BETWEEN THE WEATHER CHANGES, FLU SEASON, AND CONTACT WITH OTHER CHILDREN AT SCHOOL, IT IS PRIME TIME FOR YOUR CHILD TO GET SICK. USE THESE TIPS TO HELP MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO GIVE YOUR TODDLER THE MEDICINE THEY NEED.

We’ve covered the picky eating toddler in our previous blog posts, but what about toddlers who just can’t stand the taste of medicine? Even as adults, we sometimes cringe when taking that bitter antibiotic or gulping down that tablespoon of cough syrup. Medicine generally doesn’t taste pleasant, especially to an unknowing toddler.

With these tips, help combat your stubborn toddler and get them the medicine they need easier and much more quickly.

Please consult your child’s pediatrician to ensure these practices are correct for the medicine prescribed to your child before attempting any of the suggestions below.

Use An Oral Syringe

Using a syringe to give your child their dose of medicine can make things quick and easy, if done right. The benefits to the syringe are that you are able to bypass the tongue – and most of the taste buds – to get your child to swallow. Try going towards their cheek to make sure they taste as little of the medicine as possible. My Mommy Style suggests gently pinching your child’s cheeks into almost a kissy face, as it makes it more difficult for them to spit the medicine back out.

Mask The Flavor

There are a couple ways you can do this. If the medicine is in pill form, you can crush it up and add it to a thicker textured food such as yogurt or applesauce. But use this method with caution, because if they don’t eat the whole serving, they won’t get all the medicine needed.

You can also hide medicine in juices or simply add a powder flavoring straight into the medicine. This helps reduce the serving size while still making the medicine taste better, so you child is more prone to take it with ease. Be sure to check with your doctor to make sure it is safe to add the medicine to food and beverages.

Reward Them And Propose Independence

Reward for an action is a common practice in teaching your child, and the same goes for taking medicine. Talk to them and let them know that taking medicine is good for them, and if they do as instructed, they will get a treat for being good. A yummy tasting treat right after the bitter medicine will help with the taste as well.

Have Fun With It!

You can turn anything into playtime with a toddler. Tell them that you want to play doctor and let them practice on you first. You can get candies or juice that resembles medicine and take it when they instruct to as the doctor. Then switch roles and have your toddler take the medicine as your “patient.” The game can be distracting enough for your child to forget that they didn’t want to take the medicine in the first place.

We hope these tricks help get your child on the road back to healthy. If your child is running a fever, please keep them at home until they are fever free for at least 24 hours without the aide of fever reducing medicine. Germs spread quickly at any child care facility, no matter how clean, so help us avoid any contamination and the spread of illness among fellow Claire’s Day School students.