What's the Best Way to Give Medicine to My 3 Yr. Old??????

I cared for my 3 yr old nephew and he was scared also. It helped when I showed him how to push the plunger on the syringe and then he could give himself the medicine. He thought it was fun then! My 2 year old likes to try and 'help' me push the plunger and even at 26 months he can drink out of the little cups all by himself. He likes to do everything himself, but at least it avoids a fight! good luck.

My son would through up everytime we put medicine in his mouth. So his ped. suggested that we mix it with hersheys syrup. As much as I hated the idea of giving my 10 month old baby chocolate it worked. I had tried everything else like mixing it in his milk, baby food etc... and this is the only thing that would cover the taste of the medicine.

Hi S.,

I know what you mean! I had one that was the same way and what I finally ending up doing was giving her the syringe and letting her "do it herself" It seemed a whole lot less scary to her that way and from then on, she INSISTED on doing it herself, but it got the job done! :-) I even got a second syringe from the pharmacist and let her play with it in the bathtub. (They just love things that squirt!) That way, it wont seem so scary to her and she can practice giving medicine to her dollies! :-) Also, you can have her practice by putting her favorite juice in it and giving herself "practice medicine" ! :-)

I hope this helps,

S.

Hi S.- i feel your pain. My daughter who will be 3 in december takes medication everyday. Our dr. suggested putting it in her sippy cup and rather than fill the cup all the way just fill it half way. Choc. milk is a good disguise and so is Gatorade. This works like a charm...when they are already not feeling well its awful to argue and fuss with them to get them to take medicine. good luck.. :)

My daughter freaked at those, too. I think because they look like the syringes used to give shots. I told her to just drink from it like a straw and she calmed down and now she's fine with it.

Hope this helps...

B.

S.,

What I have done in the past for my 4 year old daughter is to
tell her she's a Big Girl and see if see wants to squeeze the trigger or push the syringe. That usually worked for me.

Good Luck,

E. L

I guess I am the mean mom. We wanted ours to know the difference of medicine and treats. So they had to stand/sit still and take their meds, then they got a treat immediately afterward of whatever- a couple of spoons of ice cream, juice, cookie.

If they could not stand still they were sat on dad's lap and he held them while I spooned it in. Fits were not acceptable at all. After him holding them once or twice they figured out they were not going to win this argument so they best just take the medicine and get their treat. btw I never scolded them, just made it matter of fact. "Come take your meds real quick and then you can have a cookie." If you make a big deal about it, they will too. ;-)

Have you tried the spoon dosage cups? It is a tube shaped spoon that doesn't look like you're giving her a shot.

Hey Sarah,
My pediatrician suggested we mix our son's allergy medicine in a little yogurt to disguise the taste. We mix it in a small bowl with a couple of spoonfuls of yogurt every night. This has worked very well for us. He gets his treat and never knows about the medicine.
Good luck!
Sherri

I also think maybe she is scared of the syringe. (Syringe means shot! Ouch!) If you have a dosing cup or something about that size, you could measure it in the syringe and then squirt it into the spoon for her to drink.
I do not give treats for my children taking their medicine. I admit that I did try that when my son was a toddler, but he was sick so much of the time (and still at 10 years old) that it seemed like he was getting treats all the time. Besides, the real treat is the medicine making the child well. There are just some things in life that we have to do whether we like them or not. We have ear infections going on now and my son is on his first chewable antibiotics. This is NOT fun because the antibiotics taste so bad. So, for this, I am crushing them and mixing them with his choice of drink (water) and he is taking them that way. My two year old just takes her dropper full and goes about her way.

Hi, S.. My advice won't help for this time, but my 3 year old girl REALLY freaks out with oral medications, too. She always works herself into a frenzy and sometimes upsets herself so badly that she vomits. The last time she had an infection (tonsillitis) and needed antibiotics, I asked the doctor if they could give it to her in injection form. I know shots are no fun, but it's a one and done and it's over... no being upset twice a day for 10 days. I actually gave my daughter the option, and she actually wanted the shot... shows how much she hates liquid oral medications.

I have always added my daughter's ( 20 months) antibiotics to her milk since she was very small.. especially "pink stuff"... it does dilute it a bit but, it gets to the same place and the milk helps with digesting it without ruining her stomach lining. I also have had crackers with it so it's a 'special snack' not MEDICINE TIME!!

Good Luck!

J.

I have a ten year old that hates meds too. She holds her nose and drinks water right away. I think the syringe is probably what she is afraid of. Meds usually taste good these days for children. G. W

Hello S.,

Use the syringe to measure the dose, then place it in a spoon to take. You could try mixing it in apple juicein a small cup if she would drink it.

Hope that helps! God bless!

If she's 3, she should be able to drink the medicine out of the little measuring cup that comes with the medicine bottle. My daughter does that and then likes the little cup filled up with water to chase it down... (This actually makes sure that she gets ALL the medicine down, plus helps wash out the cup at the same time!)

You can just have a pretend tea party with the little cup (get one for yourself!) or whatever works for you....

You can try to disguise it in other things that you give her to drink. Or take it back to the pharmacy and ask them to put a flavor in it. If it already has a flavor and she just can't deal with it, then another thing I have tried with my 3 yr olds is to use a spoon and give a little at a time. Sometimes it is the lack of control that scares the child; think about if someone is shooting something into your mouth. Giving the child a little more control but insisting on swallowing can help. If nothing else works, call the pediatrician and see if they can prescribe something else that does not seem so offensive to your child. Or just force it down her and make her take it as we sometimes have to do as moms.

Hi S., I know what you're going through. My 3 yr old daughter has never taken liquid meds for me. This last week though, she got her first ear infection and needed to take a decongestant and Motrin. I have been mixing the two together with a little bit of water (2-3 tsp) in one of her favorite cups, then cut down a drinking straw so it's short for her to sip with. I let her take her time drinking it, and let her watch a cartoon. If she really dawdles, I turn off the cartoon until she starts back up again. When it's all gone, she gets to pick a treat. This has been working like a charm for me. My hubby tried the "make her drink it or else approach" and spent a very teary, loud hour with her in the bathroom. Maybe my approach isn't the best, but it's worked for us and no one feels bad once it's over. It also helps that she's OK with the flavors the Motrin comes in too. I like what the other mom said, it's a little bit about control for the child and a lot about the taste of the medicine. Good luck, N.

Try squirting it in her cheek a little at a time. It helps my son keep from spitting it out.

Hey S. with my 3 year old son, we do a race, I fill his syringe with meds and mine with something that looks the same color. Then I hold his and put it in his mouth and I let him put the one for me in my mouth and i say ready set go. Then if he figues out its meds I blow really hard in his face so he inhales and drinks it. I got that idea from my mom, she said thats what they showed her to do way back in the day in swimming lessons. Good luck!!

I have the same problem with my 3 year old. I mix the medicine with his favorite drink- in my son's case its Sprite. Its a treat for him because he only gets soda on special occasions. It makes the medicine go down easier if its hidden!

My two lil' ones (35 months and 21 months) take their medicines from the cup type or the spoon-type dispensers. Not sure why your daughter is freaking out. Try to make it just a routine thing, no hype or warnings. If it is gross, I would mix it in juice and give it to her. I have even put the juice and medicine in a syringe---it takes more time since you have to refill the syringe a couple of times, but it makes it taste better. Or the juice in a cup is a good idea, although, mine would at times not finish it so that did not work for me. When mine give me a hard time, I give them the choice of either a syringe or a spoon/cup type. They can even push the syringe into their mouths on their own. I also say, 'you do or I do it' and they usually would prefer to do it. I don't warn them though, I just walk up with it.

I would let my son have a hershey kiss or 2 smartie candies (those little itty bitty candies)...I would hold them in one hand and hold the medicine in the other....told him in order to have the candy...he had to take the medicine first (and I explained why he needed the med). It always worked.
Sometimes if he really hated the taste of the medicine...I'd also have a cup of water ready for him to chug after the medicine. He appreciated that and didn't gag on the med if I had him drink water afterward.
now, he really doesn't expect candy anymore. He takes allergy med 2x a day. He takes it w/o candy, so don't think that you're setting her up to expect candy every single time they have medicine.

I understand. In the past, I've tried, sneaky and very fast squirt it inside the mouth, and then offering something that they really love to drink to distract them a bit from what just happened. Also, I've also tried to mix it in the yogurt. The sourness of the yogurt masks it nicely and they might mistaken it for some kind of fruit yogurt. You can also try a bit of juice of V-8 veggie juice. Usually the V-8 will mask the mediciney taste good since it has a strong taste. Hope that helps.