My daughter just got some new medicine to help w/a Urinary Tract Infection. She has already taken some medication and it has come back. This medicine is stronger and should do the trick. Problem is, she kept gagging on it. It was Bubble Gum flavor which she is not a fan of. We switched flavors and thought taht would help. She is like having major anxiety about this. We have thought about food or pudding. She chose lemon flavor when we got a new one yest at the pharmacist and had to pay more money for it. She needs to take it or she will not get better. I really need some advice because it's like she is "pschying herself" up over this and is constantly upset. It is not getting her better and I need help. Thanks Mamas...
When my daughter was on a particularly nasty tasting antibiotic the doctor suggested letting her do a tablespoon or shot of hershey's syrup afterward. It worked wonders. The medicine was still nasty but the thought of chocolate after was enough to help her power through it! ;-) Good luck!
Most medicines (pill or liquid) require you to drink water, so if it is liquid, pour it in a cup of water (like you make cool aide) and have her drink it. Since this is for a UTI, it might even help to have her drink lots of water after the medicine too.
when ever i would take a nasty med my mom would give me 3 hershy kisses after it helped take the bad taste away and i got a treat for taking my med lol
I never give my kids soda but when one of them has to take a very nasty tasting medicine I will fill a medicine cup w/ soda if they don't fuss and drink the medicine they get the soda. Both boys take most of them no problem but w/ the antiviral medicine I had to use the soda bribe and w/ a strong antibiotic for a stubborn sinus infection I had to do it. You could just use the same method as you do for an infant/toddler. Get a medicine dropper and squirt it far into the back of her mouth between her teeth and cheek slowly. If you have to have someone help you then get help. She has no choice but to take it if she wants to get better so don't give her one. I have a few times said "we can do it the easy way I give it to you and you take it then you get your little soda cup or the hard way daddy holds you down while I give it to you" I have rarely had to use the hard way only when our youngest was on one antibiotic that started w/ a C even flavored it stunk!
Between now and the next time she gets sick I recommend that you show her how to swallow pills using mini M&Ms and then move up to regular ones. My seven year old takes pills and it is much easier. For now, get the medicine as cold as you can make it. Get a water bottle that you can put ice water in and that has a suck on top. Take a syringe and squirt a bit of med, as far back into the mouth as you can and then give her a drink of the ice water. If it is still unbearable have her plug her nose. You don't taste as well if you can't smell it.
A spoonful of sugar? ;)
What works for my son is sucking on an ice cube first, it numbs the tongue a bit, and then take the medicine, and wash it down with more ice water.
We have switched to mostly pills instead of liquids. My son practiced with mini M&Ms, and got the hang of it quickly. My method for taking pills is to take a mouthful of water first, then poke the pill in so that it floats and never touches my tongue.
One of my 8YOs also psychs herself out and the first time I had to give her a dose of antibiotic with a syringe, she spat most of it out :-p. The second day I tried mixing some with chocolate milk and it took close to 40 minutes for her to drink it all. And then, we found a mutually agreeable solution - ice cream! We were at a church event and I was dreading having to give her the antibiotic, but fortunately ice cream was being served so we got her bowl of ice cream and went to a quiet place and I had her take a sip of water, a squirt of medicine, and then a couple bites of ice cream. Repeated this process two more times and she finished her dose in less than 5 minutes :-). So she got ice cream with her meds for the remaining days of her antibiotics and didn't complain at all.
I have a few easy fixes that have helped me get the medicines down in my house. My favorites are things that can either be mixed with the medicines or followed right after them as "chasers". In fact, you can make it a huge game as to how fast she can get the medicine down so she can go right into the good stuff that follows. I used a spoonful of honey, maple syrup, chocolate sauce, slightly melted M&M's in a spoon, and Marshmallow Fluff. All of it works nicely to take the "bite" out of the medicine very quickly and these are also some of your child's favorite things to eat.....sugary sweet and tough on the teeth but the medicine is way more important right now. I'm also going to tell you that one time, I had such a huge battle with one of my daughter's in regards to taking medicine that we ended up in a similar situation as you and she wound up with a huge superbug from an ear infection that didn't clear up the first time. She fought me on the medicine and wouldn't take it...kept spitting it out or gagging and throwing it up. I can't have that so back to the Pedictrician we went for a nice shot of Rochephin in the butt. It had to be done. She was 6 at the time and let me tell you this....not only did the infection clear in 2 days but so did her aversion to taking liquid medicine! All I had to do was mention that we can always go back for the shot and she drank those meds down like a champ! Sometimes us moms have to do what we have to do and take the bull by the horns. Good luck and I hope these tips work!
