How To Help Children in Toronto Take Their Medicine?

Children fall ill all the time. They eat something bad, catch an infection, or get injured and have to be bandaged up. As parents, you have to take care of them, and we know it as a Toronto compounding pharmacy it is your responsibility. Make sure that they are taking their medicine on time and are eating and drinking what the doctor ordered. But sometimes that can be a big problem. When the children feel sick, one of the things they do is put up a fight when taking medicine. They know that it will make them better. They know that it is their best chance and that it has to be taken regularly. They still don’t take it.

And there are reasons for that. Sometimes the liquid medicine doesn’t taste good. A lot of liquids are now available in various flavours, but not all of them. Also, children have a hard time swallowing pills. This can be challenging for parents who have to ensure compliance. A study found that around 50 percent of children have trouble swallowing pills. And these are just standard-sized pills, and others are bigger.

This is especially true if kids have a chronic condition and they have to take the medicine day in and day out. The shorter the disease period, the lesser their problems. The more they have to take the medicine, the more trouble they create in taking it.

So, what can you do? Here’s a list of things you can try in Toronto.

1. Have the right attitude

A lot of parents approach the process of feeding children medicine as a nuisance. They are already in fight or flight mode. They have their guards up, and children feel that. Parents need to have a positive attitude when approaching children. Most kids respond to reason and encouragement. All you have to do is present your case, and they will take the medicine, even if they don’t like it. There might be a little gagging and throwing up, but they will get the hang of it in the end. Younger kids observe their parents and their emotions. The more agitated or frustrated you get around medicine time, the more they will resist you.

2. Share Control With Them

Most parents, when feeding medicine, try to control the entire experience. They don’t take the children’s attitudes or observations into account. Most older kids understand the need to take the medicine and comply with orders once explained to them thoroughly. You have to prepare them in advance instead of springing the surprise on them. Also, if they are finding it hard to swallow a pill or don’t like the flavour of the liquid, you could get that changed. A Toronto compounding pharmacy can easily take care of that. You can get the formulation and dosage altered and even the flavour.

3. Ask Your Doctor

Some medicines have a good taste, and some might taste like chalk. It all depends on the child and whether they are willing to take it or not. Also, there’s no need to give the child medicine four times a day. Instead, ask your doctor if you can increase the medicine dosage so that you can give it once a day or twice. This will definitely help with compliance. Pediatric compounding in Toronto has recently become quite famous, and there’s a reason for it. They can change the flavour of the medicine, change the dosage, and make it easier for the kid as well as the parents.

4. Add medicine to food

If the doctor has prescribed your child with pills, you can ask them if they can be crushed and sprinkled on some food. Just remember not to do it without the doctor’s recommendation. Some medicines cannot be broken or opened. Also, if the doctor okays it, make sure that the children eat all the food so you can ensure that they have taken the entire pill.

5. Disguise the Flavour

There are some taste-deflection techniques that you can use when giving your child medicine. First, before you provide them with the medication, give them something cold, like ice cream or syrup that can coat their entire tongue. That will wash away the taste of the medicine, and they won’t notice it that much. Another neat trick is to dip a spoon in chocolate before filling it with medication. The chocolate will cover the tongue, and the medicine will go down easily.

6. Bypass the tongue

How is that possible? Easy! All you need is a dropper or a syringe that you can use to get the medicine to the back of the tongue. It is ideal for younger kids who spit out medicine as soon as it goes in. Just make sure that the child is firmly held and there is no risk of choking.

7. Give a reward

Make sure that you let the child know what a good thing they have done and that you appreciate their behavior. For this purpose, you can not only use verbal rewards but physical rewards too. For example, you can give them stickers that they can put on a calendar. It will show them how many days they have passed without any unwanted incident. Not only will they see and feel the achievement, they will also follow their own progress and see how much better they feel after a given number of days of taking medicine.

Last Thoughts

Getting kids to take their medicine on time every time can be a frustrating experience. But there are numerous things you can do to make this experience a good one for them and you. First, if the child is having trouble, ask the doctor if you can contact a reliable compounding pharmacy in Toronto to change the formulation, dosage, or the flavour of the medicine so it goes down smoothly. You can also try the other techniques mentioned here to help the children take their medication.

Also Read: How Can A Compounding Pharmacist Help You With Heart Medication?