How to get child to take her medication

[CaroPhoenix]

Child Rum is on her 3rd run of antibiotics due to an ear infection that has been plauging her since December.

December 24 - went to doc's office, got diagnosed with ear infection, was given Amoxicillin for treatement. Took that for the prescribed amount of time.

January 7 - went to an Urgent Care because Child came home crying because of the pain in her ear. Either the 1st ear infection never went away, or she got another ear infection just a few days after being treated for 1st one. Was told to do follow-up for ears with regular doctor.

Today (January 18) - went to pediatrician's office was looked at. Again, there was fluid in the ear. Not unexpected, however, this fluid was yellow and not pink so that is bad. Nurse Practitioner gave us prescription for Augmentim(sp?) - is a higher strength of Amoxicillin. It's also very very very very thick.

The Pharmacist gave me a plastic syrnige-looking thing as I have to give her 11 ML (a little over 2 teaspoons) of the medication every 12 hours.

Did I mention it is very very very very thick? I have medicine serving spoons that I tried with her when we got home after picking up said medicine - it barely worked.

Is there a trick I should try? Should I use the plastic syringe thing or should I measure it and pour it into a cup?

Any other parents have this problem before?

[Evil Queen]

Is this something she takes orally or does it have to be a shot in the arm?

If it's oral, have you considered mixing it with something like applesauce or pudding?

[iradney]

couldja mix it in with yoghurt? How strong is the taste?

[r2cagle]

Uggh, Augmentin is nasty tasting stuff even with a flavoring added to it. I think that is one medicine that is okay to mix with other stuff, though you're just as likely to not get your child to take it due to the nasty taste.

I have a 4 yr old, and my best experience with Augmentin is straight out of the syring (if the syring will hold the whole dosage) followed with a drink chaser or a cookie...hey this is one time, bribery is good.

Another thing I've tried is measure out the medicine with the syringe into a little bowl/cup and mix with a little more water or juice (no milk) and let my child use the syringe to suck up the medicine and take it.

I don't remember if you've ever said if child Rum has sensory/taste issues with food or not. I have a 5 yr old nephew with autism and he struggles with liquids, but will chew any pill you give him. Also, due to numerous ear infections with my child, when he lets me,I gently massage behind the affected ears and across the sinus cavities with some coconut oil. I haven't seen it make a huge difference with drainage, but it seems to give him some relief. Also, has the pediatrician said anything about giving quaifenisen daily? My son's doctor said it would be okay to give children's mucinex every day as that would help keep phlem and drainage moving along rather than blocking up everything and getting infected.

Good luck, I know you have a harder time as your child does not react to things the same way others do. Keep trying whichever way you can, or maybe your baby will surprise you and slurp it up with no problem? ::fingers crossed::

[Amina516]

My daughter is 4 and still yells and crys when she sees a bottle of tylenol. I have to give it to her standing her the toilet b/c she usually ends up throwing up (due to hysterics) and crying more.. I usually have to explain to her that she feels bad and this will make her better. Sometimes it works, sometimes she just crys harder (and then throws up on me :p).

Let me know when you figure it out. I feel your pain. Im sorry ChildRum is sick.

[Megg]

I would use the syringe. If you put it kind of back, but not too far, she will taste it less, plus you can just kind of shoot it into her throat. Sucky, but the most effective way I have found. Poor Child Rum. *hugs* for both of you.

[MaggieTheCat]

If it's as nasty tasting as people have been saying, you might be better off just trying to give it to her straight, followed by a treat, rather than mixing it with applesauce or yogurt. If whatever you mix it with doesn't hide the taste enough, it just means more nasty-tasting stuff that she has to swallow and it could end up being harder to give her the full dosage.

[CaroPhoenix]

Thank you everyone for the advice!

I'm going to try the syringe for administering the medication. I bought some yogurt for her in case it upsets her tummy. I'll have a glass of water right next to her so she can have it in case she starts to gag or something.

Child Rum does have problems with textures. She won't eat guacamole. However, she's been eating ground beef! Okay, it's in soft tacos and usually those tacos are from Taco Bell, but it's something, right? :)

Please keep your fingers crossed! I had incredibly bad ear infections when I was 2 and ended up having to have my adnoids(sp?) removed & tubes but in my ears. Mr. Rum & his brothers used to have to have actual pennicillin(sp?) medicine to combat their ear infections.

[r2cagle]

How did it go, did you end up wearing much of it? :)

Side note: This morning on National Public Radio, they blurbed about a nationwide study underway to test a specific enzyme in autistic children. Something about helping with behavior or some sort. I didn't quite catch all of it. So my sister in law and I will be trying to find out more information and who to contact about being part of the study.

[CaroPhoenix]

OoO! Please r2cagle let me know the details too. :) I've heard of one study done by the NIH (National Institutes of Health) that deals with how some Autistic Children are "healed" from Autism and some aren't - and they want to know what the difference is between the 2.

I used the syringe and then put the medicine in a little bowl and fed it to her on a spoon. She really doesn't like the taste and the smell makes me nauseous. This is not going to be a fun 10 days or so. :(

[r2cagle]

Oops. After researching, it seems that study is just being done locally for a 90 day trial here in my town at LSU Health Sciences Center-Shreveport . That's what I get for not paying attention to the radio. I guess you could move here for 3 months, I got a spare bedroom. :)

[McGoddess09]

Maybe try having her hold her nose as she takes it and then right after, give her some water to swish around in her mouth?

I usually do that when I have to take Nyquil.

[trailerparkmedic]

Do you have Giant grocery stores in your area? Back when I still lived on the east coast, I remember they advertised they had something like 30 different flavors for liquid medicine.

My little sister had chronic ear infections throughout childhood. She had tubes put in several times, and eventually her tonsils & adenoids taken out. It's really not as terrible as it sounds, and the pain of the surgery was much easier than lots of ear infections. I hope Child Rum gets better from this and doesn't have to go through that, though.

[CaroPhoenix]

Thanks r2cagle - I'll be on the next bus down? :roll: Yeah, I don't think Mr. Rum will take kindly to me and Child Rum being gone for 3 months - he might, you know, actually miss us or something. :rolleyes:

TPM - Yes we have a Giant Grocery Store near our house, but we had it sent to the local Safeway. Mistake on my part, I know, but I had to drop off a prescription for me also, so I was looking to kill 2 birds with one stone, so-to-speak.

Also, I had my adenoids removed when I was 2. I don't remember it obviously, but I don't want Child Rum having to go through that. *le sigh*

I'm just thinking of using the syringe on her. I hope that makes it go quicker. Plus, I'm keeping glasses of water next to her every time she takes it, so hopefully the taste won't be too bad.

[The Last to Know]

Have they ever given her the drops you can put in her ears for pain when she has an ear infection? I wish I had some ideas with the medicine - I really never had a problem with my sons no matter what the medicine was. (yes I realize I'm very very lucky) Once they were old enough to kind of understand that it would make them feel better - they just took it and drank water after it. My youngest has migraines and thankfully now that he is going through puberty the time between them is getting longer (YAY!), but he learned very early to get faster relief he had to swallow a pill and my oldest who is 19 still has problems with pills.
I really really hope she gets over her ear infection quickly! I know how much they hurt - poor Childrum.

[42_42_42]

Similisan makes an OTC eardrop. Check with the pharmacist first, of course, but it might help with the pain. Also a hot water bottle pressed agains the ear and tissue surrounding it will help reduce internal swelling and pressue, thus easing the pain some.

I'd say if childrum gets another infection w/in 6 mos of this one to ask for a referral to an ear nose and throat doctor. I know you don't want your child to have to have surgery, but it's better to have the surgery than repeated infections as they can lead to hearing loss. You might want to have childrum's hearing checked with an audiologist after the infection clears, just to make sure everything's okay.

[r2cagle]

I'm just thinking of using the syringe on her. I hope that makes it go quicker. Plus, I'm keeping glasses of water next to her every time she takes it, so hopefully the taste won't be too bad.

You might let her squeeze the syringe herself. Because big girls can take their medicine themselves, right? Then you gotta lock everything up afterwards...lol. Okay, so momma has to be the one to give the medicine to prevent future issues. Kids, gotta stay one step ahead of them.

I discovered the other day that my 4 year old has succeeded in getting the child safety latch off the cupboard doors. SO I had to move most of that stuff way out of the way, where even I can't reach it without a stepladder... sigh. Hope I don't forget where I put it!

[CaroPhoenix]

This round of ear infections has really caught us off guard as Child rum has had probably 3 ear infections before this - in all of her 6 years. She gets runny noses and coughs, but this is highly unusual.

I'm going to have to do the hot water bottle thing for my own ear. :( Thanks for the sugestion 42_42_42. :D

I'm giong to have to do the administrating of the medicine. I let her take hold of the spoon thingee but that's after I pour the medicine into it.

If the yellow fluid isn't gone in another 10 days, I'm definitely asking for an ENT specialist for her. At least this week, she's not as tired and cranky as she was last week!

[42_42_42]

Hey, are you and childrum doing any better (I hope)?

[CaroPhoenix]

I'm finishing up my frist round of amoxicillin. I have to make a follow-up appointment with my reg. doc.

Child Rum threw up her Augmentim last night. But took it this morning like a trooper.

The bottle they put the stuff in is so huge, I can't seem to put the syringe in there anymore. So now I'm back to the server spoon. And it's still thick. Grrrrr.

Otherwise, we're doing well.

I have to make a follow-up for her too.

Hopefully this will be the last ear infection for either of us for the rest of our lives? :D

[Flying Grype]

My mother put our thick syrupy awful-tasting antibiotics in milkshakes for us. :lol: Gotta make sure there's no contraindication about taking it with food. A child-sized milkshake serving definitely hid the taste of the stuff. (This was about twenty years ago and my whole family had scarlet fever. I think it was probably amoxicillin that we took.)

[CaroPhoenix]

Well, I'm on augmentim now along with a side of ear drops. :cry: Tomorrow we're going for another 10-day follow-up at the pediatrician's office. I was stupid and got it for 8:50 AM - in the middle of rush hour traffic. :cry: What was I thinking!?

I also have an appointment with my pulmonology doctor on Feb. 2. My reg. (GP) doc thinks my sickness is either going down into my lungs, or I've become asthmatic. My pulmonologist will check me over with my lungs, do some things to determine if I have asthma and we'll probably need to do another sleep study as 2 times in 2 nights, I have, while using my CPAP machine, have stopped breathing! :eek: So yeah, fun times. NOT

[CaroPhoenix]

Took the Child o' Rum to the doctor's office this morning for her follow-up. Her ears are infection free! There's nothing in there that shouldn't be! Whew. This is great news for me! :) Now, all I have to do is concentrate on me getting better. Please keep y'all's fingers crossed! Thanks! :)

[trailerparkmedic]

*crossing my fingers for Rummy*

I'm glad to hear that Child Rum is better. Do you still have antibiotics left? Don't forget to have her finish them!

I hope your issues resolve quickly.

[CaroPhoenix]

She finished her antibiotics this morning. I have 7 days worth of antibiotics (augmentin) and ear drops (thank goodness for Mr. Rum).

I'm probably going to start another thread about my appointment with the pulmonary doctor I see next week.

[NorthernZel]

Glad to know that ChildRum is doing well.

In case she should have to go on antibiotics for another occasion, my local pharmacist suggested that mixing the antibiotics in cocoa milk should cover the bad taste pretty well. (They once offered a strawberry flavour kind of antibiotics, but it's off the market now :( )

Luckily Lil' Zel took the antibiotics plain, though he did state on several occasions that it tasted "icky". :lol: