does anyone know how to get a one year old to take medicine. he is on antibiotics and wont take it!?

Question

Have tried:

diluting it in a bit of his bottle
freezing it in an icepop
squirting it in his mouth

he is also on an inhaler and wont let me put the spacer near his face?

Answer 1

You need to use bribery. I know it's frowned upon but in a case like this, the important thing is getting the medicine down him. Have the spoon in one hand and his favourite treat in the other for the second he has taken it. There must be something that really tempts him.
As for the inhaler, try turning it into a game. Introduce him to Darth Vader, and tell him it's the same as his! Or if that's scary, try playing doctors and nurses and let him try it on you first. This should reassure him that it's ok.
Good luck x

Answer 2

He is a 1 year old. Only so much reasoning, begging and bribing will work.

All his meds should be in liquid form, and should be flavored like something he likes. If you live in the states and your pharmacy doesn't offer to flavor it for really cheap or free go some place else. It's pretty standard that they provide free flavoring in liquid meds. Go with a flavor he has had before banana, apple, cherry, avoid flavors like bubble gum, a new flavor isn't going to make this easier with a 1 yr old.

If he is still breast feeding, get him and mom started. Get a large dropper for dosing, if you don't have one, get one. The pharmacy or infant aisle will have them. It's important that it is the dropper an not the test tube style spoon. Once the child is nursing good, have mom change breasts and sometime between releasing one and starting the other stick the dropper as far in his mouth as you can get it and squirt, then get him back to nursing.

If he isn't nursing try this with a bottle. It's important that it's a bottle or breast so the liquid will wash it down, and hopefully since he is already drinking he'll get more down, and it will be less stressfull. Also using the breast or bottle and snuggling before and after will help with any stress caused by the dosing. If you are using a bottle juice might be better. I know I'd rather wash down cherry meds with fruit juice instead of milk.

If you continue to have problems and you feel he isn't getting better and you can't get enough meds in him. Call the doctor and see if you can come back in an just a shot instead. Yes shots hurt more, but there won't be the struggle over and over again.

You're child's health is what's important here. Any stress caused by giving him his meds can be easily countered by providing your son with all the love and comfort he needs to calm down then play with him and make him happy.

If he's crying because of an illness or stress he needs to be comforted, this isn't the time to let him cry it out and learn to self comfort. He's sick we all need extra love when we don't feel good.

Answer 3

I don't know if your son has a dummy or not but when my daughter was a baby somebody gave me a dummy that you can put medicine in the back and then when they suck on the dummy the medicine gets sucked out! Before they realise it, they've swallowed the medicine. Perhaps you could get one of those? Turn the inhaler into a game ...Get a toilet roll and use it like a loudspeaker. This is sure to get his attention. Once he's relaxed try getting him to put the spacer near his mouth in the same way and you can catch him off guard. Keep it light-hearted so he doesn't get frightened. Hope this helps!

Answer 4

My heart goes out to you on this one.

I myself have been there trying so hard to get my daughter to take medicine which i know she must have to get better, but its heartbreaking forcing her to take it as it upsets her so much.

The solutions I tried really worked. They may not work for everyone.

I got a Barbie sticker quite a big one and stuck it over the medicine bottle. ( she was Barbie mad back then )

When it was time to give her her medicine I would tell her the fairies had brought her some better medicine than the dr gave her. She seemed very happy to take this same medicine just with a barbie sticker on the front. I then produced a lolly pop ( chuppa chups are best ) as a reward for being such a big brave girl .
Still works to this day. my girls will take any medicine fine as long as they know the fairies helped and they get a lolly pop at the end.

As for the asthmatic spacer. I too struggled with this. I used to hold it near her face not completely over while we sang nursery songs. then i would get her really calm before administarting the dose into the spacer. The calmer you are the calmer the child will be. I know it can really work you up when trying to give medicine to a sick child because they get so upset and you want to get it over with as quickly as possible.
good Luck. hope my ideas may have helped you in some way or another xx

Answer 5

My daughter was exactly the same, she had really bad asthma and wouldn't let us use an inhaler or spacer on her. In the end, we were forced to hold her down, it was heartbreaking but after doing it 3 or 4 times, she prob realised it made her feel better and she loves it now. We also let her play with it when she wasn't using it to show her it wasn't something to be afraid of. Good luck.

Answer 6

This works EVERY time for me
get some syringes from the chemist, throw away the needle and you can measure how much you need to give with the syringe, most medicines for babies / children taste nice. I always pretend to take some and make a lot of yum yum sounds, then you can drop it a little at a time in the babies mouth, this is great because you dont get any spillage.

as for the inhaler, again you pretend to take it and tell him, mummy feels alll better now, ask him to try and then say soething positive like " you feel better now, dont you"

Answer 7

Hi there, my little boy (14 months) is also on antibiotics at the mo for bronchitis & he hates it, we've found the best way is to mix a little on a few spoons of weetabix or in a yogurt, also works well in the baby fruit pots. It was pretty much trial & error for us but he seems to be ok with it now as long as he can't taste it lol! As for the spacer we also have the same problem with this too & for us its a case of pin him down & get on with it which i absolutely hate coz he just ends up more wheesy as he gets himself so upset..... so unfortunately no advise on the spacer.......sorry I can't help but I know what your going through if it helps x Hope your little man gets better soon its not nice when they're poorly........ Good luck with everything and if you find a way of getting them to use the spacer without them throwing a wobbler please let me know! lol
Take care,
Sarah x

Answer 8

When my son was a baby/toddler, I used to ask for antibiotics in drop form, and use a syringe or dropper. There was much less to get down, only a few drops instead of a spoonful. Also, easier to mix unflavoured drops in drink. My son had asthma as a baby, I used to use a nebuliser while I breastfed (just held it near his face. May also work with a bottle? Also, using it while he's asleep not a bad idea, if he sleeps well.

Answer 9

Hi, try getting him confortable with a syringe so he knows it's not going to hurt him when it goes into his mouth. You could try playing a game squirting water out of it. Try getting him to drink some water out of it like it's fun and appealing. You could either have a second syringe handy, with the meds in it, or put some in it while he is distracted with something else. Then try not to let him see the syringe but continue the game. When you can, squirt it in his mouth. Try tilting his head back a little and hopefully he will swallow it. This way might take a while to get him familiar with the syringe, but i think it would be worth a try (it worked for me when my then 3 yr old had bronchial asthma).
As for the pacer, i'd say you would just have to try your best to explain that it helps him and will make him strong or whatever you'd like to say. Then when he is distracted playing, or if he watches tv, try giving it to him then. I hope this helps. Goodluck!

Answer 10

Hello,
been there done that! Not saying it'll work for you, but worth a try;
Try mixing it with yoghurt (petit filous is a good one as it's thick). Just mix a bit at a time in a separate bowl so you know exactly how much he has had - in case he doesn't want the whole yoghurt.
Hope he's soon better, good luck,
Anna