how do you teach a child to swallow a pill?

[ProudGrandma]

any ideas or advice?

[blondeviolin]

We started with making it a game of swallowing tic tacs or even half of one.

[Melissa B]

We practiced first with M&Ms.

[frugalmama]

No idea, as I never learned. I can say though that if your child persists in not being able to swallow a pill, it can be a sign of an internal goiter.

[mom2bee]

Can the pill be dissolved in a small amount of liquid and drank?

 

I never had any problem swallowing a pill so I don't know from experience but I think I might get a fruit flavored tictac first and have them practice with that...

[Plink]

Yup... Start with Tic Tacs. Have your child put it as far back on their tongue as they possibly can and then give them a big glass of water to swallow. Works every time.

 

If they say that they can't swallow it, they aren't putting it far back enough.

[Desert Rat]

My youngest sometimes fills his mouth with water first, tilts his head back and puts the pill in, swallowing all of it together. He also just dry swallows.

My boys have been able to swallow pills since maybe 3-4. We started with m&m's.

[KrissiK]

uh, probably not the way I did. Just about drowned the poor kid. "Put on the back your tongue. Now take a drink! NO! NO! NO! Close your mouth. Close your mouth. OK, take another drink. Close your mouth! Where's that stupid pill?"

 

It was a bad experience! However, he can swallow a pill now. No thanks to me!:001_smile:

[Jen500]

Practice with tic tacs and a bottle of water. Chug the bottle of water as if you were drink half of it.

[Tess in the Burbs]

My son just learned. A spoonful of applesauce worked best. Then he tried with juice and in days could do it with just water.

[Jane in NC]

Place pill in mouth. Drink water through a straw to help swallow the pill.

 

This was the method recommended to my father in law after he had a stroke. It worked beautifully for my son.

[Dory]

I don't ever remember learning (and we haven't had to deal with it with my kids yet), but my little sister had a horrible time learning. She had a very sensitive gag reflex. We finally made it a competition trying to swallow cooked peas whole. They were soft and mushy enough that she was able to do that. Then we upped it to frozen peas (tic tacs were too strong she said). Then she could finally swallow small pills.

[In the Rain]

We also started with tic tacs. Once they swallowed it whole, they were given one to chew. I think they were about 3 or 4 at the time.

 

I have seen something at the pharmacy called Pill Glide. The pharmacy tech said people find it helpful.

[Mommy22alyns]

I taught Rebecca with tic-tacs. She caught on really quickly.

[datgh]

I tried to teach my son using tic tacs too. He was game to give it a try. He was so excited when he finally did it or so we thought. The darn tic tac was wedged into the pallet expander he had on his upper teeth at the time.

[Spryte]

If the tic tags and water don't work, trying dipping them in chocolate pudding (or whatever might excite your kiddo). It makes them slippery. Our doc suggested that, and when DS got the hang of it, he wanted to call her and tell her because he was so excited.

[Farrar]

Berate them until they do it.:glare:

 

I did try the other methods, but um, nothing doing. And eventually dh and I found ourselves facing a teary 7 yo who wouldn't take a malaria pill that he really had to take. And we forced him to do it with a lot of yelling, coaxing, threatening, and a firm hold. I'm a bit embarrassed about it because it was definitely a low point in parenting (not to mention our trip to Africa). But, like I said, we tried to do it the nice way beforehand. But once he'd done it once, it was fine and we didn't have a single issue with it and seemingly no scars. He swallows pills like a champ now.

[Mommyof4ks]

We used baby M&Ms, and my then three year old learned in just a few days.

[Mandylubug]

I told them to "toss it back there, take a sip of water and swallow" then finish drinking the glass of water and they were done. Has worked teaching all four of my babes :)

[EducationX2]

I've heard about a cup with a rim around the edge that you put the pill on, then you can just take a long drink and the pill is supposed to slide right down.

 

I really don't know. My 6.5 year old doesn't take pills. To be completely honest, I still have really hard time taking pills, and I take 8-10 pills a day. :tongue_smilie:

[ocelotmom]

My son just learned. A spoonful of applesauce worked best. Then he tried with juice and in days could do it with just water.

 

:iagree:

 

Or pudding, yogurt, or anything else similar that can be swallowed without chewing.

 

(You know, none of my kids has actually taken a pill that I can recall. But this works well at work.)

[Momofeat]

My ds swallowed his first pill today!

 

I can't really say that we used a special technique, and it wasn't a do-or-die situation, so maybe the relaxed atmosphere helped. We believe he's lactose intolerant, but I forgot his chewable pills today, and we went out to eat for Father's Day. We stopped by Wal-Mart & accidentally bought the wrong pills. Since we were planning to let him have his first cheese quesadilla in several months, he was extremely motivated, lol! He just popped it in his mouth and took several swallows of water--no problem.

[mom2abcd]

http://www.amazon.com/Maxi-Aids-The-Pill-Takers-Cup/dp/B003E6QLYQ/ref=pd_sim_hg_2

[KungFuPanda]

My child's neurologist: "You can teach a dog to swallow a pill and your child is smarter than a dog." :lol:

[freerange]

Drinking through a straw or using a tongue depressor sometimes helps.

[kolamum]

With LOTS of patience.

I have one who can, but doesn't always enjoy it.

Another who's older & can't.

Yet another who takes so long to do it I wanna jump up & down & scream while he's attempting it.

 

If I'm desperate I can take one without fluids, so I tend to be a bit impatient in this area, unfortunately. :(

[EducationX2]

My child's neurologist: "You can teach a dog to swallow a pill and your child is smarter than a dog." :lol:

 

:lol: Sometimes I'm not so sure.......

 

Kidding!!!!

But how do you teach a dog to swallow a pill anyway? No matter what I try and hide it in, my dog will eat everything AROUND the pill, and spit the pill right back out at me. It takes forever to get her to take a pill.

[chickenpatty]

My Mil taught my 8yr old how to swallow a pill by offering him a handful of m&m's afterwards. He got it down on the first try! :D

[hollyh]

I can barely do it myself. It has to be small. I usually gag on it or get it stuck in my throat all the way down. My dad could take full handfuls at a time... I don't get it. Frustrates me like crazy.

[amydavis]

My child's neurologist: "You can teach a dog to swallow a pill and your child is smarter than a dog." :lol:

 

It must be something about people in the medical field! My mom is an RN, and when I declared (as a child) that I couldn't take a pill, she simply told me that was nonsense, that the pill was indeed smaller than most food after being chewed, and that if I could swallow a piece of chewed meat, I could certainly swallow the pill...and so I did. :tongue_smilie: She had no time for tic tacs, LOL. Luckily I just went with her appeal to my logical side. :D

[DianeW88]

It must be something about people in the medical field! My mom is an RN, and when I declared (as a child) that I couldn't take a pill, she simply told me that was nonsense, that the pill was indeed smaller than most food after being chewed, and that if I could swallow a piece of chewed meat, I could certainly swallow the pill...and so I did. :tongue_smilie: She had no time for tic tacs, LOL. Luckily I just went with her appeal to my logical side. :D

 

I resemble that remark. :lol: It is all psychological. You DO regularly swallow much larger pieces of food. All my kids swallowed pills by age 3. Don't let it go much beyond that....then they get it in their heads that they can't, and there are some medications that are only available in pill form. It's a necessity.

[LittleIzumi]

I have trouble swallowing big pills myself, so my favorite trick (that one dd uses as well) is to put a tiny dab of something edible on it, like a tiny dot of a nut butter/Nutella/Biscoff, and put that side down on my tongue and swallow. My "mmm food" reflex takes over my "blech, pills" reflex.

[amydavis]

I resemble that remark. :lol: It is all psychological. You DO regularly swallow much larger pieces of food. All my kids swallowed pills by age 3. Don't let it go much beyond that....then they get it in their heads that they can't, and there are some medications that are only available in pill form. It's a necessity.

 

:iagree:

 

Well, even though I didn't go into nursing, as she had hoped, I do follow in her footsteps! I've found myself spurting out all sorts of her "mom-isms," and the pill vs. food reference is definitely one of them!

 

She was head nurse of the ER growing up, so she's also one to quickly put blood loss in perspective, LOL. Anytime I've had an injury, even as an adult, and the blood just seems like so much when you're dabbing away with a paper towel...I call mom. And she says, "How much blood, Amy?" And I say, "a lot." To which she replies, "You're seeing it on a towel...how much would it be if you poured it into something?" :001_huh: ROFL, that one always stops me in my tracks...and I'm like, "I dunno..." She asks, "A quarter of a cup?" And, I respond, "NO!" By the time I'm comparing my poor paper towel to the teaspoons and other misc. small measurers, I feel a little calmer. Kind of puts things in perspective...:tongue_smilie:

[EmmaNadine]

We tried several different methods to get our son to take a pill since he has one every morning, and what we found is that putting it in a spoonful of yogurt, Danonino works best because it is thickest, was the easiest way to get him to take it.

[2boysmom]

Put the pill in a very very small banana slice and swallowed it whole.:chillpill:

[kewb]

My youngest sometimes fills his mouth with water first, tilts his head back and puts the pill in, swallowing all of it together.

 

This is what my son does. I don't know where he picked that trick up but it works for him.

 

I just give them pills in a spoonful of applesauce. They will both take with water if necessary but they prefer the applesauce. This was cemented for them when my mother showed them that she takes her pills that way.