Most parents will agree that they have a super tough time getting their little ones to take that medicine. ‘Medicine time’ then becomes a time of frustration and complications; often resulting in messy clothes owing to the spillage caused by them running away or moving around too much. If the ‘Here comes the airplane’ tactic has stopped working, you might want to turn to these strategies.
Wear your happy face –
Kids are smarter than you think. They can sense negativity from 100 yards away. If you want to get your kid to take his/her meds, let them not see the medicine. Seeing the medicine, by itself, in most cases will evoke negative emotions. Make your kid lie down, cover his/her eyes and play peek-a-boo with them. On the fourth or the fifth time, put the syringe in his/her mouth and they’ll swallow even before they know what’s happened to them.
Pass over the taste buds –
Kids generally tend to spit out a medicine if it is bitter in taste. In order to avoid situations such as these, some parents might opt for syringes or droppers, even after their kids are old enough to be drinking out of a cup. The reasoning behind this is simple. If done correctly, the sliding of the dropper along the cheek will end up dropping the medicine at the back of the kid’s mouth. This way, it skips their taste buds and the bitter taste doesn’t make things tough. If your child is okay with it, you could alternatively rest the dropper at the back of their tongue and have them suck on the dropper. This method is also known to work.
Relinquish the control factors –
Let your child decide when and how he/she wants to take the meds. Give them a choice between a dropper and a cup; between after bath time or before. This way they will achieve a sense of empowerment and believe that it is their decision.
Bring the medicine to room temperature –
Eye drops are a tough one. It is always difficult to get the drops inside his/her little eyes because of how much they tend to move around and be petrified of drops. Cool drops do not feel as good inside the eyes; so hold the bottle in between your hands for a while and bring them down to room temperature. Now lay down your child on the floor and aim for the inner fleshy part of the eye. This way even if their eyes are closed, some part of the drops will roll into the eyes when they finally open up. You’d obviously still need another adult to hold the kid down while you perform this arduous task.
Getting the doctor’s help –
If your kid is more used to chewables in comparison to the liquid varieties, and you could ask the doc if that is an option. Or you could, alternatively, choose higher concentrations of the same drug. That way, you’d have to give your child smaller doses of the same medicine.
