How did you help your child swallow pills for the first time. 7 year old girl struggling to swallow her newly prescribed medication.
My child was recently diagnosed with ADHD, and we started medication this weekend. She's never swallowed pills, so any tips would be great.
Each child seems a little different. My son at first refused to take water with his. Once his 1 year older than him cousin who was on medication convinced him that was the way to go, it's been much easier since. He isn't a fan of taking medications so we have to watch him to make sure he isn't ditching them in the trash, hiding them under the couch, or we've even caught him trying to hide them on the fish tank stand in between the doors. If you get the capsule kind you may also try putting it in apple sauce or something similar. Ask the doctor before doing this to any XR types.
Her medication is a combined fast release/slow release. So she has to swallow it whole. I wish it was a capsule. It's chalky and the longer she keeps it in her mouth, the more awful it tastes. I appreciate the idea about an older friend/cousin taking something though. I'll keep that in mind.
My son is almost 6 and also really had a difficult time swallowing any type of medication. What finally worked for us this past week was a combo. I told him if he could be really brave and do it for 3 days in a row we could go to Target and he could pick out a "big" toy. I also removed all other distractions/sibling from kitchen area so it was just him and I. I let him pick whatever drink he wanted to use to get the job done. Most importantly I softly kept reminding him over and over to swallow, swallow, swallow so the pill does not sit on his tongue. As soon as he did it he was so proud of himself and after 5 days of doing this he is taking it no problem. I hope some of this can help you out.
Hi there, my sons doctor told us to buy and use the small-mini M&M's for practice since they are small, and swallow those down with a liquid of choice, after he swallowed those he was able to swallow small prescription pills (he is 5). Maybe give this a try for practice? I know how hard it is for small kids to shallow medication and I hope you can find a way, Good luck hang in there.
You could try the squeeze flavoring, her favorite and add that. Have her take almost a mouth full of water then lean her head back open a little and drop it in s she swallows. Sounds harder than it is. I find the clear flavoring the best, then there are no dyes in it. Please make sure she always take it in front of you, don’t “trust” she will take it on her own, which is easy to do.
Good luck, let us know what technique works for her.
You can watch a video on The Hardy Nutritionals site. We started with tic tacos. The video gives some tips with regard to turning the head as you swallow. My daughter used to gag and now no problems once she got the hang of it.
Hi there! How lucky your child is to have you for a mom. Much like healthunlocked.com/user/Oak..., we practiced taking pills with TicTac s. My child was delighted to practice swallowing treats! Best of luck to you! Please keep on with the group if we can be of any help.
Hi. 6 yr old ADHD, FASD daughter here. We started with crushing the pills and putting in applesauce or pudding (sugar free). Once we got that moving then I gave the full pill . Pudding seemed to work best. Just about a third of a teaspoon so it's not too much to swallow. And made sure to slip the pill in horizontal with the spoon so it's flat going down. Could always try tic tacs first. And a small glass of water on the side. Anyway, that's what worked for us. Good luck!
My son figured it out when his grandmother told him to put his head down, not up, when he swallowed. I thought it was weird, but it works! Other option, there's a company, Neos, that makes meltable tabs that dissolve on the tongue. Contempla and Adzenys are the two meds they make.
We found that food works best for our 7-year-old. He uses strawberries. He chews up a big piece then adds the pill to his mouth and swallows it with the food.
We stick it in the top of a squeeze pouch of apple sauce. Kids squeeze and swallow. They’ve been doing it since they were 6.
We had to put capsules in yogurt, whipped cream etc. until my grandson was 10 or so. He had a high gag reflux.
My son loves applesauce. I had him swallow a spoonful first, then the second time added the pill to the sauce. Went straight down. Followed up with another spoonful of apple goodness. He is now a pro and only needs water to swallow it down. Just try to make it a positive experience. I still have a hard time with pill swallowing which is directly related to a bad experience in my youth.
Put the pill in ice cream on a spoon.
I had an extremely difficult time learning to swallow pills until my parents would put them in ice cream. The trick being that the coldness of the ice cream numbed my mouth enough that I couldn't feel the pill and "catch it with my tongue" as it went down. Peanut butter didn't work, water didn't work, milk didn't work, but the ice cream did. Eventually we moved on to other things -- whipped cream, apple sauce, pudding etc until I could take them with water.
I copied and pasted this from a reply I just wrote to someone else:
Those are all good suggestions! Someone previously on this forum suggested this video for learning how to swallow pills:
hardynutritionals.com/video...
I asked my daughter what reward she would want for watching the video and doing the exercise the first day, then what reward she wanted for practicing the first week, and what reward for being able to actually swallow her pill. We came to an agreement.
She started with nerds. Then moved to tic tacs and mini-M&Ms. Then tried regular M&Ms. I ordered empty capsules in the smallest size (size 5) from Amazon. She filled them with nerds or sugar so they would have a little weight. She can finally swallow that size. However, her medication comes in size 3 capsules. I've ordered empty capsules in size 4 and 3. But she hasn't been successful with those yet. So right now I am opening her medication capsule and putting it into two size 5 capsules (which she can swallow). We're not done yet, but this is significantly better than opening the capsules into pudding, etc and trying to get her to swallow it. Also, learning how to swallow pills will really help when I need to give her pain medication or antibiotics since she doesn't like the taste of the liquid or chewables.
A big thank you to everyone on this forum who gave so many suggestions and helped us to get this far!!!
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