Calpol - I literally don't know what to do

[Wednesdayafternoon]

My son will not take any form of medicine. I've tried absolutely everything. Literally everything.
Put it in food put it in a drink pinned him down... literally everything I can think of but he won't take any medicine. He also won't eat.
I'm absolutely at my whits end. He's unwell but I can't give him anything. I am considering ringing the doctors up but even if I do I won't be able to get him to take the medicine.
I have 2 poorly boys at home and I feel like I'm going to have a nervous breakdown :(
He's still having breast milk and water. He's 2.

Please does anyone have any ideas?!

Have you tried doing a little bit at a time with the syringe? Would he maybe prefer it on a spoon?

I really appreciate all of this advice! I'm gonna give the doctors a call and ask for suppository perscription!
He's so prone to getting a temperature, this could be a game changer if it works!

Also thank you for all the tips for oral treatment!

You don’t need to speak to the doctor. You can just buy them at the chemist.

But as others have pointed out, you don’t need to treat a fever so don’t panic, although obviously do follow guidelines on NHS Direct around how high the temperature is and how long it lasts.

Am I looking at the right thing, approx £23.99 for ten doses 😬

DD was like this. She would scream, fight, spit it out, we'd both end up soaked in it. We got paracetamol suppositories from the GP which were excellent - she was about 3 when she started taking paracetamol orally.

Me and DH (a GP who tried all
his tricks from his paediatric training rotation) struggled for ages to syringe Calpol into DD2 when she had covid and then chickenpox and a succession of colds from 6-8 months. She hated it and it was distressing. Then one day when she was in the bath I just thought I’d try putting small amounts onto a weaning spoon to see if she’d take them, and lo and behold she did! It was the syringe more than the medicine that upset her, it turned out.

Also now she’s over 6 months we do use the 6+ version - it’s 2x the strength so use half the dose you would for the infant one version- obviously checking the label to make sure esp if a non branded version. We did/do this for our DD1 who is 3 as well. I know lots of people wouldn’t feel comfortable with that, but as a doctor and a trained chemist we thought it was ok.

My first DD wouldn't take medicine until 2 either. I asked the doctor to prescribe some paracetamol suppositories so we had some for illness and horrific teething pain. Easy, completely pain free and extremely effective. I work in childrens A & E and we give paracetamol suppositories to children all the time.

I don't think you can in U.K.

You don't need to give calpol for temperature. It brings the temp down but there's nothing wrong with having a fever, it's the body fighting off the illness. We have to fight with my ds to take calpol top so when he had a fever the other week, I just left it. Kept checking his temp, went to check on him in the night and pushed fluid in the day. His temperature went in a few days.

DD has suppositories. It’s a nightmare otherwise

You can, they’re a pharmacy only medication, not prescription only. They’re not available on the shelf, but you can get them after discussion with them pharmacist as they come in different doses for different age/body weights, so the pharmacist will want to confirm those details before selecting which suppository to sell to you.

Correct, no need to treat a fever in an otherwise well and comfortable child, running round, eating, drinking, etc. But if they’re in pain or distress with the fever and discomfort (and don’t want to get off the sofa or do anything) then it’s probably better to treat rather than leave them distressed and miserable (and perhaps appearing much sicker than they actually are).

I've rang up and got a prescription.
I wouldn't say he's comfortable, he seems adgitated and tired and like he would benifit from calpol!
But thanks for the reassurance because I was panicking last night when he had a temp and I couldn't get anything down him!

For those who have used are there any side effects from using a suppository?

Possibly a bit of a sore anus, but hopefully you won’t need to use them for long, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

You definitely can.

You can buy them OTC in the UK. You can also buy Ibuprofen child suppositories. I used them both at times for my youngest who refused oral meds.

No side effects here

I’ve had this problem aswell it’s awful. Could try syringe the calpol and mix up in a frube. I cut the top off put it in and add little by little so I can still mix it up to disguise it

We also had to use suppositories for one child until old enough to swallow tablets as nothing would persuade him to take medicine and if we did all the cheek/stroke etc stuff he would make himself vomit. Nobody’s idea of a good time to insert those but over in literally a second.

The second would very reluctantly take small doses of medicine so agree with the 6+ but you need to be much more precise on amounts.

Just to ease your mind, I had to have suppositories as an adult as part of fertility treatment and it was absolutely fine. No pain at all. It felt a bit unusual to do, but hey ho. Pop em in and off you go.

No side effects for my DC. You can use Vaseline to make it easier to put the suppository in if you need to.

You just pop it on until it disappears. A blob of vaseline helps. They dissolve very quickly too,

You won't cause any damage with a suppository, DS had several as a baby when he was really constipated, absolutely fine, just more comfortable!

You clearly weren't there when my toddler shot one out across the hospital ward!!! I'm sure it was just a coincidental fart ar the wrong moment but....