As a mom of a child that drank an entire bottle of pink medicine....

[Mandylubug]

these kinds of medications disturb me. A new cough syrup line marketing real chocolate taste to kids.  http://drcocoa.com/

 

My daughter at age 4, while I was using the restroom, climbing on our sofa, onto the counter tops, walked across to the stove vent, pulled out a plastic box of meds, and successfully opened a childproof cap of pink benadryl. We spent 3 days in the hospital due to that incident. If she had picked the orange motrin, she would have had severe consequences and would have been on the organ transplant list.

 

I don't know what the answer is to all of it. It just disturbs me that the packages are so pretty and they market to the child talking about how good these taste. They never warn of the potential hazards to the kids themselves. I am also not stating that a 4 year old could heed a warning either.

 

It just brings back memories and scares me.

[maize]

I think medications should be sold with no added color or flavor. Pharmacies could sale syrups designed to mix into medications before administration for those who want them.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Locked medicine cabinet of some sort I guess.

 

That said I've tried some of these flavored meds and I cannot fathom why anyone would like the taste enough to drink it down.  I had all I could do to get one kid to take one of those bubblegum flavored antibiotics.  The stuff smells like spoiled milk too. 

 

Might be me though.  I can't stand the flavored meds and never could. 

[Mandylubug]

Yes, locked cabinet is the best idea. Instead, we opted to not store meds in the house. Once illness was over, it was discarded. I purchased the smallest amount of meds as possible and bought twice if need be. We just cleared our house of them they scared me so.

[Slache]

Yes. I knew a little boy that ate an entire bottle of gummy vitamins that were not locked up because they were supposed to be in the fridge. He's fine.

 

 

ALSO, I've called Target twice to complain that my 2 year old (at the time) could open their prescriptions, as could his 3 year old cousin. They filed a report. Nothing has changed.

[Guest]

As the mom of a sensory kid who WILL NOT take most meds, I'm thrilled to see something that might make it possible for the poor dude to get some relief.

[Slache]

Did the gummies have a child proof lid?

 

There was an episode of Selfie in which they sorta addressed this. In the episode they decided to keep their chewable medicine (which is sorta like the Flintstone's chewables) vs. switching to gummies, etc. for fear that making them too desireable would lead to children accidentally overdosing. They cited information about how often poison control is called but I don't know if those were real figures used in the show.

 

 

I don't know. It was when they first came out.

[Farrar]

I think medications should be sold with no added color or flavor. Pharmacies could sale syrups designed to mix into medications before administration for those who want them.

 

The problem is that for many medications, the flavors must be mixed in earlier in the process in order to change the taste.

 

As the parent of two kids who had to be physically restrained as young children to get them to ever take any medication, you're not going to sell me personally on not flavoring this stuff. I one time ended up in a screaming match with the pharmacy people over remixing and reordering antibiotics for my kids because they had twice not bothered to flavor it. It's hard enough to convince a sick four year old to take medication, but when they haven't bothered to flavor it... Ugh. Honestly, I wish pharmacies were much better about adding more flavoring and never tried to give children medicine without flavorings. I'm pretty sure the reason that my kids came to dislike medicine so much was that they were given unflavored medication as toddlers because I didn't know that you have to yell at the pharmacy people and triple check that they're adding it (I had that experience at MULTIPLE pharmacies). Thus began the 5 years of h-e-hockey sticks whenever my kids had to take medicine. Thank goodness they learned to swallow pills around at 8.

 

If there's a concern about overuse, then stick it behind the counter like they do with all the stuff you can make into meth and require the clerk to say a spiel about how it's medicine to be used sparingly, not candy, despite the flavoring. Or regulate the ads better so they don't target kids. Or both.

[blondeviolin]

My littlest guy has had pneumonia a few times and he is a right little pill to get him to take his medicine.

 

I sort of feel like, when they're at the age where you can't reason or bribe with them, you can hold them down and it's miserable, but you're bigger. And when they get too big to hold down and force it in, they get to the point where you can sort of reason with them or bribe them.

 

At the very worst, mix your meds with chocolate syrup. But I don't think we need to market meds as yummy to kids. I am pro flavoring medication enough that it may mask or take away a nasty flavor. But it doesn't need to be like popping M&Ms.

[Catwoman]

Rather than being upset about children's medicines being marketed as good-tasting, I think it is far more important to be concerned that parents be diligent about keeping medications of all kinds out of the reach of children.

 

Taste -- and a child's anticipation that the medicine will taste good -- can be so important when you are the mom of a little one who is ill and needs to take that medicine. There are few things more upsetting for a mom as when a child refuses to take necessary medication because he doesn't like the way it tastes.

[LMV]

these kinds of medications disturb me. A new cough syrup line marketing real chocolate taste to kids.  http://drcocoa.com/

 

My daughter at age 4, while I was using the restroom, climbing on our sofa, onto the counter tops, walked across to the stove vent, pulled out a plastic box of meds, and successfully opened a childproof cap of pink benadryl. We spent 3 days in the hospital due to that incident. If she had picked the orange motrin, she would have had severe consequences and would have been on the organ transplant list.

 

I don't know what the answer is to all of it. It just disturbs me that the packages are so pretty and they market to the child talking about how good these taste. They never warn of the potential hazards to the kids themselves. I am also not stating that a 4 year old could heed a warning either.

 

It just brings back memories and scares me.

 

I recommend that parents keep all medications locked and avoid over the counter medications in children under six, however, the largest danger in most medicine cabinets is not the orange motrin but the red liquid tylenol.  That is the one that if not identified quickly and treated can result in liver failure and need for transplant.  

 

**Please don't think I'm nitpicking your post, but I still see a lot of kids who get into trouble with Acetaminophen and I get the sense that many parents have the misconception that it is safer than Ibuprofen based products.  This is not the case.

[Farrar]

Rather than being upset about children's medicines being marketed as good-tasting, I think it is far more important to be concerned that parents be diligent about keeping medications of all kinds out of the reach of children.

 

ITA. And also to make sure parents know to follow labels and not dispense meds like candy or in hope of a placebo effect. Which is not to say that accidents don't happen. My favorite thing about poison control is how non-judgmental they are.

[EKS]

Rather than being upset about children's medicines being marketed as good-tasting, I think it is far more important to be concerned that parents be diligent about keeping medications of all kinds out of the reach of children.

This.

 

I think it is also important to say *every single time* you give a flavored medicine, particularly if the child likes it, that you only take medicines when Mom and Dad gives them to you and never at any other time.

[sewingmama]

Personally I think even with the flavoured medicine tastes disgusting. I have a real time of it getting my kids to take anything. I can't think of one medicine my kids have ever been tempted to want more of aside from gummie vitamins.

 

Chocolate flavoured would be awesome as every other flavour tastes downright nasty. So far the only flavour my kids will take without a fight is banana flavoured Advil ( ibuprofen) and the chalky antibiotics.

 

Holding my kids down and forcing it was never a good option as I had two that would spit it straight out and one that would vomit.

[Mrs Mungo]

There are many meds that most adults couldn't take without it being flavored because they are so bitter. Your body wants to reject them because bitter in nature generally means poisonous. As a mom to a kid with a health problem who has been on LOTS of different meds, I really don't think you understand that some kids DO take certain meds daily. Having to get a kid to take a daily maintenance medicine is a lot different than needing to give a kid meds every once in a while. Believe me, it's worth the flavoring. I think it's less cut and dry than people who don't deal with it daily or with a variety of meds would like to think.

 

I do *not* understand why more parents of young kid don't keep meds in a high cabinet with a lock on it. If something needs to be kept in the fridge, there are options for that too: http://www.yourstoreonline.net/fridge_safe_box_locker/id2709887/product.html?affiliate=&scomp=gshopping&gclid=cpye3-rn-secfcacfgodujiasa

 

I do agree that there should be more public health information out there about not giving kids meds unless necessary, that there are risks to most meds. You shouldn't give a kid benadryl every night because you can't get them to sleep easily. You also shouldn't give your kid tylenol for a fever, then take them to soccer practice.

 

I do agree that it's important to emphasize to young kids that only adults can give you medicine-mom and dad, doctors and nurses and/or whomever you allow, but that kids can't take it on their own *OR* give medicine to other kids.

 

I will add that my grandma used to rub vanilla on boo boos to make kids feel better, distract them, make them feel like you are doing something, etc. I know other people do ice packs, cold damp washclothes on the forehead, etc. Those are the sorts of things you can do instead of giving meds when it comes to a kid needing to feel like you are doing something for them.

[SKL]

For me, telling my kids why they mustn't take meds unless Mom adminstered them was the only way.  My kids would figure out how to get stuff if they were determined enough.  High or low, it didn't matter.

 

I never locked a cabinet, and my kids never ate or drank something dangerous.

[Mrs Mungo]

For me, telling my kids why they mustn't take meds unless Mom adminstered them was the only way.  My kids would figure out how to get stuff if they were determined enough.  High or low, it didn't matter.

 

I never locked a cabinet, and my kids never ate or drank something dangerous.

Which is totally irrelevant when extrapolated out to the general population as evidenced by the OP. Some kids certainly will get into unlocked cabinets and eat (or drink) meds. It happens every day. That's why poison control exists. I don't see how locking a cabinet is an unreasonable expectation. It seems like an extremely mild precaution.

[Spryte]

This.

 

i think it is also important to say *every single time* you give a flavored medicine, particularly if the child likes it, that you only take medicines when Mom and Dad gives them to you and never at any other time.

 

Yes, this is so important.  Talk about it every time.

 

Our toddler sees her older brother get meds twice a day, and she sees me take meds daily as well.  We talk about never touching another person's medicine, and what to do if she finds a dropped pill someplace (I worry about this in hotels a lot).  She has that down (at least verbally), but I worry about those tasty liquid meds, and the beloved yummy vitamins.  

 

IKEA makes a great, basic, locking medicine cabinet.  We have one hanging in our pantry, and in our bedroom closet. We've also found some great locking medicine containers that bolt into the medicine cabinet above a bathroom sink - those were either at Lowe's or Home Depot.  

 

Like others though, I am in favor of flavored meds - getting my kids to take meds is a battle, and the flavor helps.  Like a PP, I think it might have been extra bad for DS, as he received a regular med as a baby/toddler that the pharmacy didn't flavor.  I didn't know it *could* be flavored, and I think it set him up to hate all meds. The day he learned to take a pill was a good one, here.  

[gardenmom5]

I remember when medicine really did taste absolutely gross - and there was no option. It made me gag.  I'd even lie to my mother that I wasn't sick, so i wouldn't have to take it. I'm glad there are flavored meds for kids.  dudeling (aspie) will only take a few flavors; generics don't taste right to him, and he won't take them at all; after tylenol removed the red dye - I had to put it back in because he wouldn't take it.

 

the answer is to keep it out of reach - that may not be convenient for you, but that's kinda the point.   when my kids were litte, they were on a closet shelf with a child proof cover.  back in the 70's there was a real push for mr. yuk stickers to teach kids those are things from which they must stay away. you can get the stickers and put them on poisonous stuff.

 

I also had the major lecture with one who did down most of a bottle of child's acetiminophen chewables when she was 2 1/2.  (poison control said "she'll get hyper, then fall asleep.  should be fine when she wakes up."  and she was.)  after mommy's lecture, she wouldn't even take chewables when she was sick and I was giving them to her.  I finally had to give her the lecture of "I can't keep giving you liquid, you have to swallow this pill!!!!".  I think she was 11.

[gardenmom5]

 

 

My daughter at age 4, while I was using the restroom, climbing on our sofa, onto the counter tops, walked across to the stove vent, pulled out a plastic box of meds, and successfully opened a childproof cap of pink benadryl. We spent 3 days in the hospital due to that incident. If she had picked the orange motrin, she would have had severe consequences and would have been on the organ transplant list.

 

keeping them out of the reach of kids behind a locked door.  kids climb.  all. the. time.  they move chairs and stools.  all. the. time.

 

we have friends who left the oldest's daily medication in a convenient place.  after all, oldest understood everything, well the baby didn't.  fortunately, one of the other kids saw the baby eat it so they were able to get her to a hospital before she became symptomatic.  she spent three days in ICU being fed charcol to absorb it.

[Kerileanne99]

As a mom of a young child I was absolutely petrified that my kid would get ahold of my medicines...powerful narcotics and muscle relaxants included. We have a locked cabinet, and a box for the fridge. We have discussed it to the death with her:)

 

But by far the most effective: when she was about 18 mo old we started 'training.' If she finds anything that remotely looks like a pill or medicine and brings it to me, I exchange it for an m&m. We practiced. I would put down a pill on the floor (obviously not a dangerous one!) within eyesight and wait for her to find it. Huge praise, discussion of why, etc...Once she brought me a new bottle of Tylenol from the counter 1 minute from when I unpacked the groceries, lol...okay, here is your candy:)

 

This paid off hugely last year. We had someone come and fix our dishwasher, and apparently he dropped a nitroglycerin tablet on our kitchen floor! Guess who found it? I was furious that t could happen, despite all of our personal precautions...but it goes to show that the best precautions come from training the kids themselves...and locking up. No one can plan for every situation:(

[regentrude]

For me, telling my kids why they mustn't take meds unless Mom adminstered them was the only way.  My kids would figure out how to get stuff if they were determined enough.  High or low, it didn't matter.

 

I never locked a cabinet, and my kids never ate or drank something dangerous.

 

yeah, because explaining the "why" and relying on it works really well with toddlers.

 

Sarcasm off.

You were very lucky.

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm really dumbfounded that anyone would argue against people in general locking a cabinet with meds. But, I would bet I have a LOT more meds in my house than you, and that they are more dangerous. I have meds that would easily kill a kid. If you just have vitamins, then I can see why YOU might be relaxed about it, but I still don't see why you'd argue against the need in general. You don't know what other people have in their homes.

[gardenmom5]

and then there's going to great-grandma's house with all sorts of meds just laying around on living room tables - because it's more convenient for them than putting them in a cupboard!

[SweetIrony]

You guys are scaring me... Thanks (sincerely) now I'm going to go move some meds. O_O

[Loowit]

Little guys are so good at climbing and getting into things we never thought that they can reach, that I never thought that putting it up was really a option.  We used to have a locked cabinet to keep the medications in, as the kids have gotten older we stopped using it. My DS who is 9 is on several regular medications that we keep in a drawer for him so he can take them himself.

 

I would like to see dyes removed from meds as there are so many medications my DS can't take due to a Red 40 allergy.  However, flavoring can be important to getting a lot of kids to take a medication.  I am so glad that my kids are getting old enough that they can start taking pills instead of the yucky liquid meds.

[Mandylubug]

I suppose I don't have an issue with just the flavoring but moreso the cutesy marketing to kids on the bottles. I agree a locked cabinet is ideal. I learned that lesson the hard way.

[kbutton]

It isn't an either/or with locking and training. People who depend solely upon training and misjudge can find out they were mistaken. People who depend solely on locked cabinets and have a visitor drop a pill are in trouble too. 

 

Depending on where you live, finding a locking cabinet is pretty darn hard. I think it's better than when my kids were little, but I just don't see that kind of stuff in stores. One would think that you'd easily find locked cabinets in a pharmacy if it's so important. (Yes, internet is an option.)

 

And then there are the kids who see safety devices as strange and confusing--my older child could not understand why anyone would put anything in an electrical outlet when everyone knows plugs go in there...so, he would find a metal object with which to pry the safety plugs out of the socket (yes, there are other ways to do it now, but when he was little, there were fewer options). 

 

As for "if you only have vitamins in your house...," I"m pretty sure one of the leading causes of accidental poisoning is iron in vitamins. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Lock box.  There are a lot of options out there.  

[Mandylubug]

You guys are scaring me... Thanks (sincerely) now I'm going to go move some meds. O_O

If my post urged you to move meds and make your home more safe, then great! I am glad you read! When I was in the hospital, struggling with a hallucinating four year old, I wished I had been more careful. It was scary and I felt like I had failed as a mom.

[Tsuga]

Oh dear, I'm so sorry. You weren't a failure. I now see that our medications are also not secure enough. I appreciate your posting about this.

 

That said, my thought when I saw the link was, "Oh man that would be great." My kids hate medicine.

[Jean in Newcastle]

:grouphug: Mandy I felt so guilty too when my toddler climbed up onto a high counter, got a locked cabinet door open (with one of those plastic locking childproof things, not a key), got the childproof cap open and downed an entire bottle of Robutussin.   He slept for over a day.  Of course this was the day that Gma and Gpa came on the airplane and wondered why I was such a bad mommy. . . .  

[Guest]

and then there's going to great-grandma's house with all sorts of meds just laying around on living room tables - because it's more convenient for them than putting them in a cupboard!

True story. My inlaws were visiting. They take massive amounts of medicine. My toddler got super sick while they were visiting. My mil said "you don't think he could have gotten into our medicine, do you?" He hadn't but it scared the crap out of me. All their pills were in those cheap travel boxes, in their open suitcase on the floor. He could have very easily gotten into them!! So, be very careful with house guests and medicine!

[Paige]

My DD ate an entire unopened box of chocolate exlax while visiting her grandmother when she was 3. Grandmother thinks that she must have done it in less than 5min because they left the house shortly after I left. Luckily, DD was fine, but chocolate and candy flavored medicines scare me. Dr Cocoa sounds crazy! At least the exlax box wasn't fun colored with cartoons. I have no idea why DD thought to open it and eat it, but she liked it and didn't stop eating until it was gone. 

[EmilyGF]

Yes. I knew a little boy that ate an entire bottle of gummy vitamins that were not locked up because they were supposed to be in the fridge. He's fine.

 

 

This is because gummy vitamins don't contain iron. With iron containing vitamins it is a completely different ball of wax.

[wendyroo]

and then there's going to great-grandma's house with all sorts of meds just laying around on living room tables - because it's more convenient for them than putting them in a cupboard!

 

We spent a day at my aunt's house when my kids were 1 and 3.  My uncle has major health problems and has very dangerous medications everywhere (even strong narcotic laced candy).  They said that they put the medicine away to keep it safe, but there were still bottles sitting on sides tables easily in reach.  The scariest part is that within 5 minutes of walking in the door I had found 3 random pills on the floor!!

 

DH picked up the 3 year old, I picked up the 1 year old and we did not let them out of our arms for the rest of the visit.

 

Wendy

[SweetIrony]

If my post urged you to move meds and make your home more safe, then great! I am glad you read! When I was in the hospital, struggling with a hallucinating four year old, I wished I had been more careful. It was scary and I felt like I had failed as a mom.

 

Yes, it did and thank you so much for posting. My parents always just had medicine in the medicine cabinets, and I've done the same without thinking that much about it... because child-proof lids! Ugh, I feel kind of stupid now reading all these stories. I just moved a bunch of Tylenol, Advil, muscle relaxants, and cold meds out of the medicine cabinets to somewhere that's at least much harder for them to reach.

 

I'm really thankful my daughter's enzyme pills are not dangerous if another kid gets into them. She takes them with every meal, and I would hate to have to make it *less* convenient for her by keeping them out of reach. One bonus for us of homeschooling is that she'll never have to go to a school nurse to get a pill just to be able to eat something. She's been swallowing them since she turned 2, and currently knows her dose and counts the pills out herself, but I doubt a public school would trust a kid to do that.

[Loowit]

We spent a day at my aunt's house when my kids were 1 and 3.  My uncle has major health problems and has very dangerous medications everywhere (even strong narcotic laced candy).  They said that they put the medicine away to keep it safe, but there were still bottles sitting on sides tables easily in reach.  The scariest part is that within 5 minutes of walking in the door I had found 3 random pills on the floor!!

 

DH picked up the 3 year old, I picked up the 1 year old and we did not let them out of our arms for the rest of the visit.

 

Wendy

 

My grandpa accidentally dropped his bottle of nitro pills at our house during a birthday party.  My middle dude was 3 at the time and he is the one who found them.  I am so glad that he brought them to me and didn't open them and eat them.  They didn't have a childproof cap.

 

We had to stop taking our kids when they were little to my other grandparents house because they left pills, pill bottles, and other medication laying around everywhere.  It just became too much to try too keep them out of everything.

[Melissa B]

I don't know. Having medicines taste better makes them easier to administer when a child is sick and already less than cooperative (understandably so.) Little kids will eat anything. They eat pet food, they eat s**t (sorry to be crude) they eat dirt and bugs. My younger brother drank a bottle of lighter fluid and nearly died. How good could that taste? You take what precautions you can. I still like the flavored medicines. :leaving:

[AndyJoy]

True story. My inlaws were visiting. They take massive amounts of medicine. My toddler got super sick while they were visiting. My mil said "you don't think he could have gotten into our medicine, do you?" He hadn't but it scared the crap out of me. All their pills were in those cheap travel boxes, in their open suitcase on the floor. He could have very easily gotten into them!! So, be very careful with house guests and medicine!

Yes! Both my father and FIL have dropped pills (more than once!) while visiting when DS was a baby. They would put them in a shirt pocket intending to take them later, then they'd fall out when they bent over or played on the floor. Fortunately I caught DS with one and spotted the others. It was scary!

[sassenach]

I recommend that parents keep all medications locked and avoid over the counter medications in children under six, however, the largest danger in most medicine cabinets is not the orange motrin but the red liquid tylenol.  That is the one that if not identified quickly and treated can result in liver failure and need for transplant.  

 

**Please don't think I'm nitpicking your post, but I still see a lot of kids who get into trouble with Acetaminophen and I get the sense that many parents have the misconception that it is safer than Ibuprofen based products.  This is not the case.

Yep.  

 

Ds drank an entire bottle of tylenol when he was about 2.  The great news is that at that concentration, even having drunk the whole bottle (which was usually stored in a safe place, but a friend had been over and used it and left it on the counter.  I missed that fact and he got to it while she and I were talking.), his levels never got high enough to administer the counter agent.  He did have to spend all day in the ER getting blood drawn every 2 hours.  No fun.

[AndyJoy]

I don't know. Having medicines taste better makes them easier to administer when a child is sick and already less than cooperative (understandably so.) Little kids will eat anything. They eat pet food, they eat s**t (sorry to be crude) they eat dirt and bugs. My younger brother drank a bottle of lighter fluid and nearly died. How good could that taste? You take what precautions you can. I still like the flavored medicines. :leaving:

So true. A friend's 2-year-old drank lamp oil! He set the cap back on, too, so it took them a while to figure out what he'd ingested. He nearly died but did survive.

[vonfirmath]

and then there's going to great-grandma's house with all sorts of meds just laying around on living room tables - because it's more convenient for them than putting them in a cupboard!

 

I like the idea of a locking cabinet in the pantry -- for relatives medicine when they come

 

My parents TRY to be very careful. But after the last trip when my then 2-year old daughter brought me a pill she found on the ground (Thankfully. They sleep in her room when they are here) they started double bagging their pills in Ziploc bags and only working with them in the kitchen,  THey were scared at what could have happened if DGD had eaten the pill instead

[Mrs Mungo]

If my post urged you to move meds and make your home more safe, then great! I am glad you read! When I was in the hospital, struggling with a hallucinating four year old, I wished I had been more careful. It was scary and I felt like I had failed as a mom.

 

You are not a failure. EVERYONE makes mistakes. Most of us are lucky rather than perfect.

 

It isn't an either/or with locking and training. People who depend solely upon training and misjudge can find out they were mistaken. People who depend solely on locked cabinets and have a visitor drop a pill are in trouble too.

But, almost everyone said that they did do training as well. Nobody was arguing against training. Everyone should absolutely engage in training as well.

 

Depending on where you live, finding a locking cabinet is pretty darn hard. I think it's better than when my kids were little, but I just don't see that kind of stuff in stores. One would think that you'd easily find locked cabinets in a pharmacy if it's so important. (Yes, internet is an option.)

I've lived a LOT of places (Europe, both coasts of the US, in the middle of the US, etc) and have never had an issue with this. My eldest is 18, mind you, so a lot of options available now were not available back then. I've always been able to retroactively install a cabinet lock that can thwart a small child. [ETA: if nothing else, a cashbox with a lock would work for most meds, and you can get those anywhere.]

 

As for "if you only have vitamins in your house...," I"m pretty sure one of the leading causes of accidental poisoning is iron in vitamins.

I don't disagree, but I can mentally understand why people who only have vitamins instead of meds with a skull and crossbones all over them are more relaxed about it than I am, that's all I was saying.

[Mrs Mungo]

So true. A friend's 2-year-old drank lamp oil! He set the cap back on, too, so it took them a while to figure out what he'd ingested. He nearly died but did survive.

OMG, yuck, what is it with some kids?

[Forget-Me-Not]

Yikes. A friend's son drank a whole bottle of some orange-flavored cold medicine. It made him sleepy. If she hadn't found the empty bottle and put two-and-two together, he would have probably never woken up.

 

My stuff isn't locked up, but it is in a high cabinet above my dryer.

[AimeeM]

My littlest guy has had pneumonia a few times and he is a right little pill to get him to take his medicine.

 

I sort of feel like, when they're at the age where you can't reason or bribe with them, you can hold them down and it's miserable, but you're bigger. And when they get too big to hold down and force it in, they get to the point where you can sort of reason with them or bribe them.

 

At the very worst, mix your meds with chocolate syrup. But I don't think we need to market meds as yummy to kids. I am pro flavoring medication enough that it may mask or take away a nasty flavor. But it doesn't need to be like popping M&Ms.

You can't make them keep it down. When my youngest was on reflux medication, it didn't do a lick of good - they were so God awful that he would gag it right back up, throw it right back up, or spit it out. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I like choices.  I've talked to the pharmacist about my options in meds.  It seems like you could for something like this too since I doubt it would be a matter of "you must buy the chocolate flavored kind".  

[Catwoman]

If my post urged you to move meds and make your home more safe, then great! I am glad you read! When I was in the hospital, struggling with a hallucinating four year old, I wished I had been more careful. It was scary and I felt like I had failed as a mom.

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

 

I'm sure you felt that way -- I'm sure any any of us would have felt exactly the same way -- but really, it's not like you left an open bottle of medicine sitting on the coffee table! The way you described the situation sounds like your dd really had to work to get to that bottle. I'm sure most of us would have considered that medicine to have been in a safe place.

[MolleenCarie]

(I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned.)

 

In Japan, prescribed medicines for my children have been given in individual powder packets that are to be mixed with a syrup before being administered. Seems like a good idea!