Sometimes our little ones don’t like taking medication. It might be because they
don’t like the taste, have had to take a lot of it, or just don’t want to. So here are
some tips and tricks you can try to entice them to take their medications.
A great number to know is 1300 Medicine or 1300 633 424.
This is a free number that will connect you to a medical professional on call who can answer all of your medication questions, between Monday and Friday from 9am–5pm.
Tips & tricks for giving medication
✅ Your attitude matters: The first thing you need to do is ensure you
approach the situation firmly but with a positive attitude. Children will take
cues from how you are acting and the emotions you are giving off. So put a
smile on your face and provide reason and encouragement!
✅ Be honest: Tell them what it’s for; get them involved in the process. If you
tell them that the medication tastes nice when it doesn’t, they probably
won’t trust what you tell them again when it comes to medication, so it’s
better to be upfront about it.
✅ They are smarter than we realise: If your child is old enough, make sure you
take the time to explain why they need to take the medication. Explain how
it will help them. Prepare them in advance. Kids sometimes benefit from
‘medical play’. Let the child practise giving medicine to a doll or stuffed
animal to help them become familiar with it.
✅ Bypass the tongue: Slowly squirt into the cheek, towards the back of the
mouth to bypass the taste buds.
✅ Buy a medicine dummy or use a bottle teat: These are great for babies,
particularly if they love a dummy already! Fill the dummy or teat with their
meds. Bub will start to suck and before they realise, the medication is in
their tummy!
✅ Offer an icy pole: Give them an icy pole to suck on before you give the
medication. The icy pole will numb their tongue and hide the yucky taste of
the medication. Too easy.
✅ Help them gently swallow: Rubbing under their chin or gently blowing a small amount of air in their face will initiate a reflex that will make your child swallow.
✅ Disguise the taste: Mary Poppins knew what she was talking about; ‘aa spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down’. Mix the medication with
some ice-cream, honey (above 1 year old) or add sprinkles!
There are a couple of things to avoid too:
❌ Don’t crush or chew medication without checking with a pharmacist if it’s
safe to do so first.
❌ Avoid calling medication ‘lollies’, so little ones don’t try and eat 10 tablets
when we’re not watching, thinking they’re lollies.
❌ Avoid putting it up their bottom without telling them. Only use medication
as suppositories that are designed for this purpose.
❌ Avoid forcibly squirting medication into their mouth, particularly when lying
down, or forcing them to take it. This could cause choking or aspiration.
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