How do I get my 20 month old to take her antibiotics?

Question

The doctor gave us that nasty pink liquid stuff, and my daughter fights me so hard when I go to give it to her. I have to hold her down and sit on her, and my husband has to hold her hands, and I have to pry her mouth open and squirt it in her mouth. But now she has figured out how to spit it all out. I don't know what to do. I hate torturing her like this. She cries and gets so upset that her face turns all red and she breaks out in a sweat. I know I just told some other mom to "suck it up" and be strong, but I'm just wondering if someone has figured out a trick to this.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone. I actually have tried holding her chin and even sort of covering her nose so that she has to swallow it, but she's crying so hard, she can't breathe and it scares me.

I am always very calm and loving while doing the whole thing, and even tell her "Mommy is sorry, but you have to take your medicine." What's funny is immediately after she wants to be held by mommy. You'd think she would hate me for a while. Aw!

I will try the reverse psychology, but I think she will say "Fine, mom! If you want it you can have the whole thing!"

Answer 1

Sounds like what my parents had to do with me when I was little. I was constantly taking medicine for ear infections...

Reverse phsycology might be something to try. Tell her that its yours and she cant have any. Talk about how good it tastes and that you want to make sure to leave a little for daddy so that he can try it when he gets home. Or you could tell her about a princess that had to take pink princess juice to get special powers.

I remember when I wouldnt take my medicine I ended up with this white stuff that tasted even worse. I think they ended up putting it on popsicles.

hope this helps...

Answer 2

Actually this can be one of the cases where you have got to be the one in charge.
Put her in your lap, put her legs between yours and clamp them there. Put her arm that is toward the back and clamp your arm down to keep it out of the way, then hug the arm toward the front down to her side.
Here comes the hard part, REMAIN CALM in speech and demeanor. No yelling, no threatening and no cussing. Simply state to her that this is the way that it will be done.
This is more to do with the fact she is 20 months old and she doesn't want to than what the medicine tastes like. Actually the "pink" stuff doesn't taste so bad.
Good luck.
After dad gets the medicine in her mouth have him put his hand under her chin and hold her mouth closed until she swallows. you may lose a little by dribbling but most of it gets in her. Now I am talking about a firm touch, but not leaving bruises, just clamp those little lips together.
Mom of 4 and an ER nurse.

Answer 3

Smarties for squirts. Instead of scaring her and yourself you just calmly inform her that the doctor said that she needs this medication to get well and for every squirt she will get a smarty. If she won't go with the plan(you tell her this) then we WILL give it to you by holding your hands behind your back and we will put it in your mouth anyway. Small squirts wont be so easy to spit out. You do need to show her that she doesn't make the decisions when it comes to her well being. She won't like it but it IS necessary. Practice rewarding good behavior.

Answer 4

Ahhh, the infamous Amoxicillin, that wonderful pink stuff. This household is quite familiar with that!

Thankfully my kids have always taken that particular medication rather calmly. My son hated Augmentin, though, it was a huge struggle to get him to take it. We tried everything for it, including having the pharmacy flavor it with another flavor -- you could ask about that.

Can you put it into her bottle of juice/formula/milk? That's always something to try.

The thing I have done was to squirt the medication into the cheek area. Sometimes it did work.

Answer 5

i had the same problem but now i have it with my 4 year old until i told her to take it like a big girl and she does now,in her own spoon....but when she was little i had to hold her down too and we figured to squirt it in her mouth as she was crying in then hold it closed and block her nose for a few sec i know it sound horrible but its better than her spitting it everywhere and if she doesnt get the amount she need she can get worse...good luck..

Answer 6

Ahhhh, this sounds familiar! I went through this with both my son and daughter. My sister went through this with her daughter. I have three possible solutions for you, hope one of them may work for you:

1) My son - all it took was we paid a little extra at our local pharmacy to add flavoring to the antibiotic - they had about 10 kid friendly flavors to choose from, and this did the trick - it didn't taste gross.

2) My daughter - I did the same thing you're doing above, but took it one step further so she couldn't spit it out - I would purse her lips (press the sides of her mouth in so it looks like fish lips) - it makes is extremely hard to spit it out then.

3) My niece - my sister tried everything in the book, but my niece always gagged and threw up any antibiotic. She finally talked to her doctor and he gave her a one time antibiotic shot instead. You still have to go through the torture of a shot, but at least its a one time deal and its done.

Good luck!!!!

Answer 7

Put the medicine in a little bit of her favorite drink. Just be sure she finished the drink.