It has been less than a year since the gagging-cough medicine incident of 2008. Can you believe she hasn't taken any medicine since then? It isn't because she couldn't have benefited from it, it's because she never wants it even when she has a headache. She usually just goes to bed and wakes up fine. This system works pretty well most of the time, but occasionally I think she needs to take something, and that's when the histrionics begin.
These are the remnants of today's lost battle. First I tried to have her swallow one DayQuil pill. It took 15 minutes of coaxing, crying, yelling, gagging, and water sipping (not gulping which would have helped) before she ended up with a sticky pill, orange-tinged fingers and a face blotchy from crying.
So we moved onto the DayQuil liquid, which I hadn't started with because she hates the taste of medicine. I poured the tablespoon of medicine into the middle cup (originally it was the only cup) but she fretted about how much was in there. She kept saying, "My body says no" and I kept saying, "But your mother says yes" but neither one of us was willing to listen to the other.
After a total of 25 minutes of medicinal stand-still in the kitchen (meanwhile Landon had left for school and I still hadn't dried her hair yet) I poured the tablespoon dose into 2 smaller cups, but she ended up sticking her tongue into one of them to taste the medicine (never a good idea) and then the crying escalated. She was wearing me down, but I was determined not to give in to her 9 year old logic.
She finally took a drink of the medicine, gagged, coughed and then spewed it on the counter. I was so mad and dismayed at the same time, but my instinct to clean was immediate so I took care of the spill and didn't freak out (she's lucky). I was rendered speechless, did some head shaking and gave up.
I ended up drying her hair and driving her to school. She isn't allowed to watch any TV today, and we're going to start practicing pill-swallowing with M&Ms or something, because this is ridiculous.
All this before 9:00am. Freakin kids.
**What would you have done?
Any tips for me?**
Any tips for me?**
Comment Window Tidbit: I can't decide if this morning's medicinal stand off was funny or outrageous, but I'm leaning toward outrageous. It must be too soon for me to laugh.
30 comments:
I wish my instincts to clean were immediate. Okay - with spit out medicine it would be...but still. Kristen is that way about pills - but liquid she will happily take. The problem is she is 12, so you go through those liquid bottles pretty quickly.
Do you have one of those pill cutters? Maybe you could cut the pill into fourths....or get a mortar and pestel....who are we kidding - Whitney won this one!
I wish I had an idea but I am a blank- I get that it tastes bad but to spew all over the counter instead of just swallowing and washing it down with some water/milk/juice/soda... there are so many options! I would have lost it. I almost lost it just reading the post.
GOOD LUCK!
Only advice I have that worked for one of my boys and with me years ago.
Put the pill (or mini m&m) on the back of your tongue and forget it, drink away.
I know it's easier said than done.
Good luck~
I tend to be ornery and the "JUST DO IT!" type of mother... I am not really sympathetic to those sorts of things... I also hear myself saying all the time "we do things we don't want to all the time, so what?"
Anyway... my kids are professional swallowers, put to the test last week by some Clydesdale sized amoxicillan Jessica had to take last week. I taught them on Tic Tacs, worked like a charm (and now they even make bigger Tic Tacs so you could graduate to the next size).
Good luck and you should eat some m&ms for not losing it and cleaning instead...
I am an "ornery and "JUST DO IT!" type of mother", I was NOT nice about this scene at all.
I have the same problem with my oldest. She has such a strong gag reflex. Luckily she will drink the pink Amoxicillin when needed, but other than that she refuses all meds. She's 13 and a half. Can't take children's meds for much longer. I really need to teach her to swallow pills because when she's in pain it is NOT the time to try this. I keep forgetting to though, until she's in pain. I have heard tic tacs work great since they are shaped and coated like pills.
Good luck. I have zero patience for this situation too. (I usually swallow pills of any size without water, so I just don't get it.)
Jill, I am a frequent reader, but have never commented before. (I almost have several times to let you know I am here, but have always been pretty sure you wouldn't care about a middle aged reader in Mesa, AZ.) Because of my own very real gag reflex, I have to come to Whitney's defense. What she is feeling is real. I had to learn how to swallow pills and medicine. Start with a small hard GOOD TASTING candy (not M & M's) and have her put it way back on her tongue and gulp loads of water quickly. Swallowing things can be learned for a gagger, but it does take practice. I didn't know this at 9 and was a teenager before I could swallow pills. (Pathetic, I know. I am still a bad patient at the dentist and can hardly do the x-rays, but they know how to handle gaggers. There are a lot of us!) Hope this helps.
Jill, I would have done the same thing as you, no TV for the day. It gets to the point of ridiculous (spelled right?) and so frustrating. Sounds like you've received some good advice from readers though. Let us know how the "practice" goes.
If I don't get a change to talk to you later in the week, have a wonderful wonderful Thanksgiving!
I haven't had to do it yet, but...
Child tips head back, plug nose, open wide. You pour. This, if she keeps her bloody mouth real wide open and her tongue flat, has the potential to dramatically reduce the amount actually tasted. But, since your daughter is a spewer, I'd keep one hand at the top of her head while it is tilted back, pour the liquid, then put my hand over her mouth and keep that fitful mouth shut til she swallows it all. If she succeeds, toss the kid a soda and let the carbonation burn away the taste coating her tongue.
I was the child who couldn't swallow pills thanks to sensitve gag reflex. I've worked past it.
Oh, how I dread this day. I never want my kids to outgorw the syringe method of dministering medicine. Not a god start to our day!
holy hell- I would've done the same...
I really like kay scott's comment though. I think you are smart to use candy & work through this. Trent takes four pills a day & swallows them whole, with no water & no problem- it's one of his biggest talents- in other words it could be worse.
She is good at a lot of things :)
I feel your pain, but along with "Kay Scott" I was that kid. I don't gag over pills anymore but am ridiculous about avoiding the dentist's office because of my gag reflex. And, I still refuse to drink liquid medicine if at all possible. And, basically I just don't take very much medicine at all.
Sending prayers and hugs your way because this is not an easy solution.
Despite my own hatred for medicine, Jeff and I have tag-teamed on little ones to pour medicine down their throats...
I appreciate you guys giving me the gag-reflex supporters side of things because I wasn't considering that. I just thought she was making herself gag because she was psyching herself out about the taste of the medicine. It didn't occur to me that she might be incapable of swallowing the pills.
I would make her taje the meds with a syringe still. Pull her cheeck out with your fingers and syringe it into that pocket of her cheeck. Once you let go of her cheek her first instinct is to swallow. Works every time. Good luck!
Too bad that med of choice doesn't come in a tiny pill - it is HUGE!
As a girl with a huge gag reflex problem (like, sometimes brushing my teeth is too much) I know this senario all to well. At 27 I am nearly cured of my pill swallowing issues but every now and then get one that really is too much.
What I do is take a generous sized mouthful of water (or beverage of choice) and keep it in the back of my throat, like I'm going to gargle. Then I toss the pill into the pool of water and swallow it all in one gulp. Usually the pill is swimming around in the water and I don't even know it's there. It's so successful for me, I can swallow 4 ibuprofen at a time with no worries!
I think there is a bit of mental psyching out that goes on too. Because I can reason that it's going to be too big or I'm going to spew it up or whatever other reasons I can think of, I'm usually not very successful; sometimes it really is just mind over matter.
Best of luck!
What a nightmare. I have the opposite problem. My kids beg for medicine and drink it like candy. I have to watch them like a hawk because they will try to get into the medicine cabinet and drink it on their own.
This cracks me up. Yesterday my niece had to take medicine and my brother did it how I do it with mine and we found out my mom did it with us...she demonstrated :) Say "you can do this the easy way or the hard way" and if we didn't listen, she would pin us down, get our head between her knees and plug our nose and dump it in. She said by about 7 years we all picked the easy way...
Linc still is cracking up over her "demonstration" of the technique.
Kaylee hates taking medicine.
I can personally vouch for Kay Scott -- she is a lovely lady and very wise.
I, too, have a gag reflex like you wouldn't believe. I can swallow small pills without complaint, but when I was pregnant and had to try to take prenatal vitamins, it was all I could do. Sometimes the smell or taste of a pill is enough to set it off.
I can identify with your frustration, though, too. I remember trying to give babies liquid Tylenol when they had a fever, and they'd spit it right back out, and then you couldn't give them more for fear of overdosing because just how much did they spit out?
So, anyway, I'm sure a frustrating way to start the day for both of you. May tomorrow be better!
Poor little Whitney! (and POOR YOU) I would've reacted the same as you did...with some Tough Love, but it's interesting to hear the gaggers tell their side of the story.
I lov-v-v-v-e your labels on this post. Ha!
With Daniel I have to get a syringe (without a needle obviously) and just squirt it down his throat really fast. Usually we have some kind of soda or juice on hand that he can drink as soon as he swallows the medicine.
If worse comes to worse, you could threaten her with a supository...just kidding:)
Good luck! That is just too much before nine am. Sheesh.
I am checking back to read your comments & rmt--- hahahahaha LOL!
that could do the trick?! oh funny funny
I am a bad mom. I usually just say, "would you rather take this medicine, or eat poop?" They usually take the medicine pretty fast.
I'm sorry to laugh at your medical stand-off, but your account is pretty funny! I feel for both of you, but have to say that I'm afraid I would not only have given in to the instinctive need to clean (ignoring, of course, the gagging child) but would also have likely freaked out and gotten mad myself. Thank goodness Whitney has Kay Scott to give us another perspective!
This is very close to home on so many levels.
1. I remember almost vomiting as a MARRIED woman trying to take liquid Dayquil. Why I didn't try to take a pill I have no idea. We were on a family vacation and maybe it's just something someone had??
2. Prenatal pills do gag me a bit, but I can swallow most pills without too much problem.
3. Posey had to take some pills because the liquid medicine she was prescribed was so AWFUL even the Dr. said she should try the pills first. We practiced swallowing tic tacs and it really helped. But still, twice a day there was about 20 minutes of drama getting her to take them.
I emphathize with you! At least your kids don't bite. :)
wow...serious drama. I agree that a lot of it is psychological and it just keeps building until it just can't happen. So, maybe practicing with some type of candy will take away that issue until she can do it?
my kids are the worst pill takers and so stubborn, I hear ya!
Wow, I never knew pill swallowing was such a problem for people! That must complicate life immensely.
I, luckily, can swallow anything. I'd rather take a pill than have to taste liquid medicine as it goes down!
Yes, this was too much before 9:00am. I enjoyed reading the comments but don't have any advice to add. Annelise will take liquid medicine but we've never had to try pills yet. It was interesting to read the gag-reflex challenged comments.
I do know it would have been hard for me to be sympathetic and patient.
This made me laugh so hard, but that's just because I'm so far removed from the scene. Oh the humanity indeed.
I had a hard time getting past the shock of Whitney not having needed any medicine since sometime in 2008 to get to the rest...
Also, Patsy's comment was some good food for thought. At least you can be grateful that Whitney doesn't have these kinds of reactions to, oh, getting her hair combed, eating dinner, or a thousand other things I could think of!
Some of your other commenters had some good advice, I hadn't even considered the possibility that she really couldn't take the medicine! I am going to get Lucas on a tic-tac swallowing regime when we get home.
"Oh the humanity" is right! Poor Whitney. Poor you. Emily used to have the hardest time with medicine too; Mom would have to brace her down to get her to take her penicillin when she was sick. Good grief. I hope that Whitney feels better and improves her medicine-taking skills! And I hope that you retain your sanity!
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