My daughter, who I'll call Little Sister, has been taking medication for a health condition since she was a newborn. One of the medications is in a non-dissolving powder form. When it could no longer be mixed in her milk, I mixed it into her baby food and fed it to her with no problem. However, when she was just over one year old, she decided that she didn't want me to spoon-feed her anymore. If she fed herself the medicine, there's no way all the medicine would have made it into her body. She also wasn't interested in eating very much. So I was left encouraging, coercing, bribing, and fighting her to take the medicine every day. Over the past year or so, I've tried many methods to get her to take her medicine.
1. Have back-up. Getting another adult will be helpful. An older child, especially a sibling of the toddler, can also be helpful to you and encouraging to the toddler.
2. Secure the child. Put toddler in a highchair or booster seat. Buckle him in. This eliminates the problem of chasing down the child and attempting to feed him in awkward positions, which often leads to the medicine getting everywhere except in the child's mouth. You can also have another adult hold the child, but I've found that that usually leads to medication spills on the other adult. Don't let the toddler down until he has taken all the medicine.
3. Keep a favorite drink handy. Fill a sippy cup with something you know the child likes. It's good to wash the medicine down, and if it takes more than one bite or gulp to eat all the medicine, it's nice to have a drink in between bites for a little break.
4. Keep it positive. This is hard, because it's very stressful when a child refuses to take medicine, but try to make it a positive experience. Force may be necessary in the end, but first try hard to make it a good experience. And when the child takes the medicine, even if it was a bad experience, give yourself a pat on the back. At least she has the medicine in her body.
5. If you come across troubles, ask your doctor and/or pharmacist for advice.
Methods for administering medication orally:
1. The Airplane
One of the most popular, yet least-effective methods out there, the airplane is just what you think it is: pretending the medicine dispenser is an airplane and flying it around before it "lands" in the child's mouth. This does not work very well for my child, but occasionally it does, so it's worth a try. Play around with it a little. Make sound effects or imitate a pilot. Pretend to almost fly it into the mouth of yourself, another child, a doll, or stuffed animal, and then dramatically say something like, "That's not where it's supposed to go!" Or, "Wrong destination! It's supposed to go here!" as you "fly" it into the correct mouth.
2. Different Mixtures
Sometimes switching up the food that the medicine was mixed into is helpful. We usually do applesauce, baby food, or yogurt, but also tried pudding, milkshakes, and rice krispie treats. We even added some of the powdered medicine into some melted chocolate, which we put into molds to harden up. Liquid medications can also be added to a small amount of juice in a sippy cup. It's a good idea to check with your doctor or pharmacist about mixing medication into something else. Some meditations may change properties when administered in different forms.
3. Hip Hip Hooray! (Or Touchdown!)
This is a fun one that worked for quite a while. It takes two people. One person feeds the medicine. The other person stands behind the child and takes both of their hands. Tap his hands on his hips twice, and then raise his hands as high as they'll go, as you cheerfully say, "Hip Hip Hooray!!!" Once the hands are in the air, the other person feeds the medicine. Be sure to keep his arms close to his head. This way, he can't use his hands to swipe the medicine away, and his arms close to his head keeps him from turning his head away. Playfully saying "Hip Hip Hooray!" makes it into a fun game of sorts. It takes several bites to get all the medicine into my child, so every couple of bites, I'd let go of her hands and give her a break. Eventually, she started putting her hands up in the air by herself, which looked like she was indicating a touchdown. So now when we say, "Touchdown!", she knows to put her hands in the air for her medicine. The "Touchdown" method may be particularly helpful to older toddlers who have an interest in football or sports in general.
4. Dispenser
If you are administering a oral liquid medication with a medicine dropper or syringe, put the tip of the dispenser to the side of the mouth, and toward the back (not all the way back). If you put it straight to the back of the tongue, it'll trigger gag reflex, and if you put it in the front of the mouth, it's really easy for the child to push or spit the medicine out. You can also try different kinds of dispensers, like pacifier dispensers, baby bottle nipple dispensers, or this cute AVA the Elephant dispenser.
5. Cheering!
This is one of the best methods in our house. It worked for a while, then stopped working. But we tried it again later, with more enthusiasm, and it worked again. The key here is encouraging and cheering. Be overly dramatic about it. As you bring the medicine to the toddler, give a pep-talk and act excited. Every single bite gets championship-game-worthy cheering and high-fives. Yes. It is ridiculous. And exhausting. But it works for us. And it makes our Little happy. We do it even if other people are around. Usually other people get into it and join the cheering, as well. Little Sister loves to get high-fives from her Big Sister after every bite, even if she is in another room. Thankfully, Big Sister always obliges and gets just as excited as everyone else when a bite is accomplished.
Also, remember to cheer and applaud even if the medicating ends up being a fight. You may want to be more mellow about it in this case, but anytime a toddler swallows medicine is cause for some encouragement and celebration.
6. Stuffed Animals and Dolls
If plain 'ole cheering doesn't work, this usually does. Bring in a favorite doll or stuffed animal. Pretend to give it medicine. Then cheer and high-five the favorite toy. Have the toddler high-five her toy. Then say that it's her turn, and give medicine to the toddler, followed by cheering and high-fives. The toddler and favorite toy take turns taking the medicine until it's all gone. Again, ridiculous, but I'll feel and look ridiculous if that's what it takes.
And if all else fails...
7. Trickery
You look for any possible time the toddler's mouth is open. Distract with toys. If she opens her mouth in a smile, pop the medicine in. If she's playing with a favorite toy, snatch the toy away. When she opens her mouth in cry or protest, sneak the medicine in. When she opens her mouth in screams of frustration, put some medicine in. Give the child something she likes (it could be an M&M). Hold it at her mouth. Right when she opens his mouth for the M&M, quickly switch it out for the medicine. And then give her the M&M once she swallows the medicine. This is not a fun way to go. But sometimes nothing else works and the child just really needs her medicine. Even with this, you're at the mercy of the child and whether or not she spits it back out.
8. Bribery
It's not the best option, and it won't work with very young toddlers, but once the child understands it, it works. The key is to keep it small; make it more of an incentive than a bribe. The child gets a single chocolate chip or M&M when he takes his medicine. The best is when you can bribe with something healthy. My daughter loves her new vitamins so much, we can use the vitamin as a bribe.
If nothing works, you're not alone. Medication administration has left both my child and me in tears on multiple occasions. Do your best and try, try, try again!
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