Getting children to take medicine can sometimes be a challenging and frustrating experience. Learn tricks that may help make medicine time more pleasant for both kids and parents.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Kids don’t always do what we tell them, and that sometimes includes taking their medicine.
If your child puts up a fight, here are a few tricks other than a spoonful of sugar that may help the medicine go down.
Try mixing it with a little juice or applesauce to disguise the taste. Just check with your doctor or pharmacist first to make sure it’s okay for that particular medication.
Or ask your pharmacist about flavorings they have available to make it taste more like grape or bubble gum and less like medicine.
You can also see if there’s another version of the drug in a different flavor or form, say chewable instead of liquid, that might be more pleasing to your child’s palate.
But never pretend the medicine is candy. You don’t want to give kids the idea that it tastes good enough to take too much or try medications they shouldn’t.
Another option: try tricking your child’s taste buds by giving them something cold, like a popsicle, before they take the drug.
Or dip the spoon in chocolate syrup before filling it with medication so the chocolate coats their tongue.
Sometimes bypassing your child’s taste buds altogether can be effective. Instead of putting the spoonful over the tongue, use a dropper and put it inside the cheek.
Playing to kids’ need for control may also help. For example, you may be able to let kids choose when to take their medicine… say, before or after watching a video.
Or let them decide how they want to take it like with orange or grape juice.
Having kids pretend to give medicine to a stuffed animal or doll can also give them a sense of greater control and make them more willing to take their medication.
The same goes for just letting a toddler hold the cup.
Rewards don’t hurt either. A sticker for taking medication without an argument… or a trip to the movies for taking it all week … can be powerful incentives.
If your child still won’t open up, take a break. Give them 5 or 10 minutes to cool off and think it over in their room or another quiet place. Then… try again.
And, hard as it may be, try not to get frustrated. The more positive and encouraging you can remain, the more likely your child will be to cooperate.