One of the hardest things about giving medicine to small children is getting it all down. Don’t try putting it into a bottle or a glass of juice. You won’t know how much a child has taken if all the liquid is not drunk.
⢠You can use an eye dropper or vitamin dropper, or even a syringe which you can buy at a drug store for such purposes. Squirting it into the side of the mouth then, is really quite easy to do.
⢠Or you could also get a hollow graduated medicine spoon from your drug store for a child who will drink from a spoon.
⢠For a pill, butter it lightly or coat it with salad oil, and it will go down pretty easily. Or bury it in a spoonful of applesauce. Or you can even press a pill between two spoons to crush it, then mix it with applesauce or jam. Serve it by spoon with a “chaser” of water or juice.
⢠If the medicine is going to taste badly, why not rub an ice cube over your child’s tongue to kill the taste buds before and after giving the medicine.
⢠If a child absolutely refuses medicine with clamped jaws, gently squeeze his or her nostrils shut. Trust me,the mouth will open very quickly.
Vicki Lansky’s practical, common sense approach to parenting is familiar to millions throughout the world. Vicki’s first book, Feed Me, I’m Yours, published in 1974, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country, was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her other titles include: Toilet Training, Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8, Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep … and Back to Sleep, Trouble-free Travel with Children, Baby Proofing Basics and Games Babies Play From Birth to Twelve Months, Koko Bear’s New Potty, A New Baby at Koko Bear’s House, Koko Bear and the New Babysitter, and Koko Bear’s Big Earache. Vicki Lansky’s Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath