Toddler is sick? Won't take medicine?

Question

My two year old is pretty sick, has a cough, runniest nose, and a bit of a fever. She will not swallow medicine, the new meltaways are only for fever, and she will not take the new thin strips on her tongue.
Any suggestions? We're worried her cough will progress into something bad.

Answer 1

I had that problem with my son. I was able to finally get him to take it by slipping it into a small cup of cold root beer. (Normally, I don't give him soda, but I know he loves root beer, and it's pretty good at hiding the flavor of cold medicine. He thought it was a real treat and drank it all.) If I tried to slip it into juice, he always caught on.

Answer 2

Hi I'm a medical student and your doctor is right, as well is the ER doctor, it's a virus and all you can do is wait it out, antibiotics are more for infections, like bacterial and fungal infections. A virus is in a class of it's own because it mutates and takes over the hosts cells using the cell to make copies of itself. If you've seen Judge Dred when that guy put his arm in the machine and told the computer to use his DNA to make clones of himself is the same thing. The best thing you can do is keep your kid hydrated and watch how much Advil you're giving, if the Advil isn't really helping try to change to Tylenol because it helps with fever also but make sure you don't over dose. You can call a pharmacist and ask what would be best and how much to give to help with the fever to be 100% safe. But as of right now KEEP your kid hydrated. Doesn't matter if he/she isn't thirsty go get a syringe and force liquid down. When that huge swine flu epidemic happen the the most that died were infants and elderly because their immune systems aren't as good for 1 and from dehydration. So KEEP up those fluids, specially if they're vomiting and have diarrhea they're just losing a lot more liquid that way.

Answer 3

Oh. I've been there. Lots. A couple ideas...
You could put the dose in with a small amount of juice but you don't know if she gets the full dose.

You could try to feed it to her from a spoon instead of a dropper.

OR, It's hard to do, but have someone hold her down or you pin her down so her body and arms are under you. Gently tilt her chin up, squeeze her cheeks so she opens her mouth and place the dropper inside her cheek, on the side of her mouth and slowly squeeze the dropper. Hold her little chin up until you see her swallow.

This sounds harsh but talk to her gently, handle her gently and hug her and praise her when she's done. But don't make it too big of a deal. Make it seem like that's what you expected.

If you squirt the dose directly at the back of her mouth and do it quickly, it may feel like she's choking. Maybe you can try to get the dropper in the inside of her cheek while she's sitting up. The pinning her down is scary for little ones but I know sometimes you're desperate.

Whatever you do, don't loose your cool. Then she will think it's a bigger deal than it needs to be. She will get scared or more stubborn if she sees it as a negative thing from you. Been there too.

Goodluck.

Answer 4

Its not the cough that can turn into something bad. she probably has an upper respiratory infection. My son (now 3) used to get those and ear infections. The dr. usually prescribes an antibiotic for those. Alot of times you have to ask the pharmacy to flavor them. My son HATED taken medicine. What I learned was to try and let them be in control of the dispenser. Let them hold it. But if that doesnt work alone, I hate to say this, but you may have to bribe her. tell her she can have some candy, cartoons. etc. Also they make pacifiers that you put the meds. in and they suck it out. You can try that while she's sleeping. Good luck. But all that tylenol, chewables, meltaways is doing is helping with fever pain, cough. she may need something for infection.

Answer 5

Put the liquid meds into a very little bit of juice (so she will be sure to drink the whole thing). The only other option we've used it to have one parent hold her down and the other squirt the meds with a dropper or syringe into the side of the mouth between the cheek and gum. They usually can't spit it out this way. It sounds mean but as a last resort it works.

Answer 6

unfortunately I have had to deal with this, I am pretty sure that Robitussin makes a chewable. my son hates meds, unfortunately I have had to resort to either mixing in something, but no guarantee, or having his dad hold him down, and using the drops and getting them in there and holding his mouth shut, which really sucks... I also did this while he was lying on his back. Call your pediatrician he may be able to prescribe something.

Unfortunately it got to the point that my doc was the one who told us how to administer and hold him down

He doesnt seem to mind the little colds drops they taste pretty good and come in a dropper, and are clear so they dont stain if they spit it out, it also mixes pretty well with milk or juice or applesauce and doesnt kill the good taste.

good luck, I know how frustrating it is. my son is five now and will pitch a fit but he does take meds when needed now

Answer 7

Have you tried giving her meds in pill form? My daughter hated grape flavored ANYTHING and that is all that children's cough and cold meds came in when she was small. I kept telling her doctors that she didn't like the grape garbage they kept prescribing and it was a constant battle to get her to take it. Finally I had enough and when one doctor began writing out the prescription for grape flavored cough medicine I told him not to bother, that I wouldn't get it anyway, when he asked why I explained that she hated any thing grape, he told me it was quite unusual because most kids like grape, again I told him she did not, and that it was a battle with the medicine with half of it getting all over her and the other half getting all over me and none of it going where it was supposed to go. He then went over to his cupboard and took out a box, with a bottle of pills, took a cup and filled it with water, handed my daughter the pill, told her to take it then take a drink of water, she did both without a problem, he sat down and wrote out a script for pills rather than the grape liquid. Never had a problem after that.

Answer 8

We have the very same problem with my 16 month old grand daughter. Last year it was so difficult to get her to swallow her liquid antibiotic, which she needed for an ear infection,and finally wound up taking her to the ER three days in a row for injections. Finally, my daughter and i began giving her meds. together. I would hold her head still and my daughter would put it in her cheek and blow in her face. She fights and cries, but gets it down. By putting it in the cheek and blowing, it forces them to swallow. Sounds cruel, but they need their medicine You have to put your finger in the cheek and hold it open,don't take it out until she's swallowed the medicine...hope this works for you.

Answer 9

Get liquid medicine and put it in a little bit of milk or juice. If it's a pill, crush it w/ a spoon & put it in a little bit of food that she likes. To help the cough, get a vicks humidifier & put it in your childs room (you fill it w/ water & it has a small tray onto to put this special liquid vicks in to dispense it in the air).

Answer 10

I have a cup of juice ready for them. I have them take the medicine, and give them the cup right after. It works really well.