Wednesday, September 22, 2010

advice needed

This sweet little man has his first ear infection. :(

The doctor gave us a Rx for an antibiotic. Well, little man does *not* like it.

Clamps his little mouth shut and then when I got some in his mouth started gagging and spitting it all right back out. Oh dear!

So, I need to hear from some of you veterans, how do I get this sweet boy to take his medicine and how do I get that pink stuff out of clothes? Does it stain?

Thanks! Kelly

photo by Adrian

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wish I knew what to tell you? Slip it in while nursing?! Just spray the pink--it comes out. Love you. --Marla

Heather said...

When I had to give E vitamins, I'd dilute them with water and give it to her in a bottle. Don't use too much water, though, or it will take forever for him to drink it! I've also seen pacifier-type medicine dispensers that might work if he will take a pacifier.

Meredith said...

Oh, I'm so sorry he's hurting. I've had 3 kids with freq ear infections and tubes. Here's the technique that helps me get the antibiotics down:

-a small syringe dispenser, not the big measuring tube with spout that most pharmacies give you

-put the syringe tip in the far right back of the cheek. Sometimes this bypasses the taste buds and makes it go down better. You don't want the medicine to flow over the tongue where he can push it back out.

-dribble the medicine in a slow stream so it doesn't cause a gagging reflex

-as you are depressing the syringe with one hand, keep his mouth tightly puckered with the thumb and forefinger of your other hand.

-be firm! It's horrible to see him cry but this is what will make him feel better faster.

Kori said...

So sorry! At least he hasn't had one sooner. I have never had pink stuff stain, so just spray it. As for getting the drops down, I would make sure your sropped is long enough to get to the back of his mouth. Get him in a good hold. Sorry Mama. You have to hold him tight. May need to be on the couch or somewhere when Dad is gone. Get him good and stucked so hands and feet cannot kick himself free and head wedged between you and your arm. All of this with one hand so the other can hold the dropper! I have never had a child spit it out if I can stick the dropped on the side between the check and teeth/gums and stick it far to the back and slowly squeeze it out. Not too fast or he may choke a bit. If you can get it behind the tongue thrust then he can't get it out (unless he gets mad and makes himself throw up - surely he's too young for that)! :-)
I hope he feels better soon. We have had a lot of those things around this house.

Julie said...

The pharmacy can add flavor to the medicine...that may help. We pretty much used the same technique that Meredith describes...it's horrible as a mother to cause your kiddo to cry like that, but they forgive you immediately. We also have a medicine dispenser that is like a miniature bottle, but kiddo #1 got wise to it real fast and would not suck from it. Then we had to use the syringe to get the medicine out of it. The biggest drawback to diluting the medicine with anything and putting it into a bottle is if they refuse to suck it out, then you have that much more liquid you have to force down their throat...even worse.

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Oh dear, his first ear infection. Feel better soon, Little Man.

Meredith (so good to see her!) offered some great tips. I'm a fan of the small syringe dispensers, too, and always "shoot" the medicine into the back part of the cheek a little bit at a time.

Anonymous said...

Meredith has it spot on. I'm so sorry to hear about that, those can be miserable. You may want to try putting a thick pillow *under* one end of his mattress, it seems like it helps babies sleep better when they have an ear infection to be on a slight slant. Poor baby. :(. Give him a kiss from his auntie, and tell him I had tons of those when I was little, and look how cool I am now, it must have been the ear infections!

Gina said...

Oh bless, I'm soo sorry you guys are experiencing ear infections so early. Jacob just had tubes put in on Wednesday because he'd had his 11th ear infection. As for medicine, I agree with the terrible, I feel like I'm a mean mommy, hold. It feels awful, but it does work. And on the bright side, Jacob used to be a TERRIBLE medicine taker. I had to fight him for everything, even Tylenol. Now, he takes meds like a champ. In fact, he gets excited when he sees me pop out a bottle and syringe. And the pink stuff doesn't stain, although it does make your hair REALLY sticky :)

Kim said...

Poor little thing!

When my daughter was young and didn't like the taste I put in in her cup along w/whatever she was drinking. Does he take a bottle at all?

Hope he feels better soon!

Karen said...

Let Daddy give him the medicine. That should do the trick. :)