Baby won’t take calpol

[Theskylight]

Hit me with all your tips on getting baby to take calpol!

I’ve tried spoons, syringe in the back of cheek, blew in his face, tried different flavours, medicine dummy etc. Nothing works. I’ve never had any issues like these with my first child!

One of ours we put it in the side of her mouth and blew on their face to stop them spitting - a children's nurse taught us that and it works on some cats too!

The other needed suppositories, it was much easier. We used to sing two nursery rhymes whilst gently holding her cheeks together so they didn't come out! Very funny memory now! She did eventually start to tolerate the oral suspension.

Not far. Just push it in the bum and make sure it disappears. I think that’s the easiest way (also from Europe and all small kids there get suppositories).

That’s why you need the second person. Person 1 squirts in back of cheek, person 2 closes mouth and tips head slightly back. Sorry it was like torture at times with lots of screaming but what can you do. (We had similar issues with antibiotics and child 1 spat it all straight out).

we used to mix it with those little yogurts. ❤️

Mine hated calpol until I figured out he actually only hates the pink calpol but will accept the colour and sugar free white calpol which I bought by accident (and nurofen). He now is happier to accept any but that's a very recent thing!

My baby is the same. We have one of us using the syringe and squeezing out the tiniest bit at a time and the other distracting with a noisy toy/singing/making sounds! I really worked for us when nothing else would.. It’s the only way he wouldn’t spit most of it out! ☺️

Syringe it in to back of mouth and hold their nose .Then they have to swallow.Or suppositories.

If they take a bottle, I used to put it into the teat and they'd suck thinking it was milk. Was the only way I managed it until they would accept the syringe.

Back of cheek, and blow in their face. It works.

I’m there with you.
My eldest was the same.
So is this one. Both exclusively breastfed (no pumping/expressing/bottles).
I asked my Mum friend today who has a similarly aged baby but is formula fed and she said her baby loves it 😭 why can’t mine?!

So during dinner/pudding, I was putting some yoghurt on the spoon, then syringing a tiny amount of Calpol onto the yoghurt and shoving it in her mouth 😂 she 100% knew the taste was off and I managed to get about 4ml in before she started crying.
It was so much better than last night’s heaving and throwing up chaos.

Wait until it's bottle time so they are hungry and ready for milk- syringe the Calpol into a bottle teat, keep it upside down, screw the bottle on- lay them down on you calmly just like you would at bottle time and let them suck the Calpol out of the bottle. The key is not stressing them out with them knowing something unusual is going on. Mine quickly realised it's sweet and after a while they let me syringe it straight in. As soon as they've done switch to a fresh bottle of milk. Worked for us. Good luck!

Push nappy to one side and stick it in. They melt almost instantly so glide in.

If they’re not super ill then just don’t bother.

Hold their nose till they open their mouth. Brutal but effective.

How old is your baby? I had the best advice recently when we had paramedics out for my 8 month old at the time for bronchiolitis. They said to load the syringe and just hand it to the baby. Babies put everything in their mouths so when they do, just gently starting squeezing the syringe. Doesn’t matter how long it takes. It could take 20 minutes and apparently you then count on the time to the next dose from the very last bit of the dose you have managed to get into them.
My husband and I were astonished that this technique worked and has done, every time, since we were told this at Christmas. Before that we were holding her arms down and it was so distressing for everyone. Now it’s a doddle and we can’t believe we’d never heard this advice anywhere before!

Suppositories are amazing, only time they failed was during a heatwave when they melted. Otherwise I'd put tiny bit of vasoline on them and never had any issues with application. No mess, full dose, so fast.
Used to get anyone visiting France to stock up for about 2 euros rather than 20 quid a box they'd cost here.

If you’re breastfeeding then there’s a good chance your baby doesn’t need it at all. Breastmilk is an excellent painkiller. And artificially lowering a fever via paracetamol isn’t usually advised. Let the fever do its job and kill the bug!

DD never had Calpol. Ever. She survived just fine with boob when ill, until she weaned naturally. The years between weaning and learning to swallow a pill (which she finally nailed at about 12) were tricky. Still wouldn’t touch Calpol though! She is 15 now.

The Happy Song on youtube whilst slowly syringing it into his mouth is the only thing that works for us 😅

What are you giving them calpol for?

Thank you everyone for the advice, especially on how to use suppositories. I’m going to try handing baby the syringe as he puts everything in his mouth. Still think he might spit it out though.

for people asking. He’ll be 6 months in a couple days, he’s got a fever and is quite unsettled. Nothing major though :-)

I had one like this. I breastfed too. I'd get baby latched on and then put the syringe just in the corner of their mouth while they were feeding and just give a little bit at a time. They generally didn't notice but it was easier than wrestling with them.

Sit on the floor and lie the baby/child on the ground with their head closest to you and drop your legs to effectively pin their arms down. Then syringe the Calpol in the side of the cheek and wait for them to swallow.

Our DS was very poorly as a baby and needed to take antibiotics along with other medications and we were told by the hospital to do whatever was necessary for him to take them.

Breastfeeding is great but it's not a universal panacea. DD was bf (until she was 3) but we had to use Calpol as if her temperature rocketed she'd be at risk of having another febrile convulsion and we absolutely wanted to avoid that. She loathed taking Calpol so you really have my sympathy OP. I used the sugary version not the sugar free as that helped very slightly. Not sure if you can get that now? I still remember the Calpol nights with a shudder and DD is in her twenties now🙄

Yeah absolutely this. We used to get them in Europe and bring back as our child hated hated hated calpol.gps can be reluctant to prescribe here.

Hi OP! Just to share my DS refused calpol as a baby! It was a nightmare! Only thing that worked for us was purchasing sterile syringes that were much narrower/ thinner meaning I could get it into his mouth more easily and squirt little by little into back of his cheek. It was a life saver as the calpol ones are huge. Fast forward three years and he now likes the taste of calpol so it won’t be forever x