Getting a small child to take pills

[QueenGothel]

First off I want to say I found some helpful hints online to practice with m&ms or tic tac first. I didn't have that kind of time. My DD is 3.5 years old.

Day 1:after about 15 minutes of putting it in and her spitting it out. Crying, gagging she did ingest 2 pills. Iron and Asacol. The Asacol is so hard and almost impossible to bite into on accident. My fear was that she would chew it.

Day 2: this was a full day of meds for the first time. Lots of resistance and crying, temper tantrums with all 8 pills throughout the day. She told me she doesn't like me anymore and to go away. Had to threaten her to take her to the hospital for a shot instead. Horrible thing to have to say and do. But it is the truth. If she does not take it that is where we will end up.

Day 3: tried new techniques I found online. Today 8am I sprinkled the prevacid on a spoon of pudding. Then gave her liquid predilisone. About an hour later at 9am I had her take a swig of water first. Then placed the Asacol in her mouth they suggest back of tongue but she would not allow this. I popped it in and she swallowed it and "said all gone". Then we did the 2nd dose right then. 1 iron pill after lunch. "ALL GONE MOM!". She just took a prevacid before her dinner as a capsule. Then one more Asacol just now at about 8pm. "ALL GONE MOM! :voodoo: She doesn't like me so much when I have pills and water.

Day 4: no resistance. All gone mom!

Last night and the night before she thanked me for taking her to the doctor to make her tummy better.

She is not happy about it but I do think she gets it. So there is hope for a small child. I really thought I would have more of a struggle. She cried and I did to but I think she is getting it.


I hope I am doing the timing right. Plase read day 3 and tell me if you think so. I went over it with the pharmacist and they just said to not give her the prevacid and iron together. So that is why she gets that in the middle of the day.

 

[izzi'smom]

Way to go...c'mon over and train my dd lol! That Asacol is a horse pill...so wonderful that you could get ther to take it!

 

[kimmidwife]

Mary,
At the hospital they taught my daughter to swallow her pills in a spoonful of jello. It really helps them slide down. Now she has no problem swallowing them anymore.

 

[kllyeve]

My mom used the "spoon full of sugar trick" You smush the pill between 2 spoons and add some sugar to that and most kids will swallow it.

I am not sure you can use this on all pills for Crohn's as I know my pentasa had to be taken whole and not chewed.

 

[QueenGothel]

Cannot smash it. Believe it or not my kid doesn't like sugar in the raw form anyway. The jello trick would be awesome if my DD would eat jello.

 

[kimmidwife]

We tried different flavors of jello until we found one she would eat it.

 

[QueenGothel]

Now Rowan takes 4 pills at a time. Funny the bigger the easier it is to swallow she said. crazy kid I cannot believe she will be 5 soon. Time flies when your chronically ill.

 

[kimmidwife]

That is awesome! I still have a hard time swallowing pills! I am always so impressed with these kids and their ability to adjust!

 

[Patricia56]

:dance::dance: :yoshijumpjoy::yoshijumpjoy: ika:ika: :allright::allright::ywow::ywow: :rosette2: :rosette2: :congratualtions::congratualtions: :grr1d: :grr1d:

:sheep::sheep::sheep:

:award2:

 

[Patricia56]

Two things.

First. Pills on counter. Pills in kid. Pills in kid wins every time. Unless there is a major, major reason to do the order, etc. some other way, I say don't break what's fixed. You are doing grrrrrrrrrrrreat and so is your little girl. Please tell her I said so.

Second, did the pharmacist talk to you about all the considerations that come up around giving iron? Don't give it with or near milk products for example?

 

[Sascot]

That was really well done. I remember throwing the pill so far down the kids throats that it was almost swallowed without the water :ylol2:. A few times of that and they got the hang of it themselves!

 

[Farmwife]

Two things.

First. Pills on counter. Pills in kid. Pills in kid wins every time. Unless there is a major, major reason to do the order, etc. some other way, I say don't break what's fixed. You are doing grrrrrrrrrrrreat and so is your little girl. Please tell her I said so.

Second, did the pharmacist talk to you about all the considerations that come up around giving iron? Don't give it with or near milk products for example?

:ghug:
Patricia56 I NEVER heard that about iron and milk. Do you know why?
The women in my family including Grace have problem with taking iron pills.
My mom and twin have to get the iron shots.:eek2:
We get most our iron from foods.

 

[Catherine]

Less iron is absorbed when milk consume within two hours either way of the iron rich food or supplement.

Vitamin c is the other way in it increase the amount of iron absorbed when consume at the same time as iron.

 

[Farmwife]

Well I'll be...see ya learn something new every day!

Thanks

 

[QueenGothel]

Yes we give her iron with her vit c in the morning and she doesn't do much milk until her dinner when she get her omeprozole another bad iron combo. We also have to avoid Lopermide and omeprozole bc apparently you can get high from it. Lovely huh

She is currently not anemic according to her HgB but the concern is the tiny amount of blood she passes daily due to a staple in the rectum. Also the iron thickens things up somehow for her so we use it for both issues.

 

[StaceyQ]

:ghug::rosette1::worthy::worthy::worthy:

 

[Patricia56]

I have a whole list of things about using iron supplements. I'll start a new thread with the info OK?

Myreinhard - does your doctor follow ferritin at all? By the time Badger's HgB is down he is a really sick kid. His ferritin is the canary in the coal mine - the best indicator we have found so far to show if he is in remission and how well he's in remission.

 

[QueenGothel]

Not that i know of. Rowan had her colon completely removed which is the cure for her UC. At this point she is doing very well. She doesn't see a GI anymore just her surgeon. She can probably stop taking the iron at this point but I haven't quite discussed it with her doctor. Supposed to get a complete panel done for her next appointment. I will add it to the list.

 

[Patricia56]

Even if her HgB is good her ferritin can be low and signal the need for continuing supplementation.

If you plan to ask for that to be added to the panel to be done before her next appointment - depending on how long that is - you might want to stop the iron for now so you can get a sense of whether her ferritin is low without it. It does take a while for ferritin to drop though so if it's just a few days that's probably not worth it.

Does she have a pouch?

If so, you should be aware that pouchitis is now considered it's own form of IBD. There's a guy who's specilalizing in treating it who's at Cleveland Clinic - Bo Shen. I figure forewarned is forearmed. Hope it never becomes an issue but here's a link to more info if you want it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3093723/

 

[QueenGothel]

Yes she has a j-pouch and we take all the necessary precautions, VSL, Tumeric, Fish oil. She has been good thus far so hoping she keeps this trend going for 2012 was rough. That would be the understatement of the century for me. I suffer from PTSD severely. If I can control it I am going to try.

Yes I am aware of Bo Shen and have read all of his studies on pouchitis. We thought she had pouchitis for a bit bc if the rectal bleeding but we had her scoped and there is a staple in the rectum that causes some bleeding. Luckily no pain though. She is doing very well. Sleeps through the night and only uses the toilet 5 times a day. She is only 5 months post takedown. So very good results thus far.

 

[DustyKat]

Well done Mary and Rowan! :medal1:

You are doing such a fab job Mary and I often think of you both and all you have been through. You are both an inspiration!

Dusty. xxx

 

[dodson1435]

When my daughter was first having symptoms, we bought this spray that is berry tasting. You spray it in, like you do with Chloroseptic, and then the pill just slides down. I found it at CVS pharmacy. Maybe you could ask your pharmacist. We only had to use it a few days and she became a professional pill swallower!