NSBR: Getting an infant to take meds...

Teresa

Teresa

New member
We're having a terrible time getting Ella to take her antibiotics...so I'm hoping all of you wise and experienced moms will be able to offer some advice.

The medication is grape-flavored, we had extra grape flavoring added today, along with an anti-bitter agent (after she threw up twice last night just from the taste in her mouth). But, it's still traumatizing (for everyone) to get her to take it. We've tried a special bottle with a dropper (refused), adding it to her milk in a regular bottle, to water, rice cereal and applesauce, but she's a smart cookie and absolutely refuses anything. We're now trying just putting it with a dropper along the side of her tongue, but of course she cries and it's very hard to get her to swallow. Help! :)

Other than asking the doc for a different medication...do you all have any suggestions? I'd be forever grateful!

Thanks in advance!
 
so sorry I can't offer any good advice, I actually had to be the mean mom and give it to them and then hold their mouth shut so they would swallow it...it really SUCKED, but was the only way I could get my 2 littest to take meds...hope somebody else has some better advice :)
 
Oh, yes...the joys of parenting. Our doctor recommended this method. Try using the dropper and squeezing the liquid in the back of her mouth off to one side. Then take your finger and kind of stroke her neck under her chin to trigger the swallowing reflex. You might need a little bit of pressure for it to be effective (not too much though, obviously). And you have to be quick!

Good luck!
 
i have the exact same problem with my 2 kids (2.5yo DS & 8mo DD)

i use the dropper to squeeze at the side of her tongue as far as i could, then hold her nose, so she would swallow. i use that method even with her vitamins as she also doesn't want to take her vitamins. with my DD it's easier since she's still a baby.

it usually takes more than 4 people to hold my toddler down. it's a struggle every time and antibiotics usually goes for 7 days! :(
 
I would use a syringe and shoot it into the back of my little guy's throat. It's kinda harsh,, but it goes down and eventually they stop choking.
 
Our doctor gave us this little trick and it worked AWESOME.

Shoot the meds as far back as you can. THen, blow in her face, just one short little blow. It makes her swallow for some reason.
 
The little blow of air in their face sounds like a great idea.

Here is my experience: My son had to take a LOT of medication when he was little due to meningitis/seizures, etc, so I've had some experience with this. We found a pacifier with a little cup attached to it and there was a plunger on the cup. I put the medicine in the cup and then he sucked on the pacifier and I used the little plunger and squirted it into his mouth. He was too busy sucking to really notice the medication and swallowed it every time! I think we found this little gem at Walgreens.

Looks like this:



Hope you are able to find something that works for you!
 
Yeah, when mine was little, I used the syringe and squirted into the side of his mouth. Now tht he's a toddler, its a nightmare. I have to hold him down (wrapped in my legs so I can do while putting the medicine in his mouth), then I pour a bit in and stroke under his chin to his neck. Its a mess, but its the only way to get it down.
 
SmallMoments said:
Our doctor gave us this little trick and it worked AWESOME.

Shoot the meds as far back as you can. THen, blow in her face, just one short little blow. It makes her swallow for some reason.
Click to expand...


Yep, try this! It's what I had to do with both of my boys when they refused....
 
Thank you so much for all the suggestions, ladies! We tried blowing in her face, it worked a little, but she cries so much she can barely catch her breath to swallow...doesn't help that we have SO much to give her. You'd think they could make meds more concentrated for little ones. :(

I love the paci idea, but unfortunately Ella has never taken to one. I might try the special bottle again, but all she has to do is smell the grape and she gets upset. Talk about classical conditioning in action!

We'll keep trying the "blow in her face" method see if we can get it down to a fine science over the next 10 days...17 doses to go. Fun, fun!
 
I know this sounds silly, but a friend of mine says that if you blow in their face while you are giving it to them they automatically close thier mouths and swallow. Her 6 month old has leukemia and its what the nurses told her to do. She said it works really well.
 
I'm too lazy to read all the replies but - this is what worked for us. Our twins had to take iron supplements for months and that stuff is nasty! :)

Anyway - I used a syringe and put it in their mouths, way back on their tongue, and just squirted it right down their throat. I put the syringe back far enough that they couldn't help but swallow.
 
I'm sorry that she is giving you such a hard time Teresa! It's always so tough when they are little and you really are trying to do what's best for them with the meds!

My tips are similar to the others, but I'm also curious how you are holding her while you are giving her the meds. My expereince is that my kids did best when they where almost horizontal, the more veritcal they were, the easier it was for them to spit or choke.

I used to hold them in a craddle type hold and then wrap the arm under their head all the way around to the side of their mouth, so their head was completely pinned. Then I would hook my finger in the corner of their mouth and shoot the meds (with a syringe) to the side (as far back as I could). I normally tried to do it all in 2-3 shots. I found the more "little" squirts I did, the more upsetting it would be for both of us. Also, I found the increase in liquid almost made their swallowing impulse better.

Hope that you have some luck! HUGS!
 
SmallMoments said:
Our doctor gave us this little trick and it worked AWESOME.

Shoot the meds as far back as you can. THen, blow in her face, just one short little blow. It makes her swallow for some reason.
Click to expand...

This is the ONLY way I was able to get my DD to swallow meds when she was a baby... blowing in her face worked like a charm!
 
Yep, we did the blowing in the face thing with our oldest dd too. She took sooo many meds her first two years due to ear infections and tonsillitis and we tried everything. That worked the best for us! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.
Back
Top