Tips for getting 2 year old to take medicine?

littlebug

My poor wee boy is sick . He just has a cold but has now developed a fever so I suspect ears/ throat are probably starting up. He point blank refuses to take any calpol/ nurofen. I've tried hidng it in yogurt but he knows to look at it that it's been tampered with! His temps at about 100F just now and he's in ok-ish form. I'll give him a bath before bed which should cool him down a wee bit but he's just been pointing right to the back of his mouth and saying "yukky yukky" so I'd say he's probably starting to get sore and I hate not being able to make him feel better.

Has anyone any tips for getting medicine into a poor wee sick boy. I don't want to force it ... I don't think I could anyway... he's a big strong lump!
This weekends looking to be fun for all in our house eh?

Ickle Magoo

If he requires paracetamol to lower his temp, try giving him a paralink suppository - I use/used these when my kids were too young to take medicine from a spoon, hth & that he feels better soon!

Baraboo

Any attempt to force him will result in a fight for about the next 6 years every time you need to give him medicine. I find a mixture of flattery (what a big boy to take all your medicine) and Bribary (now here is that mini lion bar that I have been ostentatiously holding for the last 5 minutes) works a treat. Substitute Ice cream, Smarties, whaterver he is most fond of but be aware if he throws up after eating chocolate there will be consequences.

littlebug

Oh thanks... hadn't thought of that. I' ve never used them before as he was always good for taking medicine until he reached this picky 2 year old phase.

//races off to pharmacy before it closes//


Edit. Thanks Baaraboo. I'll pick up some bribery food while I'm out. He's awfully awfully picky with food at the minute. I got him as far as his tongue touching the calpol last night and he actually retched so I'm not too hopeul on that one but it's worth a shot before resorting to the suppositories.

Nevyn

I used a medicine syringe.
You can get one from most chemists.
It was just a case of filling it with the doseage required and squirting it into the back of their mouths and they would swallow automatically.

Have you tried icecream ?

End of the day you may just have to lie him across your lap while sitting on the sofa with his head tilted back and make him swallow it
Not plesant at all but there are times you have to be cruel for thier sakes

ambman

tell him your going to give it to his brother or sister if there is any or his daddy.
or pretend to give some to his favourite teddy. works for me.

Oryx

My kids cant stand sugar free calpol, but they like the normal stuff. And I always use a syringe, its much easier to handle and your less likely to have sticky pink stuff all over them and you.

And like Thaedydal, sometimes Im a tough mammy and make them take medicines they dont want, its only bad for them for a second and then they forget all about it.

luckat

What Baraboo says. My method with animals also works with kids: lots of soothing praise and strokes and cuddles, and the medicine slipped in almost without their noticing, followed by a treat.

Ice cream is good, because it'll numb the taste buds a bit, lessening the nasty taste. And accompany it with appreciation for the good way he took the medicine.

And keep the medicine in the coldest part of the fridge (normally the meat compartment at the bottom, though keep the bottle in a plastic bag and away from meat to avoid contamination). The cold will lessen the nasty taste.

With kids I also tend to emphasise that the medicine will make them feel better. If they logically object that they took it and it didn't, I just tell them it takes a while. But do follow it in with favourite ice cream or jelly, which also soothes the sore throat and head.

Hope the baba's better soon.

littlebug

Thanks for all the tips everyone.
Well i tried the bribery whch didn't work as he suddenly decided he doesn't like chocolate .Nor does he like ice cream or jelly. Strange strange child. Flattery got me nowhere at all and he was starting to really burn up at this stage and was getting more miserable by the minute. Anytime I've tried the syringe before, or just lying him down and forcing it, even when he was a baby, he has just puked the whole up so i didn't want to try that at all. It did used to work with his sister but for some reason not for him. So I resorted to the suppository which sounds worse than it was... I don't think he even noticed! It got his temp down in no time at all and he went off to bed happily.
The rest of the night wasn't so good but a bottle of milk laced with kiddy nurofen and given with a go ahead biscuit to make him nice and thirsty has done the trick this morning and he's much happier now. Now just waiting for his daddy to get up so I can go back to bed. We've already watched Cars once this morning... yawwwwnn.


Thanks again and happy mothers day mammies!

eimearnll

2 of my kids are in the same boat at the mo,i use the syringe thats brill or as siad the paralink is great for tempatures.

luckat

Good that it worked out, bug.

Maybe you might get him used to the concept of treats following on following instructions, though, for future ref!

gubby

ambman wrote:

tell him your going to give it to his brother or sister if there is any or his daddy.
or pretend to give some to his favourite teddy. works for me.

Oh the memories come floting back.. years ago I was in the same boat trying to get the one pk of medicine I got from the doctor to get down my little girls tempature till the chemist open in the morning. He daddy just came home from work and I said "look I am going to give this to daddy to make him feel better if you dont want it" what did the silly man do only grabbed the glass and downed it............ oh we laughted for years after. the poor man didnt realize what I was doing.

run_Forrest_run

i would have thought giving a suppository to a 2 year old would be harder than trying to give a spoonful of calpol!

littlebug

run_Forrest_run wrote:

i would have thought giving a suppository to a 2 year old would be harder than trying to give a spoonful of calpol!

You'd think that! No amount of cajoling or bribery would get my boy to take a spoonful of anything. The only way to get it into him is by the syringe or tip the spoon to the back of his mouth. That's with a fight and takes 2 of us and he screams and cries and shakes his head and spits out anything he can manage to spit out and what does go down causes him to gag and sometimes he vomits it back up. A suppository dipped in warm water slipped in while he's having his nappy changed causes little more than a slight look of indignation and discomfort for a split second! Hubby refused to have anything to do with it though, other than happy distracton up the talking end! I got through the weekend with nurofen mixed into a bottle of watery milk and the paralink before bedtime. I did have to do the syringe thing a couple of times as well when he had no interest in a drink but it wasn't without a fierce struggle. Anyway he's all better now!

Eimearnll.. hope yours are feeling better too?

Jesus Wept

I have no kids

Have you tried puttin it in a bit of lucozade or coke?

dame

Glad to hear the little fellas fine again.

We use this medicine spoon:
http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://www.assistireland.ie/uploadedfiles/Product_Images/Healthcare_Products/Medication_Products/Medicine%2520Measuring%2520Spoon%2520(NRS)%25201863.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.assistireland.ie/eng/index.asp%3FlocID%3D1711%26docID%3D1863&h=150&w=200&sz=40&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=RBsk1VXzhGuydM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=104&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmedicine%2Bspoon%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26cr%3DcountryIE%26sa%3DN

Bought it in a pharmacy and find it great. A lot harder to spill.

Daughter is three now and loves being a "big girl" and doing things for herself. She needed an antibiotic recently and had to have it forced in for the first two days (while she screamed and made faces as if we were poisoning her :rolleyes: ) but then one day she just agreed it was good for her :eek: , grabbed the spoon and drank it down by herself! :eek: Mind you the bribery was probably what really did the trick cos she then demanded her sweetie!

Kimbot

The terrible 2's!! I remember those phases!!

I used to get a needleless syringe off the chemist and put something like honey on the tip of it then when he liked the taste of the honey just push the plunger and your home free!!

Nevyn

The-Rigger wrote:

I have no kids

Have you tried puttin it in a bit of lucozade or coke?

Coke or lucozade would not be recamened for a child under two.
Too much sugar and the caffine in the coke.
Carbonated beverages will just make the child hyper and that much sugar is a hazzard to thier devloping teeth.
Just my opinion.

sonners

Thaedydal wrote:

Coke or lucozade would not be recamened for a child under two.
Too much sugar and the caffine in the coke.
Carbonated beverages will just make the child hyper and that much sugar is a hazzard to thier devloping teeth.
Just my opinion.

QFT

niallb

run_Forrest_run wrote:

i would have thought giving a suppository to a 2 year old would be harder than trying to give a spoonful of calpol!

Not if it's done gently.
Just make sure to tell the pharmacist they're for a child!
Childrens paralink are 180mg and much smaller than the adult ones.

Two other advantages of paralink in cetain cases.
Once the temperature comes down, a kid is often exhausted
and falls asleep, and you can give another paralink without waking them
a few hours later.
My own kids are pretty good with medicine, but last week
I went back to paralink when one of my daughters couldn't keep
calpol/nurofen down. Paralink never hits the stomach, so it can't upset it.

Hope alls better now!
NiallB