Getting a 3 Yr Old to Take a Disgusting Antibiotic.

Did she have to have much of a Dr. Pepper with it? As long as she isn't chugging a whole can's worth to get the medicine down, I would stick with this method.
A.

My son has always liked to give himself his medicine since he was about 2.5 years old. I fill the thing and he gives it to himself. If it was yucky I told him it would be and had juice in a cup right there so he could make the yucky go away. It works for us 99% of the time.

I'd rather give my kid the soda and tell them it was specifically for the medicine so it would not be a regular thing to drink than physically restrain and force it.

I have always told my kids they *needed* it to get better and that they *had* to take it. No debating it!

Then I always use the squeezable droppers that you can just squeeze in their mouths *really fast* and then I have them open their mouth really big and I put the dropper as far back as I can (w/out making them gag) so it bypasses the taste buds the best I can....and then I bribe them with a yummy chaser, like soda or juice, but only a drink not a whole cup or can/bottle!

I have 1 kid that goes for the soda, 1 kid that prefers OJ and 1 kid that likes the chocolate milk! Depending on what your child's favorite is determines the amount of drinks they get as a chaser. But IMO, a drink of soda 3x for 10 days isn't gonna hurt...just go with something like Rootbeer or 7-up, if worried about the caffeine.

~I did have one of my boys who protested A LOT but I just told him to suck it up and that he had to do it and if he didn't there was a chance they would have to give it to him through a needle in his arm instead and asked him if he wanted that? I am NOT too proud of that.... but sometimes fear is a pretty strong motivator!

Hope that helps?!

When my guy turned three a few months ago he stopped fighting me with meds, as long as I give him the little cup cup to do it himself.

But, two tried and true methods that have worked for me are:
A sip of white grape juice before and after the medicine, it masks the taste (I originally found the suggestion on a pediatrician's site.)
OR,
To use a syringe, take it and squirt it into the cheek on the side, then chuck under the chin with your fingers to get her to swallow, a trick I learned many years ago from our pediatrician's nurse.

Both of these methods are quick, which you want as the longer it drags on the harder it is to get them to take it. And i use these methods on my own, by myself.

Let your child pick out her favorite candy (M&M's, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, etc...) After she takes the medicine, let her have a handful of the candy to chase it. Works like a charm. :) It's one of the few "perks" of being sick for my kids as they don't get candy very often. haha. Sour Patch Kids work really well because of the sour/sweet effect. Good luck!

Mix it in some applesauce?

Rather than squirting it the back of her throat (that will make her gag for sure), try to squirt it a little at a time in the cheek, or between her lips and teeth.....

Have your child, eat some Cheetos, RIGHT after.
It kills the taste of the medicine.
Our Pediatrician, told us that one.
And it worked, with our picky son who HATES taking any kind of medicine.

I would avoid the soda again at all costs because the extreme amounts of sugar in the soda make bladder and urinary tract issues worse. It was fine for a one shot deal today, but I wouldn't do it again.

Is there any chance that the meds come in capsule form? I would call the doctor and ask if they come in capsules so that you can open them up and put the powder inside into a spoon of peanut butter or small serving of apple sauce. That was always our best way to sneak it in. I think once I even snuck powder into mashed potatoes.

My son had to take an absolutely awful antibiotic for a staph infection - for 10 days. The only way I could get it down him was to stir it into a cup of chocolate pudding. I figured the extra sugar was a worthwhile tradeoff for getting the medicine to do its job.

Good luck!

Oh Lordy, my son was asthmatic and I remember the days of liquid steroids and Biaxin. So very gross to taste. I found that a swallow of milk, followed immediately by the medicine, then another swallow of milk helped mask the medicine after taste. I think the milk coats the taste buds and inhibits the "flavor" of the medicine.

GoGurt (sp?)- the yogurt in a tube, did the same thing.

Good luck.
Give her a hug from me.

Our daughter has had 12 operations and we have been through this more times than I care to remember so I feel your pain. There may be flavor options for some types of medicines. Pharmacists can use a product called FLAVORx to make medicines taste better. We did this and it definitely helped and we let our daughter choose her flavor. Ask your pharmacist.

http://flavorx.com/products/pediatric-medication-flavorin...

my mom had to mix a gross one with applesauce, pudding, jelly, and juice when i was a kid and had an awful antibiotic to take. i had a horrible gag reflex and would throw it up. the applesauce and pudding worked best.

The best way I have found to take bitter tasting medicine is to freeze it. I am currently living in Japan. Many of the medicines that we get from the doctor here are in a very bitter powder form. I mix it in water or apple juice and freeze them in an ice-cube tray. Since you have mixed it with other liguids, you might be able to try freezing it. I had this one medicine that was so bitter, I couldn't take it without gagging. I mixed it with apple juice and frooze it. A nurse at the doctor's office told me to try freezing it. It just tasted like an apple flavored popsicle. There was no bitter taste at all. I have done this for my son too. He thought it was really something special to have a medicine popsicle. Make them very small popsicles so that they can be eaten quickly. I had the smallest ice-cube tray I could find and only filled it half way up, just enough to put a toothpick in it to pull it out. To avoid someone else accidently taking her medicine I would only mix one day worth of medicine at a time. Also, make sure you clearly lable the ice cube tray as containing medicine and keep them out of your children's reach.

If you have never froozen popsicles in an ice-cube tray, this is how to do it.

Fill the tray half way (for medicine popsicles) or 3/4 full for regular popsicles. Cover with a plastic wrap. Poke a hole into the plastic wrap in the middle of each ice cube section with a toothpick. The toothpick will be your popsicle stick. Run warm water over the bottom of the tray and pop out to remove the popsicle. I would do a test run to see how long it takes your freezer to make popsicles before trying this with her medicine.

If it is that thick white one we've all been there. It is as nasty as it smells. I just have hubby help me hold them down and I use a syringe to put the med in the side of their mouth between their teeth and cheek. Then I blow in their mouth to get them to swallow. Then I put a bit more. It is traumatic for us as parents to have to do this but it is something that has to be done.

If you are alone and have to administer it hug her then wrap a blanket around her arms and burrito her up. Put the open edges on her back to that when you are holding her down with your chest and upper body while using your hands to get her mouth open and the med inside it she can't wriggle free.

I do this when I am alone and they had to have a med. It feels mean but if you are truly being careful and talking in a calm quiet voice, reassuring them it is okay, that they need to swallow, etc... they will get over it much quicker.

The med must be given and you much man up and make her take it.

Even if she pukes it back up she got some of it inside.

We had to do what Gamma G said. i also agree with the one who said about the pharmacist adding the flavor to it. Do you have maybe a neighbor who could come help you out?

My pediatrician always recommended that when I have to give my DD medicine she doesn't want, to slowly squirt it between the gums under her molars, and her cheek. Then it bypasses the gag reflex, but is too far out of range to spit out easily.

You might also try having her open wide, and while you squirt the medicine into her mouth, brush a piece of sweet candy over her tongue. (Heck, you can buy some sugar-free suckers to use...) Maybe then the sweetness will help her choke it down, and she can finish the sucker as a reward for doing so well with her medicine.

You could also try giving her a toothbrush to hold, and tell her that as soon as she swallows the medicine, she gets to brush the flavor out. You could even take her to buy a special after-medicine toothpaste. ;)

You could try mixing it in yogurt. Good luck.

Both my kids are horrible medicine takers. The pediatrician suggested squirting a little bit of whip cream in their mouths, then the medicine and then another quick squirt of whip cream. It's a lot of sugar, I know but it also works for my kids so we do it. It's fun for them because we use the can and they like hearing it squirt in there and it masks the taste for them.
No fun to go through what you are.....good luck to you!