Flavourless calpol/ibuprofen

[peanutbutterontoast7]

....For a two year old. Does anywhere do it?

I have a serial medicine refuser who honestly could sniff out calpol in a curry! I'm just wondering if there's anywhere that sells a flavourless version?

What about the supermarket own paracetamol liquid? Most tell you on the packet if they are flavoured.

I've seen suppositories mentioned here before. I think you have to get them prescribed? I don't think they do them over the counter.

Thank you.

I have literally tried every flavour/brand/non brand I can find but it's still an absolute no :(

He does have the sepository on a repeat but I want to try and get him to take it orally because when he needs antibiotics it's a pin down job which is very traumatic for everyone 😢

Suppositories are your friend here. My GP prescribes them for us whenever I need them, given my 20 month old DD is also a medicine refuser! They're very commonly used on the continent, and you can buy them over the counter (I have friends bring me extra supplies over when they visit from Ireland - Nurofen make them, but just don't sell them here as there's no market, apparently)

Just seen your update. Thankfully we've never had to take any other medication, so I'm just hoping she's going to grow out of it before she needs anything more serious, because like you, I shudder to think how I would get her to take it!!

Paracetamol itself tastes disgusting so there is no flavourless formulation unfortunately. Do you think it's the flavouring though, rather than the paracetamol? Different versions are flavoured with different tasting flavourings so it may be worth trying a few different ones?

@peanutbutterontoast7 we have the same issue with DD. She cannot tolerate Calpol and will projectile vomit if even a tiny bit touches her lip!
GP was adament that there was a flavourless one but after going to about 20 different pharmacies and researching online, it does not exist!!!
Seriously there isnt one available that has no taste for children.
Apparently they flavour paracetamol, ibuprofen etc as the actual active ingredient is stupidly bitter and not palatable.
Tesco do an orange flavour one but she wouldnt take that either.

We just get paracetamol suppositories for her which are honestly the easiest option as we know she receives the correct dose, takes 2 mins to give and we dont have to literally pin her down to do it.

Why does he need so much medication especially antibiotics?

There is no such thing as flavourless paracetamol unfortunately. Paracetamol itself takes rank so it needs to be favoured to be palatable. Maybe dissolvable tablets in orange juice might be something to ask about although I don't know if there are paediatric versions available. Suppositories are your only option as far as I know.

@TheRookie it's not so much that he needs antibiotics frequently I just want to help him get over the issue that he has with medicine.

I think for my son it stems down to the fact that when he's unwell he won't eat anything. He must just be one of those people that go off their food (I'm the opposite 😅). But he generally won't eat much whatsoever. So I think that I'm the past he's not wanted calpol or ibuprofen because of the taste and because he doesn't want any food. Normally he will tolerate it if he's a little unwell but I know when he needs a trip to the gp as he will outright refuse it. He always gets a dangerously high temp when unwell too so calpol is very important.
Anyway a couple weeks back he had tonsillitis so I used the sepositories for the paracetamol but we had to pin him down and force the antibiotics in. It was traumatising for all. We were able to complete the course it was so bad. He would hyperventilate and spit it all out. Now when he sees a seringe or medicine bottle he cries and runs away and hides. I found him hiding in the wardrobe the other day when I had to get the calpol out for my eldest :(

I mentioned this to nursery who suggested it's concerning behaviour which has just made me feel even worse about the situation. He has a speech/understanding delay so I can't talk to him about it all or bribe him. I just want to help him and I feel like if I don't nip this in the bud whilst he's well and more tolerable then if he needs antibiotics again in the future it'll be a pain down job and back to square one.

Honestly the tonsillitis medicine traumatised me.

Hi @TheRookie @peanutbutterontoast7
I have a medicine refusal situation with me 19 month old just cannot get near not even forcing as he just spits it out. Running a temperature so really want to get some ibuprofen or paracetmol in his. The sepositories for paracetamol sound like they could be a good option - guess the GP has to prescribe these?

I notice your posts are a few months ago, have you found anymore tricks or have you solved the fear of medicine?

Any help or advice very much appreciated, from a very desperate Mummy! Thank you in advance!

@Thelearner oh bless you, I really do feel for you as it is just SO stressful isn't it. I also think that GP and pharmacists are generally really unhelpful in this situation.
My LB is 3 now. He has occasionally taken calpol recently. Normally when i pass him the seringe he'll do it himself, but not always, but I do see progress, finally.

I think taking a step back from forcing the medicine in him and using the sepositories was the turning point for us. He's associated medicine with being, well pinned down basically, and there was just no chance. You can buy the sepositories over the counter, quite expensive. After much pushing from me I got them on a repeat from the GP. One GP refused to prescribe them as he didn't feel comfortable but then told me to buy them OTC and he was happy for me to do so! Doesn't make sense does it? But then I spoke to an Australian doctor, who basically told me that the suppositories are relatively unknown in this country, but not so in others. She said that a lot of doctors are hesitant with them because they just don't have the experience, so I think it really does depend on who you speak to. Anyway, as I said we ended up getting them on a repeat prescription and I got a stock to have in the house for emergency use only.

The suppositories really were a game changer for us. I just don't know how I would've been able to get him to take medicine if I hadn't have used that method. Obviously I felt horrible having to give them to him, but it was for his own good. If you finding yourself at a point where you physically can't get him to take medicine then I would really encourage you to just take a step back and make your life a bit easier and use the sepositories.

I can't really say that anything else is particularly helped to be honest. I do remember reading someone else saying that they got the medicine in tablet form and crushed it up and put it on food, I don't really know if you could do that with Calpol though?

Oh I'm the OP on this thread, I just changed my user name since then 🙂

The only one my 2 year old calpol refuser will just about tolerate is the tesco cherry flavour (stupidly hard to find). Any strawberry or orange flavour is impossible to give her

Thank you so much for your reply I really appreciate it. All of today his temperature has been up and down and his body is really self regulating which is reassuring I just don't like not having the option of medical help if I need it! I didn't know about suppositories until reading your thread so thank you very much for sharing.

I will phone to see if I can get a prescription

Are they difficult to insert? I guess anything is easier than getting medicine in!

Thank you again very much

p.s. Which pharmacist did you buy them from? - I have phoned our local boots tonight who are open till midnight and they said I need a precription

Thank you! Worth a try I will try and locate some :)