Administering medicine to your sick child is not an easy task. Children are always reluctant to take medicines due to their fussiness while they are ill or the taste of medicine made them resist. But it is very important for their health to give them with the right doses. If you are struggling to administer medicine to your resistant child, here are some important tips you can try.
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1. Stay Positive
Do not change your tone or show anger to your child rather stay calm with a happy face. This makes your child comfortable with the situation. Making your child cry before giving the medicine ruins the situation. Try to make your child happy or give him/her something to play with before administering the medicines.
2. Explain Why Medicine is Important
You can explain the importance to your child if he/she is 3 years or above. You can tell him/her a superhero story or something which fantasize the taking of medicine in your child’s mind.
3. Way of Administering the Medicine
Try to use syringes or droppers for little babies and children below 2 years of age. Syringes help in administering an exact dose inside the mouth. Squirt along the inside of your kid’s cheek and allow him/her to swallow it. Do not administer the whole dose at once to avoid choking. Rather divide the dose and squirt it slowly.
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Try to bypass your child’s taste buds and slide the syringe or dropper along the cheek, towards the back of the mouth and squeeze it slowly. Or if the taste is pleasant, you can make your child suck the dropper.
4. Try to Give Them Choices
When your child is 3 years or above, you can give him/ her options for how to take medicines. This will make them comfortable and they gain confidence.
Ask them whether they want to drink them in a cup or with a spoon. Ask them when they want to take it before or after taking the bath. Similarly ask them where they want to take it, in the kitchen or while watching cartoons. In this way, your child does not struggle or fight with you because it feels like it is his own decision.
5. Change the Taste
You can change the taste of medicine by adding applesauce or chocolate syrup in it. Some medicines can be added in milk or juices. But before doing this you should consult a doctor or pharmacist about the nature and with what food they can be mixed. Once you consult with the doctor, you can easily order your medicine online.
You can also cover it in the spoon with the layer of chocolate syrup or applesauce to mask the taste of the medicine. When you mix it in the food or drink of your child, make sure that your child consumes all of it.
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6. Enlist Your Doctor’s Help
When you know your child is resistant to take medicines. You should tell your doctor about this. So that he can give the liquid medicines with the least unpleasant taste. Or he can change the dosage form to chewable or pill form. You can crush the pills and mix with the food of your child. Doctors also give concentrated doses to resistant children. So that once daily and less amount of dose is enough for their treatment.
7. Serve the Medicine With a Treat or a Reward
Give your child his/her favorite toy or food as a reward. This will encourage him/her to take medicines on time. Try to make them busy in some activity like puzzles while administering it.
8. Let Them Play As a Doctor
Let your child play as a doctor and give him toys like doctor’s set. This reduces the fear in your child’s mind. Never make your child afraid of injections and the doctors.
9. Use Force Only a Last Option
Health is extremely important. You cannot let your child go without taking medicines if he/she is resistant. You need a helper for this who grabs your child tightly. Open your child’s mouth with a force and squirt medicine with a syringe along cheek in the back of his/her mouth.
Shut the child’s mouth until the child swallows. Sometimes holding the child’s nose tightly also helps a child in swallowing it.
But this should be the last technique to follow.
10. What If Your Child Spit Out Medicines…?
When you know your child spits out or vomits after taking medicine, you should ask your doctor whether you can give an extra dose again or not. Some medicines can be repeated without any issue, but others are harmful if the extra dose is given.
These are some of the important tips to give the right dose to your child by making this situation easier and less stressful for you and for your child. There is no hard and fast rule of administering medicine to a child.
Rather every child has different nature and likings. You should make the situation easy according to your child’s mood and nature. And always ask the best pediatrician/child specialist in Lahore or any other main city from where you belong before doing any new experiment.
