For toddlers, getting ‘A Dose of their Own Medicine’ takes on a literal meaning!
It’s not unusual to witness a toddler nonchalantly spit out the medicine you have given them. There are times when you will feel that giving them medicine is akin to meeting them on the battlefield! To wage a war you are destined to lose, more often than not.
If you’re searching for how to give medicine to a baby who refuses, you’re in for a Dose of Good Fortune! This article will explain how to give medicine to kids, without them breaking into a tantrum.
Read on, for the top 8 tricks to help make the process of taking medicine for toddlers ‘tolerable’, if not ‘enjoyable.’
8 Clever Tricks to Administer Medicine to Toddlers
Here are the Top Tips to give Medicine to Your Toddler and Tricks that will make the experience of administering medicine to your toddler less of a challenge.
#1. Add it to their food
When looking at how to give baby medicine, you cannot ignore this age-old tradition.
Since time immemorial, mothers have been mixing medicines in the foods that children eat. It is generally safe to crush a pill, or even open a capsule and drain its contents into kids’ favourite foods.
Note: It is important to ensure your children eat all the food, so they get the entire dose of medicine it contains. Further, some pills are time-release medicines that might be altered if you open or crush them. Hence, always consult your doctor first.
#2. Trying a different mode of Delivery
Is your child turning their face away, every time you bring a spoon to their mouth that contains their medicine? You might want to try a different method of giving them the medicine they need to take.
Instead of that spoon, you could try giving them the medicine in a Dropper. If that doesn’t work, you could even try your luck with a Plastic Syringe from the pharmacy. One without a needle, of course! If that doesn’t work, maybe give them a carefully measured dose in a small Cup!
#3. Help them Understand
When looking at how to give medicine to a baby who refuses, the last thing you want to do is fool them into thinking the medicine is Candy! While this might even work a few times, it will fail miserably in the long run.
Instead, you must gently try explaining to them how the medicine will help them feel better. Tell them all the fun things they will be able to do, once the treatment is completed. That will ensure that the process of taking their medicine becomes a matter of Importance, rather than a Chore.
#4. Small Doses
Good things come in small packages, they say. Well, so does Medicine!
Administering medicine in small doses to children, might just do the trick succinctly well. If there is a dose of 10 ml you need to give them, for instance, you might want to break it into two small doses of 5 ml each. You can even chase down that first dose with a sip of water, to lend them a sense of comfort.
Tip: During that pause between doses, they can indulge in some entertainment. Like say, adding a Lego block to a structure they are creating.
#5. Give them Incentives
Searching for how to give baby medicine? Why not reward them, every time they take it?
Right since the beginning of time, human beings have loved being rewarded for the good things they do. You can offer an incentive to your child, that will make it easier to get them to take that medicine. For example, they can have those Treats that are usually only reserved for the weekend. Or even garner an extra half hour of Screen Time! Anything that works, where it comes to getting them to take that medicine.
#6. Control your reaction
While it might break your heart each time you give your toddler that yucky medicine, the last thing you want to do is show it!
The important thing to take note of here, is that taking that medicine is of paramount importance, for the health of your little one. If you cannot be cheerful about giving them medicine, at least be a matter of fact about it. That will only help signal to your toddler that taking the medicine in question is not a hardship. If you have a grimace on your face while giving them medicine, it won’t help your cause.
#7. Escape those Taste Buds
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to get children to take their medicine is to make sure they don’t taste it at all!
If you place the medicine as far back in their mouths as you can, you will evade contact with those taste buds that are responsible for detecting foul-tasting medicine. You can do this by using a Syringe or Dropper to drop the medicine slowly at the back of the tongue, or even the inside of the cheek. By doing so, it will trickle down their throats without aggravating those taste buds!
#8. Establish a Schedule
One of the things that children respond especially well to, is a set schedule. When you create a routine for even something they don’t like, it helps for a smoother facilitation of the process.
Just like their other daily routines, you could have a fixed ‘Medicine Time’ for your kids. An example of this would be administering their medicine to them right after their bath time at night, before they go to bed. In this way, children will come to expect taking their medicine at a fixed time, rather than being unpleasantly surprised by it.
At EuroKids we believe that with children, parents must have an infinite reservoir of patience. That being said, as we have seen in this article, administering medicine to your toddler need not be a chore. Use the trick that works the best for you, and you will never have to worry about them taking medicine again.
