How to give calpol to a baby who hates calpol

[Girlmum89]

My DD is 13 months and is teething her first set of molars. She is in so much pain it’s unbearable for us both. When I try to give her calpol she screams and screams and I genuinely think she thinks I’m abusing her when I’m doing it and it breaks my heart. Can anyone share any tips on how they get their LOs to take calpol if they hate it? I’ve tried different brands of calpol, ibuprofen, from a syringe in one go, slowly from a syringe in the corner of her mouth, from a spoon. She’s in so much pain she’s barely eating or drinking so I cant mix it in with anything. I just want to be able to help her but it feels more cruel than kind to give her medication because of how much she hates it.

Have you seen that Facebook thinkg where they cut open a carton and pop the pot of calpol (right dose obviously) and the suck through a straw?

I was always a wrap in towel, pop on slight incline on pillow . Pop dummy in, and squeeze in corner past the dummy - into cheek and massage cheek encourages swallowing. In hospitals if kids won't take their meds it's a simple pin down and get it in at any means

My pharmacist said to use suppositories if the child has a high fever not even a mild one, I personally wouldn't give it to her for teething. Ask your gp or a pharmacist first. My dd hated calpol until quite recently , I used to mix it in her milk. Hope your dd feels better soon x

Anbesol liquid is great. Put that or a gel on the back of a Matchstick Monkey teether if she won't let you reach.x

Anbesol liquid on a soft baby toothbrush and let her chew it. She can put it right where it hurts and chew down, it's a natural reaction and it'll get right where the pain is and chewing against the brush SIL help break the skin, which is the painful bit.

Check with the pharmacy for other brands. Mine hated Calpol, horrid taste and texture but would take Medinol- also strawberry flavour but less thick and gloopy.
The Rosemont brand is mango flavoured iirc.

My DS likes the song “just as spoonful of sugar” from Mary Poppins. We only listen to it when he’s unwell and needs to take medicine. It puts him in a (slightly) better mood for it.

My dd refuses any liquid paracetamol she spits it out and gets herself in such a state, for her teething pain the only thing she takes is the Ashton and parsons teething gel. If she gets unwell I'll have to resort to suppositorites!

DD is fine with calpol now but used to much prefer nurofen, the strawberry one. Just wanted to second what PP have said - liquid anbesol and nurofen are the best things for teething. I noticed a huge difference in DD when I swapped to nurofen for teething, really makes a difference. So if you do have to pin her down (it’s what I did, and she now loves taking medicine!) it’s worth making sure you’re giving her the most effective stuff.

My second refuses liquid meds. She gags and vomits every time, no matter how I try to get it in her. Suppositories are the way forward, so much less distress involved for all!

Paracetamol suppositories are the only thing for a baby like this! Most people I know don’t give their young babies calpol, they tend to use suppositories. They are available over the counter in Ireland though, not sure what the situation is in the UK.

We used to put in a teat from a bottle, then quickly follow up with milk

Chocolate buttons

@linerforlife

Calpol fast melts. They're for over 6s, but if you bite one in half it's the same as an infant dose. They taste of strawberry and dissolve in the mouth, and give an instant numbing feeling in the mouth plus the longer term pain relief for a few hours. A GP won't prescribe you paracetamol suppositories here, and will tell you they can prescribe 6+ calpol instead as it's less liquid to try to give them (so 5ml of 6+ calpol is the usual dose but for a baby you would give them 2.5ml of the 6+ calpol so it's less for them to swallow.

There is no "infant dose ", it's different for different ages

And always have the sugar version if you're giving buttons after it anyway

Calpol fast melts are disgusting texture. I've tried them. Lingering bitter taste too

Calpol 6+ is 240mg of paracetamol in 5ml, infant calpol is 120mg in 5ml so a 2.5m dose is 120mg of paracetamol which is the same as a 5mls dose of the infant version.

Try Ashton & Parson powder sachets. Calpol didn't seem to work for my DS when he was teething so these were a lifesaver! I used to get them from Boots.