Tips for helping a fussy three-year-old take oral medicine

[WiseRubyRobin]

Hi all, looking for some magic tips or advice….as a bit of background my 3 year old is a pretty fussy eater - she’s improved a lot since she started solids but still is picky about textures and reluctant to try new foods.
This also means that since a very young age she has hated taking Calpol or any oral medications like antibiotics. When it’s been essential she take them (like when she had some infected eczema and antibiotics were prescribed) we just had to get them down her so had to force it really, but she was much younger then. Otherwise we have tried:

• hiding them in things like yoghurt (she won’t eat things like smoothies or many other foods we could easily hide it in)
• offering rewards/bribery
• treats like a bit of chocolate we tell her she can have immediately after
• explaining to her what medicine does and why she needs it

We were prescribed paracetamol suppositories which were a godsend when she was younger as she was less aware and less bothered but now she’s older she (and we) find that route pretty distressing and we would prefer she willingly took it orally. We’ve even explained that she has the choice of medicine in her mouth or the ‘bottom medicine’ and she basically refuses either and gets really upset. So….does anyone have similar experience and have any other magic tips and tricks we haven’t tried? Thanks for reading!!

Offer screen time? That worked for us when everything else didn’t.

I think she is outgrowing the age for suppositories, especially if she is resisting or getting upset.

Two things - in life there are always things you have to do, even when you don't want to - and children have to learn this. Toothbrushing is one. This is another.

So firstly be clear, this is a have to situation.

Then offer two choices - not the suppository/oral - but something like 'I can give it to you' or 'You can take it yourself' or incentivise it 'first we do the medicine and then we do'.... something she wants

Prioritise it and give yourself time to wait it out. Nothing else happens until the medicine is done - no play, no tv, nothing. 'It's time to have your medicine' - rinse and repeat. Keep it calm and boring. If she moves away follow her and sit in front of her, basically get in her way and and stop her doing anything else she wants to do until the job is done.

That's if it absolutely has to be taken - and for things like calpol, it's not always that absolute.

Long before this situation do some play therapy/stories - play with teddies who are feeling unwell and help them get better, talk about how you could help them feel better, social stories about being unwell/having to take medicine, acknowledging that sometimes medicine is yucky but that's okay because it's to make you better.

Agree with this. But you absolutely have to be prepared to see it through, even if it's seven hours of boredom and hell. If you don't then all you've done is very successfully train her tolerance and endurance to wait you out and it will be a nightmare.

Thanks both, good advice

I'm on the side of calm firmness.

The doctor wants you to get well and you have to take your medicine.

There are certain things in life that you just have to do, as @AIiswatchingyou says. Best to make it clear at a very early age to toddlers that some things are just non negotiable and they don't get to refuse them.

I know it's a while off, but when she gets to 6 she can have the calpol melts which are quicker than a whole syringe of medicine.

For now, if you buy an off brand one they come in different flavours which she might tolerate better.

My fussy, anxious kid with strong sensory preferences is calming down a lot now that he's turned 4. It feels like you can start to have a reasoned conversation about:

• this has to happen
• what would make it more manageable?
• ok, I know it's nasty but let's do it quick and get it over with.

For example, his eczema cream used to be a nightly screaming fuss. Now, he reminds us to warm the cream up a bit first then braces himself and it's done in a few seconds.

Their ability to understand and tolerate brief discomfort does start to improve eventually!

DD2 occasionally needs a really bitter medicine. What we have found works is a small piece of chocolate first, then the meds - the chocolate coats the mouth so that she doesn't really taste it. Then another small piece of chocolate afterward to clear away any lingering taste. It does work best if you're quick, though. Have the syringe all ready and in your hand when you give the first chocolate.