To not give my child medicine?

[madmacbrock]

DS has just been taken to docs with a rash following a bit of a cold, was told by DR that very common on back end of flu and will pass she prescribed antibiotics & calpol, after i explained how he reacts and I also understand that it is viral and will do nothing anyway!
He is 20mths old and I have never been able to get anything from calpol to antibiotics into him without causing him serious stress. he will not take from spoon, syringe, cannot be fooled by it being hidden in food &, short of strapping him to his high chair and forcing it down his throat there is just no way to do it. he runs off, kicks, screams, and is inconsolable for around 30mins only for me to have to do it again a few hours later! I know other peoples kids who would eat calpol all day long if allowed but not mine. he is breastfed and was weaned by baby led weaning so has always been independent about what goes in his mouth. has anyone else found the same issue with BLW? or have any ideas

[MaureenMLove]

I didn't do BLW in my day, so I can't comment on that, but I do know that a rash after a cold or flu is quite common in little people. It's the virus' way of getting out of the body, so I agree, I wouldn't have given abs either.

IMHO, you need to save ABs until they are really necessary or they become more resistant to them. As long as you are confident that DS is happy, feeding and sleeping well, then I think don't give them anything.

[scaevola]

Well, there's no need to give calpol unless he seems in pain, so you can definitely skip that. It sounds most odd for a doctor to say something is viral then give you ABs; are you sure they aren't concerned about a bacterial secondary?

You can only find out if the ABs are truly needed by seeking a second opinion from a HCP who has seen the rash, heard the full history and done other exams they believe indicated.

But if you start the course, you simply have to finish it. And even if you think this course of medicine might not be necessary, you never know what might come next and when you might need to get important stuff into him. Bribery might be the answer. Is it only ingestion where he is defiant?

[Florin]

You need to tell the doctor if you don't plan to give them. My doc gave me antibiotics for my son's croup just incase he had an infection however he had no symptoms and he suddenly got better and we decided not to give it to him. Fil who is a doctor said to be careful as if the doctor prescribes it and you don't give it you are then going against doctors advise which you can get in trouble for.

[IloveJudgeJudy]

If you have to give a DC some medicine, you just have to do it. Harden your heart, shut your ears to the screams, chuck it down their throat, hold their mouth shut until they swallow.

We had to do this when DD was 3 or 4. It was a long course of antibiotics that she really needed. She hated having to take it; it was 3 or 4 times a day, but sometimes you just have to be the adult and do what you have to do.

[gobbin]

Mine was similar, I can count on the fingers of one hand how many spoons of Calpol he has ever had. Just used to keep a close eye on him instead and thankfully his temp always sorted itself out with no probs.

He started taking medicine willingly at about age 9 when hayfever struck. Literally one day fine, next day came off the hill by White Horse Uffington with a streaming face. He soon realise the med worked if he took it!

[honeytea]

In future if you need to give him calpol can you buy some sepositories (sp?) My ds hates calpol (he is only 4 months so I hope he grows to like it) but he is not at all bothered about the pills in his bum. I am thinking if you reaaly need to give him something, if he ever has a dangerously high fever.

[Rootvegetables]

Get some paracetamol suppositories. I breastfeed and did blw mine loves anything called medicine though!

[cakesandchocolate]

My eldest would never take meds from syringe or spoon and would just spit out. One occasion we ended up in ED with bronchiolitis and they gave paracetamol suppository. Brilliant!
Apparently this is common practice in Europe.
I carried on with these for pain/temp until he was old enough to accept meds by normal route.

[christinarossetti]

What symptoms does your son have now?

If he just has a viral rash and isn't in discomfort, I can't see that you need give him either.

[cakesandchocolate]

Cross post sorry

[Thingiebob]

Is the rash infected from scratching? Or is the dr trying to cover all bases by giving abs? This is what happened to my daughter. She got a horrendous rash after a cold so was given flucoxacilln, as well as a cream and piriton. I think often docs can't narrow it down so try everything!

It was really hard to get my 23 month old to take the abs. A combination of giving her a spoonful of something nice, then whacking a spoonful of abs in her mouth and holding her nose and chin to get her to swallow then giving her a treat afterwards was the only way I could do it.

[maddening]

My ds sonetimes takes it from a syringe sometimes a spoon and if they fail he has little play glasses (like little plastic shot glasses from ikea children section) and I pop it in there and tell him to drink his pink drink 90% of the time that works.

[maddening]

My ds is blw too :)

[noblegiraffe]

Sometimes you do just need to strap them down and force it into them. I'm a bit that the doctor gave you antibiotics and you don't know why though.

[shallweshop]

Bit strange to give antibiotics for a post viral rash. If he hasn't got a fever and is not in pain then no need for calpol either. If he does need pain relief or treatment for a fever then I would ask for paracetomol suppositories.

I think you are right to question what you are being prescribed. I have not always 'cashed in' the prescriptions given for my DC.

[Ginformation]

Which antibiotic were you given??

Did your Dr say why they were giving you ABs? Could be they were given for somthing other than the tail end of a cold and rash.

If you feel your child is getting better then you would not BU for adopting a watch and wait policy for the next 24-36 hours to see what happens.

[DoJo]

Mine was breastfed and BLW but will happily take medicine from a syringe, so I don't think it's anything to do with what you have done if that helps! I used to sneak the syringe into his mouth while he was feeding when he was breast fed and he barely noticed it as there was always milk there instantly to take the taste away - felt a bit mean the first few times, but it doesn't seem to have done him any harm...

[CoolaSchmoola]

You don't like the Dr's professional opinion about your child's health needs so you ask for the opinions of total strangers on the Internet?

Ring the Dr and ask what they are for, and whether DC would be ok not having them. Next time do this during the appointment (it's what it's for). Then you won't be taking opinions on your child's health from untrained people who have never met them.

[jennimoo]

My DD is BLWed and will only have medicine if its in a syringe and age controls it... I just pop it down on a plate and let her do it. There have been a couple of squirting accidents but overall much less stressful. She's just too independent to have anyone pop anything on her mouth!

[AngryGnome]

I agree that you need to ask the doctor what they are for, and what the impact would be if he didn't take them. It would seem unlikely that, with all the current AB resistant bugs concern, your doctor would prescribe them willy nilly, but you are perfectly entitled to ask your gp why they have been prescribed.

I feel your pain with trying to administer medicine. I hadn't thought if a link between medicine refusing and bf/blw but that is interesting g. Ds is shocking - it takes two of us to give it, we have to wrap him up in a large towel and basically hold him down and force it in - its horrendous. Nursery have said that they cannot get medicine in him either, so he usually has to stay at home until he finishes a course of them. It's a nightmare. Of course, the problem us that it is such a bloody trauma getting then into him that he learns to hate them more and more and the cycle just worsens. Drives me up the wall!

(Takes deep breath and intones 'this too shall pass'!)

[Rosa]

In this day when doctors are reluctant to prescribe Abs unless needed seems strange that they were given unless there was some kind of infection.

[HollyBerryBush]

Well, FWIW, DS3 is now 13; he's never had anti biotics or calpol. He simply will not take any medicine or drugs, to the point he vomits. He's even done that in A&E. No one ever bothers prescribing for him now!

Mind you he has the constitution of an ox, I avoid anti-b's as far as possible, when I was a child they were dished out willy-nilly, to pacify parents I think. No need for them really, your immune system should be able to fight off the usual round of coughs colds and viruses without any intervention.

I don't need a lecture on compromised immune systems or the ebola virus either

[Booboostoo]

DD had to take iron supplements, three syringes worth of liquid, twice a day for three months from the age of 17 months. For three days we tried forcing her and it a nightmare for everyone. It was very stressful for her (by the second day she would point to where the bottle was kept and scream 'no no no no' even when we made no attempt to give it to her), she was very difficult to hold still (13 kilos of thrashing toddler is no joke) and most of the medicine was getting sprayed everywhere and the rest she spat out.

So I did what I do with the dogs, operant conditioning. Two slight variations on this depending on how much your DC understands:

Use a special implement for the medication, a syringe is good or a special spoon you only use for that. Buy the most wonderful stickers you can find and don't give them for anything else. If the child understands the idea show him the stickers and as soon as he goes to take them say that he has to take the syringe in his hand before he can have a sticker (ask for an action that he is likely to want to do, like touching the syringe, not one that he likely to refuse, like taking the medicine. What you want is behaviour you can reward so set aside the final goal for a moment. If he refuses to hold the syringe ask him to touch it or even just look at it and work up from there). As soon as he does this, praise profusely and allow him to pick a sticker making a huge fuss over the whole thing (if your DC is not interested in stickers find something else to motivate him. Food may be problematic as you will need a lot of it).

The variation here is that if the child is too young to understand the interaction you need to show them. So as they reach for the stickers, put the syringe in the way but try not to force the issue. The child has to chose to touch the syringe.

Build from there by asking for more and quickly rewarding progress. So ask for the syringe to touch the mouth, etc. If things go wrong, revert to an earlier behaviour the child is willing to do.

It sounds like this will take weeks to do but DD took her morning medication the first time I tried it within 10 minutes, she was a lot faster by the same evening and witing a few days she would immediately allow the syringe in her mouth without any of the first steps. By the end of the three months she no longer needed the stickers as the association had been made and it's useful for giving medicines in the future with the same syringe.

[madmacbrock]

for the record, i did try to have the conversation with doc, where i actually explained the issue and asked if they were absolutley nessasary unfortunalty DS was screaming the place down (he also hates being poked and prodded) and i was rushed out the door with no answer, also no other medical concerns were mentioned to me. i am seriously considerering moving docs as they do seem to prescibe abs willy nilly my sis child may well turn into one and he has only ever had cough and cold! there are other issues with docs but thats another story. Ds is just fine has no infection is fine and well in himself bar snotty nose and rash.
It does make me feel better to hear that some people are struggling with same thing as none of my friends have same issue and your advice will be definatly tried and is very appreciated booboostoo i love your idea he loves stickers so i will give it a try. angrygnome we did the towell thing when he had a dose of bronchitus months ago as it was the only way to get it in him it is horrible but does work (unless he spits it all out again)
Obviously if i had even the slightest inkling that not giving the medicine would cause ds harm i would get it down him its just this time it just feels wrong.

[ShadowStorm]

DS is a similar age. We can usually get ABs into him by hiding them in a bottle of milk - otherwise one of DH & I has to pin him down while the other one forces the ABs into him. It's an absolute nightmare when the milk trick doesn't work.

DS is BLW, but we were forced into BLW because DS refused to be spoon fed unless he was in total control of the spoon. It may be a similar issue with medicine. I certainly don't think BLW in itself causes toddlers to refuse medication.

But, if you're not going to give the ABs, I think you need to talk to the doctor again about why they were prescribed in the first place and if it'd be bad for your DS to not have them.