Can someone give me advice on giving a stubborn child her medicine?

Question

Me, my mother, and her boyfriend tried everything, from holding her [my sister] down with three people, a baby syringe, and disguising it in other things like pudding and ice cream. Yet nothing seems to work. We even tried simply coaxing her but got frustrated. She's eight years old and you'd think she would've grown out of this already.

Answer 1

is it liquid or a pill form. my daughter had to take some med when she was 5. the pill need to be crushed but it tasted so bad she refused to take. since the pill was small i put it whole in some apple sauce ( jelly woks too) and she swallowed it whole. after a few months we did this.. she put some juice(she picked what she liked and it was reserved for pill taking) in her mouth and held her head back with mouth open. i tossed the pill in as far back as i could get it she swallowed everything. by the time she was 6yo she could do it her self. also give her as much control over the circumstances as possible. my daughter picked before bedtime to take her pill and she picked the type of juice she took it with. she also picked the person who helped her take it (she liked me the best lol)   if it is liquid try letting her pick a special cup. my daughter(now12 ) like to take cough meds from a plastic champagne flute and chase it with something to get the taste out of her mouth.  goofy but it works.  good luck

Answer 2

Talk to your pharmacist. A lot of big pharmacies now have flavor additives to make the medicine your child's favorite flavor. Some even can turn the medicine into suckers.

My one daughter hates taking medicine so we let her pick a treat or favorite drink to have ready to have right afterwards to get the taste out of her mouth. She is also the one we have to buy gummy vitamins and chewy Tylenol for.

You have to make sure you keep these completely away from young kids though or they could try to eat them lke candy.

Answer 3

My youngest son actually gags on bad tasting medicine, he's very sensitive to certain tastes.

He can only take certain meds, only when necessary, and I have a full cup of water handy and bribe him with about 15 Skittles. Hey, it works.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Yes, try bribing her. Even though it seems horrible it works. My son hates taking his medications so i say if you drink this ill take you to the toy store & you get to pick out what ever toy you want ( you can have a price limit of you want)

Also start a conversation with your daughter  and talk about what she wants and all that good and fun stuff. Try being the nicest you could be to her. Dont get frustrated or angry or yell at her when you ask to take the medicine.

You can also play the drinking the medicine role.Try drinking or pretend drinking the medicine and say YUHM Grandma doesnt this taste like... (fruit,bubble gum,watermelon,)

Good Luck!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Sounds to me like she knows shes getting a lot of attention when its time to take her medicine. Make no big deal about it. She sits at the table with her medicine and maybe a glass of water to wash it down, and that's that! No TV, no anything until its gone. At 8 yrs old she is old enough to know that life is not always full of fun, and that she has to begin acting like an 8 yr old not a 3 yr old. I went through the same thing with my daughter. Shes 10 now and knows that i will not budge and i will not bribe her anymore to take her medicine. She takes it and that's that! As busy parents, we don`t have the time, or the energy to play games when it comes to something so SIMPLE as taking your medicine. Not to mention something sooo Important! I understand what your going through. Just stick to your guns.She takes her medicine or she sits at the table all night. Tell her shes growing up now and needs to start acting like it. It will get better, I'm sure of that, as long as you are the one in charge.

Best of luck :)

Answer 6

dont let her know its medicine. you can pick your own  flavored medicine now. be careful when you have to fight her to take it. you dont want her to choke or vomit. fighting her will waste more than you actully get in her.

Answer 7

First tell her that you know it tastes bad but she has to take the medicine and you are not going to fight her she either takes it or goes to bed.  About 5 minutes before you give her the medicine give her either a cherry or orange popsicle as soon as she finishes the popsicle give her the medicine and then a drink of koolaide or fruit juice.  i was always told that it numbed the tastebuds and made it easier I dont know if it really worked that way or if my kids just saw I was serious but they took it a lot better.  Also at 8 ask the doc about pills mine started about then taking the pills and it is so much simpler.

Answer 8

sandra you read my mind!!!!!!!

as long as being sick doesnt mean that they get all the little extras....

Answer 9

Have the doctor explain to her why she needs to take it.  Ask for the chewables or the pills instead of the liquids.  Yes, she should have grown out of it by now but look at the attention she's getting with her refusals.  If she's not seriously sick (a minor ear infection for instance), let her suffer with the pain and ignore her.  Good luck.

Answer 10

do not make her take it if it takes away pain its just a mater of time before she gives up

Answer 11

Your local drug store should have fruit (and other) flavored syrup you can add to the medicine to make it taste good. Ask the Pharmacist. That may work.  One thing I use to do with my stubborn son when he wouldn't do what I wanted him to do:  I'd use reverse psychology on him and tell him he could NOT have what ever it was I wanted him to take.  It sounds weird, but it worked.  I'd say, " Oh that's right, you don't want to get better,you don't want your medicine. You want to stay sick and feeling badly so you can't  go with us to (where ever we were going), or so you can't watch TV (or whatever he liked to do)"  I'd say, "Yeah just go stay in bed stay sick because you can't have your medicine to get better, so go on to bed, stay sick."  I'm not kidding, next thing you know he's yelliing at me that he wants it!   Kids, go figure!!

Answer 12

Tell her she either takes the medicine or she will have to go get a shot from the doctor and tell her to quit acting like a baby. Parents are so afraid of hurting their kids feelings and telling them like it is. Your mom needs to crack down on her.

Answer 13

I was having trouble getting my son to take his last night,I was getting desperate last night,so I dipped the dropper in the medicine to make sure I had the outside of the dropper sticky with the med,make sure you have the right amount in the dropper, I put colored sugar and sprinkles on the dropper,He put the dropper in his mouth and sucked the medicine out and had a sweet treat on the dropper to hide the taste. Hey, It worked.