Toddler with hearty appetite on antibiotics

[Martiniolives]

20 month old has tonsillitis so has been prescribed antibiotics. 4 times a day on an empty stomach, 2 hours after food. Then wait another hour to eat again.

well i really dont understand how this is going to be possible? Before wed come out of the gp (11am) shed had banana porridge, a pear, a satsuma and a flapjack. I gave her the first dose 2 hours after lunch and she was asking for a snack asap as shes used to eating every 2 hours. And i think thats very normal for a 20 month old whose incredibly active. So what do i do? Shes just had dinner but theres no way she can wait 2 hours for more (that would be 815 and bedtime is 730 - she is poorly and was up earlier than usual from her nap today! Shes exhausted!)

what am i meant to do 😩

I honestly don’t know. Have you looked up why it needs to be in an empty stomach?

Just do your best, do one straight away in the morning before breakfast, then before lunch, one mid afternoon before a snack & then bedtime? Usually they don't want to eat with tonsillitis so it must be tricky!

Just do the best you can. The antibiotics will still work even if they are not taken on an empty stomach … that’s just just the optimum way.

We had this exact panic with our little one at a similar age, so I really feel for you. The empty stomach thing worried me too, but our GP said not to overthink it. She explained that empty stomach just means about an hour before or a couple of hours after a meal, and that with a toddler who grazes constantly it is perfectly fine to aim for the moments they are most likely to go a bit longer without eating, like first thing in the morning before breakfast or when they wake from a nap.

She was very clear that missing doses because the timing was not perfect is much worse than taking it a bit close to food, so do what the others have said and just do your best with the timing. Hope the tonsillitis clears up quickly, poor little thing.