spit it out?

[TenLordsaLapin]

Spoons - hopeless. Syringe was working until he realised he could blow bubbles and spit it out . He's got a hacking cough and a temperature, and I need to get some medicine into him but it's impossible! Any hints, please? I tried putting it in milk and he's completely not having that either

i use a syringe and gently blow in dd's face so she has to take a breath....sometimes works

get the syringe and direct into the actual pouch of the cheek - this "forces" them swallow the liquid

you can also rub under the chin to help them swallow

no easy fixes - i have had the same battles with my DS this week

hope your DS is on the mend soon

Sadly for me the only thing that worked was short sharp NO

Also try using the syringe into the side of his mouth/cheek.

I do stick it right into his cheek, but he sort of gurgles and gags and then spits it out . I shall try the blowing in the face though - thank you ladies

Bit difficult if you are on your own but I'm afraid I have resorted to restraining ds' arms and holding him at an angle off the sofa to make him swallow the medicine (when using a syringe).

Sounds harsh but it's for their own good. It's one of those as aspects of parenting I really don't like.

How bout putting it in their drink?

Drink thing doesn't work... DH and I are doing it as a team, arms held down and DS tilted backwards... still no luck, he is a determined little so and so!

I suspect they might give him antibiotics tomorrow, how am I supposed to get THOSE into him!

(and WHY is all children's medicine so sticky!)

oh dear - it is horrid isn't it?

could you try the old "you give teddy some medicine and then mummy give you medicine" thing ...

bribery. spoon in one hand, chocolate in the other

I read on another thread waiting til they're asleep then using a syringe putting a tiny amount in their mouth and waiting for the automatic swallow. No experience of this method but it sounded plausible?

If he's that feisty, maybe he doesn't need the medicine? There's nothing really that does any good for a cough and you only need to bring a temerature down if it's very high - keeping him cool with cool drinks and sponging is just as effective for slighly raised temperatures.

Pinching his nose helps to get him to open his mouth.

When ds2 went through this stage, I found holding his mouth shut until he swallowed was the only way to get it down him. Not ideal, I know.

And I agree about the sodding stickiness!

hold their hands down and plug their nose, its gruesome but takes two seconds.
you might need your dp/dh to help

I go for med syringe in one hand and choc button in the other. As soon as medicine is swallowed they get the choc button.

probably a bad mother but it works - also worked for eye drops.

he's not much interested in chocolate.

i take the point about him being feisty but he's coughed for an hour straight and also his temp is back up to 102, so i would like to try and get some ibuprofen into him. i just tried in my own (dh at church) and am now very sticky and have cracked the syringe throwing it at the sink

also the only chocs we have in the house are green and blacks truffles and he's not getting those

Hi, there was a thread on this recently:
medicine thread"

Might have some more ideas!

ooh thank you, and thanks to everyone else wh's posred

90% of the time can get syringed medds into ds by letting him think he's doing it himself (he holds it up, i press the plunger). in other 10% state of distress i do just pin him in a corner and hold chin up after forcing it in pronto and hypnotising him by saying swallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallowswallow

etc

goo d luck

How old is he?
We struggled with our eldest in the ways you are describing and for a while with the next one. We have found though that if you explain what the medicine is for and how he has to have it to help his cough and that you can do it the easy way or the hard way (your ds already knows what the hard way is)most times our dc will just take it off a spoon or from one of those medicine tubes quickly and with no arguing. We always have a nice drink for after.
Trying to force it always ended up in a fight and everyone upset. But even from a very young age we found they would listen and co-operate most times if we talked them through it. This has worked for our subsequent 7 children. If you've not already tried it, it might be worth giving it a go.

DH used to have to get them in a headlock while I held down the legs and dh used a syringe with his free hand to send the medicine down. Put syringe slightly under tongue at side of mouth, angled back and up into the cheek where the tongue attaches to the mouth, iyswim. The slowly trickle it in, not send it in all at once. It's harder for them to spit it out if it's drop by drop! Blow up their nose (from inches away, not right up it!!) at the same time, or tickle them. We used to have to put something solid into the other side, to prevent them being able to completely close their jaw and bite off dh fingers!

we put a little sweetie into dd's mouth and when she's had a suck and likes it, we put the meds in too. she can't spit it out without losing the sweet.

He's 19 months

juule - you must know everything about children by now!

OK, I@m going to try cooperation, persuasion, teddies and thank god DH is home!