Struggling to give one year old antibiotics

[Jac1978]

My dd has been diagnosed with a throat infection and has been prescribed antibiotics. She is also having vomiting now and thrn and having diarrhoea regularly. She won't take the antibiotics off a spoon so I'm having to use a syringe and it's so difficult. I have to have someone hold her down, she gets so stressed - screaming and writhing - I struggle to get it all in and sometimes she gets so worked up she vomits it straight back up again. Am finding it very stressful as I hatd distressing her like that but I want her to get all her medicine. Has anyone else had to deal with this sort of thing?

Oh dear, that sounds tough. My two have usually been fooled by me pretending its yoghurt - mix it with a little bit on a spoon and let them see the pot and they have then taken it off a spoon. I know supposed to be empty stomach but better then not having them at all

Do you inject it into the hollow of her cheek rather than straight in her mouth? Sometimes if it hits the back of their throat it can make them gag and cough - going into the cheek means it gets swallowed more naturally.

Does she have a dummy? If so, you could try coating it and giving it to her a bit at a time that way, I did that with my son or maybe you could try mixing it with water in a bottle? As water is better food, if they're supposed to be taken on an empty stomach.

Ah yes it's awful trying to get meds into little children who are determined not to have them! My ds was on 3 meds 4 times a day as a baby and at the age of 4 years still has 2 twice a day. I'm now having to give one to dd, age 4 months, twice a day which she hates. The only way when they are determined is to get one person to hold them tight, use a syringe and give tiny squirts into the back corner of the mouth - this stimulates the swallow reflex and makes it harder for them to spit out. It feels awful to do that to your child but it is kinder to just hold tight and get it over with quickly, and they forget about it in half a minute. Worse to be a bit half-hearted and spend ages coaxing / fighting them. If you're still struggling go back to the GP as the appearance of their throat may have changed or they may just have issued the antibiotic as a precaution, and they might possibly say you don't need it.

If she does have a dummy there's a special giving-medicine dummy, though I don't know what it's called. You take advantage of the sucking to squirt the medicine through it.

Thanks all - mummy2benji you were right - got her checked again today and her throat is apparently fine now so no more meds! Thank God, they were making her so poorly!

We had this. It's a bit better now, but DD can still throw a real paddy at medicine and will still throw up, even with squirting it into her cheek, and never took a dummy. I just wanted to share a tip someone on MN gave me - you can get paracetemol suppositories on prescription from the GP They're amazing. Obviously they don't help with antibiotics, but worth having in the medicine drawer in case they are very poorly but refuse medicine.

I second the paracetemol suppositories. I've never been able to get meds in to my son. He ended up on a drip at 13 months as no-one, nurses, the pead could get paracetemol/ibuprofen in to him. Someone on a forum mentioned the suppositories, so I gave them a try. I was extremely nervous the first time, but he didn't flinch and now, at three, just 'assumes the position!' So much less traumatic than the squirming and gagging and having to pin LO down. They're expensive, but we now get them on repeat prescription from the GP. Apparently. they've long been the norm for children in many countries. (My friend remembers being unwell on holiday in Spain and her mum returning from the pharmacy with one and making her eat it, as she didn't realise what it was...)