How to get a child to take medicine

How Mary Poppins sings: "A spoonful of sugar will help the medicine pass."As a finishing touch, add more creative marketing. You resort to such tricks.

Choose a medicine to your liking.

The same medicine can be produced in different forms, with different tastes. Take into account your child's preferences. Medicines intended for both children and adults may have a sharper taste.

Try to make a magical paste. Most children under one year prefer a liquid form, but if your child spits out the medicine all the time, ask the doctor if this medicine is not available in the form of chewable tablets. Squash the tablet between two spoons and add one or two drops of water to make a thick paste. Apply the paste a little( at the tip of the finger) on the inside of the child's cheek, and he will swallow it without resistance. The taste of chewable tablets is usually more pleasant. This applies even to acetaminophen.

Make a pocket for your cheek. This

is the secret of our family, which we use to give medicine to inveterate spitchers( before you start this procedure, put a medicine on hand and put it in the pipette): put the child's head in the elbow of his arm. With the same hand, grasp the child's cheek and pull the corner of the mouth with the middle or index finger so that a pocket is formed behind the cheek. With the other hand, bury the medicine in this pocket, little by little. So you will be able to keep the child's mouth open, and his head is fixed. What is most remarkable, the fact that you hold the child's cheek with your finger does not allow him to spit out the medicine. Keep the cheek in this position until all the medicine has been swallowed. Need is the mother of ingenuity, or, in this case, the father. I discovered this technique when Marta, the queen of a spoon and a pipette in our house, left me alone with Stefan's eighteen-month-old when he needed to give medicine.

Use the art of disguise. You can hide the crushed tablet in a sandwich: mix it with jam, put peanut butter on top. Or mask it with a little milk,

The "pocket behind the cheek" technique does not allow the child to spit out the medicine.

infant formula or juice. Make the medicine as tasty as possible, but do not think that the medicine is sweet.

Try spoons, pipettes and other medical aids.

A small plastic medical measuring spoon is more convenient than a regular teaspoon. To make the spoon come out clean, slide it on the inside of the upper lip of the baby when you remove it from the mouth. A pipette with a scale, inserted laterally into the baby's mouth between the cheek and gum, is a proven remedy. Bury a few drops at a time between the swallowing movements of the child. Some children take better medicines from a small plastic cup, which can also be used to collect and give again what it drains.

Target with the mind. Try to avoid sensitive areas of the mouth. The taste buds are concentrated on the front and the central part of the tongue. The palate and back of the tongue are areas that include a gag reflex. It is best to make a pocket between the cheek and gum and bury the medicine deep into the mouth.