Complete refusal to take medicine

[Lochie]

Not sure if anyone can help. My daughter is 22 months old and has a really nasty ear infection - has had fever of 40 and not eaten since last Thursday. I took her to the doctor yesterday and he has prescribed her antibiotics and told me to get started on it asap.

I already have a 4 year old son and am canny to medicine refusal, the doctor told me to get a syringe if she won't take it off the spoon and squirt it down the back of her throat. The problem is that even this fails. She just spits it out of her mouth. Unsuccessful attempts also have also involve putting it in her food. She doesn't drink juice and I think she'd detect the taste in her water.

Should I just stop giving it to her? Is that really bad for her health wise? I would say she has probably had about 2 full doses out of a total of 6 attempts. I don't want her to get a complex about medicine by me trying to ram it down her throat but also don't want her to suffer by not finishing a course of antibiotics once I've started. She doesn't have a fever anymore and has perked up a bit today...

Any tips would be appreciated. I have gotten around this before by using supposotories up the bum for paracetamol rather than Calpol. But I don't think this is an option for antibiotics...

[Saffron]

Check with the GP and/or pharmacist, to see if there is a different formulation that she could be given. If the infection isn't properly knocked down, it can relapse. If there isn't a different oral formulation, check if she could have an injection instead. xx

[Strawbs]

Is it the taste of that particular antibiotice that she detests do you think? my son is the same and I kept going back to the gp and they would prescribe me a different one until we found the one that he would swallow. You could try taking her in for another appt or talking to the duty doctor on the phone and explaining? Good luck as I know how awful it is when they wont take it but at that age it is very hard to force them. x

[Strawbs]

oh and also you could try putting it on a spoon and hiding it with some pureed fruit, it will only work once as they will wise up to you but at least that is one dose for now. x

[Lochie]

no i think with both children it has been stubborness and refusal to take something on a spoon that they are suspicious of. Also with this case my daugther I suspect has had a really sore ear and throat and is naturally not eating much, so doesn't want to swallow anyway. I don't suspect its a taste thing as she is the same with calpol :-(

I will take the bottle to the pharmacist and see what he says about different formulas. Wish they could just make this stuff tasteless then I could slip it into her water!!

[crystal7]

I sympathise, my 2 year old is similar. We have had success in the past with pinning down and squirting into the cheek but near the back, seems to be harder to spit out. Sounds awful but sometimes they really need to take it! Some antibiotics taste worse than others so worth seeing if there's an alternative. Providing a smartie as soon as the medicine is swallowed (and having it visible throughout the process) might help. Good luck!

[Crokes]

We had the same problem with a 14 month old, so totally sympathise (it was so bad with ours that when we gave it by syringe he closed his the top of his throat/back of his mouth up and waited to spit it out!).

Eventually had some luck with more novel methods of giving it to him - a tiny medicine cup with a cut-to-size straw in it (making a song/game out of sucking it up) was the most effective, but it still was hard. This was the 2nd course of antibiotics as we didn't get enough in him the first time (the pharmacist and doctor both said just get as much of the doses in as possible) and the 2nd course also had a different flavour (I think the antibiotic was a different one as you can't choose flavours).

Good luck and hope she feels better soon.

[tiddles]

yes remember this well. played around with flavours = the banana one went down, the 'strawberry' did not.

best of luck

[gwod]

A mini Petit filous style yoghurt was our friend for this.... pink flavoured and sweetish already so easy to disguise the meds in...and you and siblings can have one too to help the little one feel its safe... Good Luck!

[Saffron]

Lochie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Any tips would be appreciated. I have gotten

> around this before by using supposotories up the

> bum for paracetamol rather than Calpol. But I

> don't think this is an option for antibiotics...

Yes antibiotics can be given by suppositories, but their absorption is different in the bowel compared to the stomach. This means they have to be formulated differently. This might mean that there is less choice available, and these drugs could be more expensive. But it's worth mentioning to your GP that you've had more success with suppositories in the past. That might be a better option for your LO if a suitable antibiotic is available as suppository.

[Mrs TP]

I let mine choose whatever bag of sweets they wanted with the promise that they could have one / some after each dose of medicine. Let her hold the sweet throughout the process and pop that in her mouth as soon as she has taken the medicine. I accept this won't work for all but worth a try. Have also resorted to the 'well you will end up in hospital on your own where they will force the medicine down you, etc etc' - not sure that is to be truly recommended but again has had some success.

Good luck, there is no easy solution.

[Lochie]

Thanks all. I am totally in favour of the bribery/carrot approach however she is not quite there yet age-wise to properly understand. Fortunately bribery has worked very well with my son but I remember he didn't really get that approach til he was about 3!

I went to the pharmacist who told me that the amoxycillin only comes in that flouro yellow colour/flavour! She explained why I have to finish the course and suggested Ribena. I've bought some squash and a choc petit filous. She ate the choc petit filous fine so I'm just going to have to try my best that way (I know she won't have had all the course but am going to try as much as I can). Thanks for the tips.

[hoppermum]

I had to give my son antibiotics for 3 months and it was a nightmare so I sympathise. In the end we did a variation of petit filous and ice cream. Ice cream worked best as their first reaction is the cold which distracts them from the taste. Also, choc ice cream worked better than other flavours as it was so strong that it disguised the medicine well! Good luck!

[Otta]

My younger daughter is like this. It's a bloody nightmare and you have my sympathy.

[bluesuperted]

I had this at the same age and I did my own yoghurt mixed with -eek- golden syrup!! I'm quite strict with sweet stuff and certainly was then so he was so shocked and gobbled it all up!! I reduced the syrup quantity bit by bit and found this Mary Poppins approach invaluable when I really had to get the ABs in!!

Good luck, I remember being v stressed by it.

[sanity girl]

My son was like this and I'm afraid that what worked in the end was holding him very firmly under one arm/pinning him down, getting a syringe of medicine into the corner of his mouth and giving it in little squirts (so he couldn't spit out a big dose again) until all gone. At the end he got a chocolate button as a reward. Eventually he accepted the whole process as he knew that if he spat out I'd just keep giving him more until it all went down. Now at 3 years old he is fine at taking medicine.

[Otta]

Similar tactics with my daughter sanity girl. You feel evil, but you just have to remind yourself it's making them better.

[bridget]

I have this with my three, its so stressful. Always ends up being spat or thrown up all over me and me cursing out loud. Have you tried syringing small amounts into the side of her mouth, at the back... And then immediately blowing on her face/mouth - it makes them start and swallow. A a&e nurse in kings gave me this tip when my daughter was on IV fluids last year as we tried to syringe diarolyte into her mouth. Only thing that has ever helped. Good luck!

[VeronicaSawyer]

Good luck!

Mine was a refuser and had to have paracetamol suppositories when she was small. There were a couple of courses of antibiotics where I just had to give up as there was no was I could get the stuff down her. I remember googling and discovering a pharmacist forum where they were talking about amoxicillin. It turned out most of them had never even tasted it despite having had numerous parents complaining that they couldn't get their child to take it. When they did try it they suddenly had more sympathy. It does seem crazy that no one has ever taken taste into account when developing a medicine for children.

But my daughter is now fine with even the foulest medicine. We started with giving her a chcolate or sweet to cram in to take the taste away as soon as she'd swallowed it down, and now, as long as she's got a glass of water in her hand, she's happy.

[Lochie]

Thanks for all these amazing tips.

I have tried bribery but she is too young to understand. Choc petit filous has worked to a certain degree. But I am positive she has only taken about half the required amount. Not much I can do about that now.

The tip re: squirting tiny amounts into the mouth is probably the best way for her, I hate doing it, but she is one stubbon little lady. She'll thank me one day! ;-)

[slh2009]

You have my sympathy too as we have spent 3 years pinning down when all else has failed, it's miserable for everyone. I am hoping we have had a bit of a breakthrough as I got my son to suck nurofen from the syringe himself recently, he liked being in control of pushing it up himself....he is just 3 so a bit older but it might be worth a go.....

[alimc]

Interesting my 20 month old has an ear infection also and I am having a complete nightmare trying to get her to take amoxycillin and calpol. She is now completely mistrustful of any syringe or spoon so might try the yoghurt/ice cream option.

On a similar note - could the parents who have had little ones with ear infections let me know if their child suddenly became hysterical about going down in their cot? My little girl is usually great at going to bed without any fuss but now wakes up shortly after I put her down wailing? Is there a chance that due to an ear infection it is uncomfortable for her to lie down?

[Lochie]

Hi alimc actually yes I have experienced something similar. My daughter is quite clingy but since this infection has only wanted to fall asleep on me, she has never been this bad before! I'm just going with it for now...hope your daughter gets well soon

[Anna M]

Hello - alimc, I just wanted to say that yes, ear infections are more painful when lying down and that's why children have more trouble at night with them. My little one has had consecutive terrible ear infections, and is always worse at night for this reason. There are recommendations to try tilting the cot/bed and trying to get them sleeping on an incline. Often my child could only sleep upright, cuddled in my arms. Buggy sleep in the day was fine if only semi-reclined.

Hope yours gets well soon - ear infections are the worst!!