Can I add Tylenol to the baby's formula?

Question

My 8-mo old son had a temperature this morning and I gave him Tylenol before I dropped him at daycare. They do not administer medicine at the facility so when it wears off in 4 or 6 hours he may need another dose. I did not do it, but I was thinking on my way to work, if I added the dosage to a bottle would that do the trick? Hmmm...

Wow looks like I need to clarify to those judgemental ones. First, he does not have a fever, second I am quite sure it is due to his 8th tooth cutting through, and third a fever is not contagious. As the home day care provider mentioned they are not allowed to administer anything but topical medication to the kids. It is not irresponsible to leave your warm (laughing, alert and happy) baby at day care. I did consider the dilution thing but not the warming the bottle thing--so thanks for that answer. I wasn't going to sneak in the medication, I would certainly have to tell them which bottle to give him at what time! Lastly he won't need another dose probably til bedtime, if at all. Just an innocent question, which if answered with kindness would likely help another person having the same thought. Try to keep your outrage to a quiet roar, people.

Answer 1

That's not recommended. If the baby doesn't finish the bottle, he won't get the full dose. Plus I honestly don't know if Tylenol would break down when they heat the bottle. They say not to add things like vitamin drops to formula, so I can't imagine it would be a good idea to add Tylenol.

If your son had a temperature he shouldn't be at daycare anyway. Mine requires the temperature be gone for 24 hours without medication before you can bring them in. They can get other children sick.

Answer 2

You should always check with your pediatrician before doing anything you're not sure about. But if it's children's Tylenol, I don't think it will have any harmful effect. At the same time, mixing it with formula may decrease the Tylenol's effectiveness. On top of that, if the Tylenol changes the taste of the formula, your baby may not drink it.

Answer 3

You can put infant Tylenol in the bottle, there's nothing wrong with that, my only concern is that they might give him the bottle earlier and he'll have a little too much medicine in his system. If he's just teething, I would just suggest sending some teething tablets or infant oragel instead, just to avoid any potential complications.
If your son doesn't have a high fever, he can go without having that extra dose, since he doesn't actually need the medication in the first place. As a mom, trust your own judgment because regardless of what anybody says on this site, you know best.

Answer 4

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RE:
Can I add Tylenol to the baby's formula?
My 8-mo old son had a temperature this morning and I gave him Tylenol before I dropped him at daycare. They do not administer medicine at the facility so when it wears off in 4 or 6 hours he may need another dose. I did not do it, but I was thinking on my way to work, if I added the dosage to a...

Answer 5

Not a great idea. He might not drink the milk because of the taste difference, he might drink the milk in the 4 or 6 hours after you gave him the last dose and then overmedicate, or the protein in the milk may affect how the tylenol works to begin with especially if in there for a long time. If it's not the daycare's policy, I'd either find a new daycare or follow just their rules.

Answer 6

i dont' think you can because the medicine will be in the bottle for 4 hours at least and will probally just stick to the sides or the bottom and your child will not get any of it. I never heard of a daycare that wouldn't give tylenol. My kids were even given there prescribtions with a note from me. I would look into that.

Answer 7

My son was born prematurely and while in NICU needed to have allot of meds. Towards the end of his stay that is the way the nurses showed us how to give him his med. There isn't anything wrong with hiding the meds in his bottle, but you may run into a problem of which one has meds and when the day care providers give them. By the way, I used to work in a day care with babies up to 16 months. I learned then that a low grade fever is more than likely a tooth, or something that is not going to be contagious or dangerous to the other children, so don't feel guilty about taking your child to daycare! In my own son's case he is like me and will feel warmer at different times of the day and always seems to have a low grade fever when he wakes up. It amazes me that so many ppl are judgmental, but we don't stick together to force better parenthood plans in the work force. Not everyone can take off to be with a child if it is just a fever with no other symptoms, perhaps we should force the legislature to change that rather than judge a parent who has to work especially when how many days do we go to work not feeling well?? I bet all the ones judging you have ALL gone to work with a fever or worse! Hang in there and hope that your little one feels better!

Answer 8

No, because you can't guarantee that your baby will drink all of the milk, thus getting the full dose. He'll be fine until you can get him and usually they have rules like that so that they are not liable if something like and allergic reaction or accidental overdose occurs, if something of that nature occurs and you have put it in his milk and they find out later they will be ticked and probably ask you to find a new daycare where they don't mind you not following policies. You should just stay calm, respect their policy and give him another does the second you pick him up. Hope that helps.

Answer 9

First of all, as an in-home daycare provider I should say it's really irresponsible of you to send your baby to daycare with a fever. For one thing it's probably against daycare policy, second when your baby has a fever it is a sign that there is something wrong and you owe it to your baby to be there for him and take care of him. You are being selfish by not wanting to stay home with him when he should be at home resting...I'm guessing you wanted to add the tylenol to the bottle so that when he fever comes back in 4 hours they don't call you to come get him. I've heard it all before and it's such a cop out. You need to step up and take care of your baby. If you can't afford to leave work for your sick child you should have thought about that before you had kids.

Answer 10

Yes, I had to trick my daughter into taking it this way. However, may I suggest Infant's Motrin? It lasts 8 hours where Tylenol only lasts 4, and it is also an anti-inflammatory for when they're teething and their gums are swollen.