Tips for getting medicine down?

[jills]

My 18 month old has chickenpox (they're EVERYWHERE) and just as we're getting to the itchy stage, he's refusing to take any paracetamol or Piriton. I think the taste of the Piriton has put him off anything on a spoon as he used to take medicine no problem. I've been using the aqueous calamine lotion and oatmeal baths but he's getting really itchy and not sleeping well so I'm desperate to get the medicine down to take the edge off a bit. Would really appreciate any tips!

[pebbles]

Have you got a syringe? Then you can really hold them down, open their mouths and shoot it in!!!!!!! (it works when needed though)

Also, try mixing with milk/juice - sometimes they're too clever for this but it might work?

Good luck xxx

[nunheadmum]

Following similar problems with my youngest on last illness, I got a homeopathic remedy in Health matters when she had chicken pox last week. They come in little tiny tablets which they can crunch and she was happy with them. They seemed to help.

Not cheap - about 5 quid but you get quite a lot. Not sure how homeopathy works, but it did seem to help.

[buggie]

Pebbles is right about the syringes but rather than shooting it in in one go (and potentially causing them to gag/vomit) I suggest squeezing little by little into their cheeks - much more difficult for them to spit it out!

My other top tip might not work as he's 18mths, but definitely for under a year blowing on their face after giving a bit of the medicine makes them swallow (as well as blink) - think it stimulates the dive reflex.

Eurax cream can also take the itch away so might be worth trying as well x

[Jamma]

A syringe is the way to go. We've got one that says Nurofen on it, must have come with a bottle of kiddie Nurofen I guess.

I don't want to really get into this argument here but I have to say that hearing of Health Matters peddling magic water to cure chickenpox does make me angry. It's cashing in on people's distress. There's not really a whole lot you can do for chickenpox other than soothe the spots, any benefit derived from the magic water sold by HealthMatters derived from your child getting better anyway or possibly the fact that you felt you were doing something to help, this relaxed you and the child and made everyone 'feel' better. So I'm not saying homeopathy doesn't 'work' on some level. But it doesn't work in the way the vendor claims. Anyway, please no-one respond to this part of my post there's lots of other homeopathy threads on the forum, I just had to get that off my chest

[Ko]

yes we use a syringe and slowly put the medicine in the cheek area while we lie baby down. you can get them from the chemist for a pound or so.

[kristymac1]

The only way we've ever been able to get medicine into our daughter is mixing with a 'shot' of smoothie - its about the only thing which will hide the taste of medicine (antibiotics in particular) - syringes have never worked 0 she either spits it out or vomits straight after. Suppository paracetamol is also an option instead of Calpol - not a pleasant thing to have to do but it is very effective - ask at the docs for a prescription though as to buy them over the counter is hideously expensive (around ?20 for half a dozen child sized doses if my memory serves me right.

Good luck and hope your little one recovers soon x

[Sanne Panne]

For babies who like dummies, syringe a bit into the cheek and immediately put the dummy in. Then repeat. In 2-3 attempts you'll have the 2.5 mils in. Or get some baby paracetamol suppositories from Holland...

[jills]

Thank you everyone! The syringe worked wonderfully - he thinks it's a game. And we mixed the Piriton with some juice and put it in a closed beaker so he couldn't smell it, and what do you know - success! I also started using Eurax and haven't seen him itch nearly as much. We all had a fabulous sleep last night so can't thank you guys enough! X