Medicine Taking

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Medicine Taking
7
Fri, 01-13-2006 - 8:37pm
It is an absolute nightmare trying to get Bobby to take any kind of medicine.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 01-13-2006 - 9:25pm

Several years ago I asked our pediatrician the same thing. The best answer he had for me was "give 'em candy afterwards." At first I thought it was a ridiculous answer, but it's actually sort of worked. My kids still hated the medicine. I still had to hold them down and force it down their throats, but the candy got the nasty taste out of their mouths and mollified them for the torture. If you can calm the child down afterwards, there's less chance for vomiting. I usually give my kids about a dozen mini M&Ms 'cus it looks like they're getting a lot of candy when it's really a small overall quantity of sugar. You might need to up the amount initially.

Also, you might try having your ds eat something cold first (an ice cube, a bite of ice cream, a freezer pop, etc) to numb some of the taste buds. He or you could plug his nose which blocks the taste buds somewhat, too.

Good luck!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Fri, 01-13-2006 - 9:35pm
Oh, one more thing. One of the last times, the pediatrician also told me that if four times a day was too difficult, I could divide the total daily amount into three dosages instead. If your prescription calls for four times a day, you might check with pediatrician about changing it to three larger doses instead.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-26-2005
Fri, 01-13-2006 - 10:42pm
Tina,
Sorry, I don't have any great advice because we have the same problem with Jake everytime he gets sick. Ella never has any trouble taking meds and even asks for her vitamin drops which smell bad enough I can't imagine how they taste.With Jake I usually give him his favorite drink(chocolate milk) right after but I still have to hold him down. I never understand why they haven't come up with an easier way to give children's meds, it sure would make our lives easier(LOL).
Teresa
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 1:30am

Well, I don't really think this will be too helpful, but I do have a bit of a medicine-taking story. David was never too bad about taking liquid Tylenol or that kind of thing, because he likes the taste.

However, about a year and a half ago he was dx with AS and "bipolar NOS", and the doctor prescribed a mood stabilizer. When the dx was made, it was a week before school started, and we had made plans to go on vacation for a few days. If we had known he'd get so unstable during the summer, we wouldn't have made the plans, but we decided to go ahead.

So, we told the doctor that David had never swallowed pills before, and she told us to crush up a tablet and mix it with a spoonful of jelly...twice a day (8 am and 8 pm). So, there we were, in a motel room, and I chopped up a tiny pill with my Swiss Army knife (I had never heard of a pill crusher) and mixed it with some jelly, and attempted to give it to my brain-disordered child. He ran outside, yelling obscenities for all the other motel guests to hear, and finally dh got him and brought him inside, where we probably bribed him with something. He ate the jelly, with it's chunks of nasty bitter stuff, and nearly gagged.

That night we were on the road again, and it was dark when it was time for his nighttime dose. We pulled over at a gas station in the middle of nowhere (well, okay, Southern California, probably gang territory) and tried to get him to take more medicine. Our severely unstable child unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the car door, and ran out into the darkness. It was sooo scary!!!

I'm pleased to say that we soon worked out a good system for giving him the meds, and once he'd gotten enough in his system, he stopped putting himself in mortal danger to avoid taking it. I crush them up with a crusher, mix in a half teaspoon of Cherry Kool-Aid powder, and a little medicine cup of water. At some point we'll work on pill-swallowing, but we aren't there yet.

Evelyn

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 8:50am

oh ho..

BTDT.

Peter was relatively easy to give liquid meds to: restrain him, wait for the scream, and use a dropper to squirt the meds into the back of the cheek pocket behind his teeth. He would swallow and scream again, then get a sweet drink, praise and love.

Siobhan would throw up certain meds, including motrin and antibiotics: Here are some things which worked for us.

Never NEVER give meds after she has ingested milk or dairy: Guaranteed throw-up. -There may be other foods that trigger Bobby. Monitor that.

If she did throw them up, wait a bout a half-hour, give her only water -maybe some juice initially for the taste, and try again. It usually stayed down when her stomach was empty. (the baby books or your Ped have information on how much medicine is absorbed over time, so you can adjust the dosage if it stayed down for a little bit)

Give meds in the bathroom and lots of clean-up tools to hand -that's self explanatory

We put the meds in a cup and let her drink them herself, adding lots of praise, encouragement and rewards. It seems to help her to have some control of the situation.

Have a sweet drink (for the taste) and a reward to hand.

My DH taught both kids to swallow pills when I could not teach them for the life of me! I will have to ask him his secret and post it here!

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-20-2001
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 11:12am
Well I called the ped today to see if I could get it in pill form so that I could crush it and use peanut butter like we do fo rhis risperdal.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 11:27am

Yes, medicine was a nightmare for both of mine untill they learned to swallow pills. We've even had to go so far as shots (of antibiotics) because we couldn't get dd to take her medicine no matter what we tried.

Possibly you could teach him to swallow pills?

Samantha

Samantha