How do you teach a 5yo to take a tablet?

[Housesofthefrightful]

Ds just been prescribed slow release melatonin which only comes in tablet form. He is very willing to try to take the tablet but gets in a bit of a muddle and instinct takes over and he either spits or crunches it up!

Any tips on how to teach him? Thanks

My 7yo DS will (with only the occasional refusal) take them inside a jelly-sweet (Randoms are good for this) or in a spoon of chocolate mousse, syrup, or peanut butter. I don't mean we trick him - he knows it's there, but needs something to make it more palatable.

Do you mean he swallows the sweet whole then? Hadn't thought of that way can see how that could work though

Chocolate mousse could work for ds I reckon

He knows he can chew the sweet a little bit without getting to the tablet inside, iyswim.

Yes I see. I shall try that way thanks jackster that's helpful

Oh no thats not too hopeful polter! I reckon ds could do it as long ad he remains willing. Thanks I'll look those up too

Thanks Polter lots of suggestions there! And if all else really fails that oraflo looks great

You can get something called 'pill glide' www.pharmacylink.co.uk/productdetail/Pill_Glide_Swallowing_Aid_-_Grape_Flavor/22-224X2094. It is a spray in different flavours, whch you spray in your mouth and it makes swallowing pills easy. It is used in old peoples homes and with children. If you want to try some they sell it in the chemist opposite us for £3.95, if you pm me your address I would be happy to get some and stick it in the post.

Thank you Hazey that's so kind of you. I can't believe that would work! Have you tried it with your dc? I'm going to try choc mouse tonight and if that doesn't work I may come back to you on that thank you

Good luck Houses, hope you get him to take it ok and that it works for him (early days for my DS, but in the few weeks he's been on it, it's been an absolute bloody miracle and has taken away the hours of hysteria at bedtime ).

Ds practiced with tic tacs until he got the hang of it, it didn't seem scary at all swallowing a sweet.

Thanks Jackster that's great to hear how it's helped, that must be a great relief! Im still not entirely sure how well it will work for ds as he is out like a light when he first goes to bed but then is awake from around 3.30am. I hope it will work that late on in the night as its prolonged release.

I think the chocolate mouse has been a success tonight! There was a small attempt at biting the lump in the mouse but I don't think he bit through it

I've couldn't find anywhere in the uk that sold the oralflo cup which I thought looked good so I ordered another one called pillgo to try. I think he might find that easier still.

Squish I thought tictacs would be good practice too

Ds1 is 8yo and still cannot swallow a tablet. Getting liquid meds into him is a struggle at best, although he is now used to taking his liquid Melatonin, so at least that is okay. It's taken a long time to get him comfortable taking it in liquid form, so when the doctor suggested switching to tablet form I was not keen. We looked into it, but the doctor suggested crushing it, the chemist refused to give it to us once they realised we were going to crush it, as the instructions apparently say not to crush it. So I told the doctor I wanted him to stay on liquid Melatonin instead and he agreed.

I don't relish the thought of moving him over to a tablet any time soon. Nightly meltdowns? No thanks.

You just can't get the slow release in a liquid, it wouldn't be slow release. That's why you can't crush them too, it needs to stay in whole tablet or capsule to release slowly through the night.

The pharmicist suggested the syrup but it would be pointless as ds has no trouble falling asleep the first time but can't go back to sleep if he wakes. We needs his melatonin to keep peaking through the night.

Its a pain as ds is very good with liquid meds having been on different vile tasting epilepsy meds since he was 3.

We used the technique of tablet in mouth, then really big swallow of water/juice and the tablet goes down.

DS practiced with cake sprinkles. He was very nervous so we started with really tiny ones and moved up to bigger ones as he got confident. Took a few days till we got to the tablets.

He finds swallowing them with a drink tricky and prefers them on a spoon of yogurt of custard. Now he's got it it's much easier than his liquid meds.

Ah, yes, ds1 wakes up during the night quite a bit after about 1am and then is up for good at about 5am. But he sleeps well from around 8pm to 1am, so for that I'm thankful. The liquid helps him get to sleep, which he definitely needs - otherwise it was taking HOURS to get him to sleep.

I have been told by the paed that I can give him another dose of liquid melatonin around 1am when he wakes up, but I am working carefully on trying to set up methods for him to self-settle a bit. If he is having a particularly bad night, I can fall back on giving him more meds if needed.

Total monkey would not play ball tonight and swooshed choc mousse all round his mouth then crunched his tablet up! The special cup should arrive tomorrow so hopefully that will do it otherwise we'll have to stop and go back to practicing with tic tacs or sprinkles!