How to get the child to take Amoxicillin
Last week, Sadie had an ugly ear infection, and as I drove into CVS, I was dreading the future. I knew we’d have to give her Amoxicillin three times a day for the next ten days. The pink stuff is not Sadie’s friend. It doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t smell good, and she doesn’t understand that she needs to take it in order to get better.
Ten days. Ugh. That’s thirty doses. Which meant we were condemned to thirty separate fits, totaling 600 minutes of wrestling, false starts, and misery.
Until I figured out how to do it better.
For a baby/toddler, you drop the pink stuff in the mouth with a little syringe-style dropper. The key to success is to draw a little air into the syringe before bringing in the pink stuff, eliminating the vacuum seal. What this means is that she can gently suck the pink stuff in instead of me having to squirt it down her throat. It’s much more pleasant for everyone, and after a time or two the whole process took less than a minute from beginning to end.
Then, we get to celebrate what a good girl she is, often with a rousing Donna Summer “I want the pink stuff, baby, this evening. I want the pink stuff, baby, tonight” chorus! Everybody wins.
Your mileage may vary. Any other tips? Leave a comment.
Technorati Tags: Parenting, Amoxicillin
February 15th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I’ll try that. The few times L. has required medicine the syringe/dropper has triggered gagging and vomiting, resulting in no medicine consumed. I bury it in a food or beverage that I know she will eat all of (yogurt and milkshakes), and hope for the best. (Less than ideal, by the way, for drugs that are not supposed to be taken with milk products.)
February 26th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
good tip. we’re onto ear ache numero tres as I write this, and going from amoxicillian to some other stuff because it’s not working and six wakes calls last night just won’t do for functional parents…
another trick, although you have to be care of aspiration, is to have a two person job of laying them down on the changing table while one parent restrains, and the other administers. The food thing backfired on us; bottle refusal ahoy.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Great idea! We tried your tip about leaving a little extra air in the syringe with the amoxicillin. We also gave her a little extra time with it–she drank it in ~0.5 mL sips, but she took the full 3.5 mL without a problem.