Comments on: When Kids Fight Meds

By: MC

MC — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:53:45 +0000

As someone who can’t take most tablets as they contain lactose and backfire on me, I’m stuck with a lot of liquid meds. And this week I discovered the yuckiness of orapred and liquid zantac. I tried several things till finally by accident last night I came up with a solution, though I’m not sure it’d work with all meds, if you can’t give them with food.

I follow up the ones I can with a teaspoon of sunbutter (sunflower seed butter). Peanut butter may work, but I’m not allowed to have nuts/peanuts, so sunbutter works well for me. The icky taste of orapred is gone within 5 seconds, as compared to the 5 minutes it takes for it to go away on it’s own, no matter what else I’ve tried.

By: Kate

Kate — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:49:07 +0000

When my son was a toddler and he needed to take medicines that he did not like I stumbled on a routine that worked. I would gently take him on my lap and we would sit in our downstairs bathroom (on toilet with seat down) with the meds waiting. I would just say very matter-of-factly, “I’ll sit here with you and we can talk, but we can’t leave and play until you take your medicine.” I would talk to him, maybe sing a bit but wouldn’t tell stories or do anything very engaging. It never took more than 5-10 minutes (and usually far less) before he would cooperate and swallow the icky stuff. I’d have water waiting so he could rinse and swallow immediately afterwards.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:17:36 +0000

Thanks, Wendy, and I hope your poor granddaughter gets some relief soon.

Andie–Thanks for pointing out the larger issue of kids’ responsibility/control with chronic health issues. It’s important to think about–I know I’ve been reading more on it as AG gets older.

By: Andie

Andie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:17:09 +0000

I found the book “Parenting Children with Health Issues: Essential Tools, Tips, and Tactics for Raising Kids with Chronic Illness, Medical Conditions & Special Health …” by Foster W. Cline and Lisa C. Greene to be a worthwhile read. There are some good strategies in there based on giving the kids responsibility & control, etc. While I find it to be a good resource, the author(s) do have a Christian perspective and so there are occasional references to God (in a Christian context) – it didn’t bother me especially but I noticed it, and that may be relevant to someone else.

I am ordering my own copy so I can’t look up how to deal w/ this issue specifically, but the book uses examples of parenting through type 1 diabetes, asthma, kids who need wheelchairs, etc.

By: wendy

wendy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:56:48 +0000

Distract, distract, distract. That’s what my daughter does to give her 20 month old her nexium (for reflux).

As well, she was prescribed a mast stabilizer for her eosinophilic colitis (4 times a day). Well, this med made her worse, and getting it into her was a nightmare.
While the toddler was distracted by giving her doll her medicine, my daughter would quickly slip the syringe (no needle, just medicine) into her toddler’s mouth. Sometimes it worked, other times she spat it right out.

Applesause was working well, until the doctor said it had to be given with water. The med was apparently neutralized with food.

My daughter stopped giving her this med and is awaiting the prescription for something else. Prednisone, we hope to control the inflammation.