Emum Report post Posted November 24, 2008 E has real problems with taking medicine of any kind. She's 7 now, and when she was younger we used to have to resort to putting it into juice or yoghurt to get her to take it, but now when she's ill she is very suspicious of anything like this, and will not touch anything when she is ill unless she sees us prepare it under her nose so she can see there's nothing in it. We also had to resort at one point (when she had a really bad infection having broken her jaw) to holding her down, squeezing her nose shut and squirting medicine to the back of her throat with a syringe. That was at least a 2 person job and very upsetting for everyone (most of all her). At the moment she's got this really nasty flu that's going round and has been running a temperature since last Wednesday and has a horrible cough which sounds really painful. I'd like to be able to give her some liquid paracetomol and some decongestant, but she's not having any of it. I've tried explaining to her that it will make her feel better, and giving her some control over the cup so she can choose when to take it, but so far she's refusing it. I feel it would be counter-productive to try and force it into her as we did with the anti-biotics for her jaw, but its hard to see her so poorly and not able to make her feel more comfortable. Although she has a little language, she wouldn't be able to explain to us why she hates it so much. To be fair I can probably guess as it smells and tastes very artificial, and as she's off her food already, why would she try something which is so off-putting. Does anyone have any tried and tested tips as to how to solve this one? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aro Report post Posted November 24, 2008 Freeze the paracetamol in fruit juice to make a lolly pop? Nice and cold for the throat too! A x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tally Report post Posted November 25, 2008 You can get antibiotics in injection form, and you can take the entire course in one injection. If she ever needs them again, this might be worth asking about. Even if she doesn't like injections either, it would probably be easier to get one injection into her than daily medicine. As for paracetamol, it might be worth opening a capsule and mixing it in with something with a strong flavour like apple sauce or jelly. I don't know if there are any decongestants in tablet or capsule form, but you could try the same with them if there are. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emum Report post Posted November 25, 2008 Thank you both. Fortunately she seems to be a bit better today, even though I didn't succeed in getting any paracetamol into her, but the ideas are all good ones and I will remember them for future - particularly the antibiotic injection one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skye Report post Posted November 28, 2008 Juice pops! What a great idea. It is like trying to give a cat a tablet at mine to get my daughter to take any kind of liquid medicine. She has always been ok with the disolvable paracetamol tablets that you can put in juice or lemonade or whatever. She even knows I put them in there but they don't have any fruity flavour or anything. It is called Disprol, just in case it might help in the future. They make a child and adult strength. -Skye Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jb1964 Report post Posted November 29, 2008 (edited) Hi, Sorry no real advice - our daughter has always struggled with medicine etc and she could never actually 'swallow' a tablet in one swoop - even the mini pill is so tiny she has to chew it up before swallowing. I can recall many a time when she was little in hospital and the nurses holding her nose and 'forcing' the medicine down - only for her to throw it all back up over their shoes - and then trying to work out how much she could have taken and how much extra they needed to attempt to give her. At the moment another medication she takes is in tablet form and the 500mg tablet which is coated has to be crushed and she takes it dry off a spoon. This takes her about 5-10 mins to psyche herself up before taking it and she is then retching for quite some time (we have had lots of bringing it back up) - she will not take it in any sort of juice etc - the only drink she takes is water - and doesn't like jam, honey, sugar or anything like that (unfortunately the equivalent in medicine would be 10 spoonfuls per morning/evening - so that's not an option either). It is strange but as much as she hates taking the stuff - she would rather chew something up dry than take it in a liquid form. Take care, Jb Edited November 29, 2008 by jb1964 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
