My toddler has a throat infection and refuses to eat much or drink her milk. She was prescribed an antibiotic, but the challenge was getting her to take it. I tried the direct approach which led to a full blown tantrum and ultimately, vommitting out the medicine and what little she had eaten that day (this was very painful to watch!).
My mother suggested mixing in the syrup from my tot's favorite jelly. I extracted the red syrup from strawberry jelly, mixed it with the medicine, and finally managed to get my daughter to ingest it with little fuss. Here are some other tips I picked up from friends and other online articles:
(1) Mix with milk - just enough to cover the taste of the medicine. This is the most popular method, but it didn't work for me because my toddler is refusing milk due to her sore throat.
(2) Have the child lick ice or drink cold water first. This supposedly numbs the taste buds - I didn't try this since I thought it might make my daughter's sore throat all the more worse.
(3) Find a better tasting alternative. You can ask your pediatrician, or the staff at the drugstores (you'll be amazed at some of their insights). I used to have a hard time giving my daughter medicine for fever, until we discovered Calpol - it's very tasty and my tot refers to it as "strawberry candy".
(4) As a last resort, an IV may be best if the child is no longer eating or drinking. Pediatrician should be consulted first.
* Note that it is always best to consult your pediatrician for possible alternatives to the medicine and before attempting to mix medicine with certain foods/liquid.
* Having trouble measuring the liquid through a dropper (this is especially true of some really thick paracetamols)? Try a syringe. Just remove the needle and you'll have a dropper that gives you a better chance of getting the right amount of medicine prescribed.
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