Jeni's just asked about this on the comments bit and it is interesting as it may be the first time that some of us ever used a spoon - it was in our case. Babybear hated being given medicine, and always made a grab for the spoon, thus flinging the sticky pink contents all over the carpet, curtains and walls. (Do I sound bitter? Let's just say that the colour was just one of the reasons that I switched from Calpol to the blessedly clear Medised.)
I've found, through trial and error, that the best place to give her medicine is in the bath. Not great for antibiotics, granted, but for painkillers before bed it's not a bad place to start. It's less stressful as you don't care about spillage and I wonder if that transmits to the baby somehow?
Also, Babybear definitely prefers the deeper spoons (I can't remember what they came with, sorry) rather than the standard issue shallow graduated ones. And if I try to give it to her directly I get nowhere as she prefers to lean forward (while playing with Mr Ducky and pals) and schlurp it from the side of the spoon. It takes a few goes and she's had the lot. So that's as far as I've got, any other ideas gratefully received. Especially if you have worked out a way to get eye drops into them...
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Administering medicine to a BLW baby?
Comments
Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
carrie
on Sat 24 Mar 2007 14:16 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
Mini syringe is definitely the way to go for us - less risk of spillage, easy to administer a little at a time...saves all the faff with a spoon.
Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
vanillapickle
on Sat 24 Mar 2007 20:13 GMT | Permanent Link
Sneak up will said child is engrossed in a bit of CBeebies, get down to their level and slowly put syringe to their mouth.......works for us. Otherwise we have to resort to letting the Pickle scream in her cot and squirt the medicine in whilst her mouth is open (not nice).
I like the bath idea - will try that next time. Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
CSWS
on Sat 24 Mar 2007 21:23 GMT | Permanent Link
We go the syringe route - have one of those 'baby-dose' ones from the NCT. Dd has refused it point blank and we've had to pin her down for months, but the last 4 or 5 times we've tried to give her something in it, she's taken it quite happily, so hoping we've somehow made a breakthrough.
We used to have to give her gaviscon this way at least 3 times a day - that was such fun (not!), although for a few weeks she did actually open her mouth and wait for it to arrive. Thankfully she's grown out of her reflux now. Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
Alison
on Sat 24 Mar 2007 23:09 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
Use a syringe - definitely the easier way to go. If you get your baby lying across your lap (as though they were going to have a feed) you can then pin one arm underneath yours and you only have to do battle with one little hand!! Also, for little ones if you put the medicine in and then blow hard directly into their face they have a reflex to swallow - brilliant eh? If they are really difficult with medicine you caould always ask your doctor/ pharmacist for a more concentrated version of the medicine (ie Calpol 6+) and adjust the dose down accordingly. For example we give LittleE 2mls of 6+Calpol which is much better than trying to persade her to drink a whole 5 mls!!
Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
Jeni
on Sat 24 Mar 2007 23:30 GMT | Profile | Permanent Link
hadnt thought of that Alison, do you think they could do that with antibiotics??? we are at the moment doing the holding down, squirting in when mouth is open to scream way. i hate it but its the only way to get these anti-b's down him. takes both me and dp to do it as well. im sure my other 2 werent this difficult lol.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
i'd forgotten about the syringes, to be honest... we used one once when she was younger and she went crazy and kept pushing the syringe out with her tongue. i might give it a try with these damned vitamins, that way she can have two associations so she'll keep taking her medised off a spoon. cheers!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
cloviscat
on Sun 25 Mar 2007 11:30 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Aitch - were you putting the syringe into the middle of her mouth, as if it were a teat? You may find you get on better a bit by putting in in her 'cheek pouch' - less intrusive, less likely to make her gag on the syringe or on the medicine itself as it goes down...?
(Mind you - those oncy-poncy syringes from NCTSales are big fat things that are as wide as teats - I've only got the bog-standard 50p jobbies supplied by the locaL pharmacist - much thinner) Your comment on Calpol mess reminded me of a time with DD1 (Fruit): very familiar with the routine by then, I shoved the bung into the Calpol bottle, shoved the syringe into the bung, upended the bottle, and out popped the bung: sticky pink Calpol all over Fruit's cream bedroom rug! Stains are still there to this day! Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
nah, i was geekily following the instructions to gently squeeze etc into the side of her mouth. dd has an exceptionally long and mobile tongue i fear, and just set her mouth against the syringe and sent the medicine down her face. i will try it again, though, it was ages ago. have you tried medised? loads of additives (not unlike Calpol) but it has an antihistamine so knocks them out!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
Jeni
on Sun 25 Mar 2007 13:06 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
its scary how much medicine stains. we have dayglo yellow spots on our cream rug in the living room from josh's first lot of antibiotics. we had only had the rug for about a month then.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
CSWS
on Sun 25 Mar 2007 22:21 BST | Permanent Link
Not sure whether to be flattered or offended that we have an 'oncy-poncy' syringe! [grin]
It is supposed to replicate breast feeding as far as possible, as the medicine jets up onto the roof of their mouth so gets mixed with saliva and then swallowed just like milk. Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
Alison
on Sun 25 Mar 2007 18:19 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Yes - you should be able to ask the doctor or pharmacist for the higher concentration of antibiotics so effectively you give approx half the amount. Lots of childrens medicines come in 2 different concentrations for different age children and there isn't really any reason why you can't have the stronger concentration as long as the pharmacist tells you the correct amount to give (which of course they should do routinely!!). Sometimes it is a bit of battle with the 'health professionals' to convince them you are not going to overdose your child though! Good luck xx
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
JennT
on Sun 25 Mar 2007 20:32 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi there. I am a pharmacist and unless the Dr writes the prescription for the higher strength then sorry you get what is written on the script. As for the paracetamol, unless there are directions written on the packet for a younger child on the higher strength, then they are treading on dangerous ground......It is the litigious society that we live in that makes us wary I'm afraid.
As for colours, sweeteners and preservatives, children's medicines are DISGRACEFUL. Even the antibiotics come in a dlsgusting array of radioactive looking colours. I'm not sure there is MUCH to defend colouring medicines. The sweeteners I'm not so keen on, but nobody (?) doses their children up without need. Personally would rather give sugar than a sweetener on the rare occasion I have to give a dose of medicine as most of the sweeteners are laxatives at higher doses and some have even been linked to nasty stuff (but don't quote me on that as I couldn't give you a paper to prove it). Preservatives are necessary so you can keep your bottle of paracetamol on the shelf for longer than the week it would survive without the preservative. Anyway witterings over. Hope this helps. Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
oooooh, look everyone, we've got a real live pharmacist on the blog! you may live to regret admitting that, JennT...
that's really interesting about the differnt strengths, i'd never heard of that. and medised (my saviour) is about the most disgusting of them all, colourings and preservatives-wise but i remain fiercely loyal. i'm with you on the sugar, though, so the one time i bought Calpol i got the sugary one. Much to the woman in Boots' surprise. Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
Alison
on Mon 26 Mar 2007 21:05 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Hi
Sorry - I didn't make it clear in my previous post that obviously the doctor would have to write the prescription to the right concentration, but it is definitely worth asking!! However my local pharmacist has been ok with giving me the 6+ Calpol ( and I don't think he know I am a nurse, although I am not sure it would make any difference if he did). Re: Administering medicine to a BLW baby
by
Thell
on Mon 26 Mar 2007 11:36 BST | Profile | Permanent Link
RE: Eyes.
When I suspected Angelcake might have been developing conjunctivitis, a nanny friend suggested I administer the cream whilst Angelcake slept. Didn't get to try it though. And not sure if it would work with drops. PS: You know recently there was some kind of survey of children's medicines, and it was revealed not only that most were rubbish for additives, but most included additives that are banned from children's food? On the news they mentioned that one was much better than the others, but wouldn't say which one!! Does anyone know what it was? I'll see if I can find out. Trackbacks
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