Give kids liquid medicine during their baths

Eric, I'm wondering why this hack never occurred to me even after I threw out several permanently-Tylenol-stained shirts:

Give your children liquid medicine while they are taking a bath. That way, if they spit any out it is not on their clothes or the carpet, and if they get some in their hair you can wash it out.

Related: Best of Parent Hacks: Colds, viruses, and general sickie malaise

Comments

[Sarah E]

Now they also make dye-free children's tylenol that won't stain.

[Hayley]

I see hacks like this, and it makes me realize that I must have the only toddler in existence who LIKES taking medicine... We mixed C's first dose of antibiotics with juice, assuming he'd never take it straight... the amoxycillin "cocktail" was totally rejected, but he happily slurped down a medicine cup of it straight.

[stacy]

Hayley, my 2.5 year old likes taking his medicine, too! I've never once had to fight with him about it (knock on wood). In fact, when he had the bubblegum flavored amoxicillin earlier this year, he promptly asked for "more" and even helpfully got the bottle out for me the next time I opened the fridge.

Hey, the kid gives me trouble with sleeping AND eating, I'm glad *something* goes down easily.

But we did always give him his daily liquid vitamin (which he also loves) in the bath, on the wise recommendation of our first pediatrician. I wonder how many jammies we've saved that way.

[Rachel @ "Seeking the Servant's Heart"]

My kids love taking medicine, too. I wonder at what "age" the medicines stop tasting good, though. Perhaps a 16-year-old would balk at the idea, but I'm seriously thinking that I may need to step into the bath next time I need to take NyQuil!

[Duane]

My youngest also likes his medicine, and will often fake cough when he sees one of his sisters getting some, saying "Me sick too, I need medicine." Actually it makes you wonder if perhaps it *should* taste bad so you don't ever catch them downing a whole bottle of it when you're not looking.

re: medicine in the bath, good idea - but don't most medicines have a typical "every 4-6 hours" dosage? You're gonna have some pruny children.

[Nutmeg]

Since E.'s first medicine taken twice a day for a year tasted like bitter awful lemons, the kid gulps down pretty much any other medicine. He loves anything that is sweetened, since he doesn't get candy etc. I give it to him in a syringe and he sucks it out and asks for more. And I'm pretty sure he is pretending that his teeth hurt lately just to get some sympathy ibuprofen.

[Chris Thompson]

That's brilliant! Here is another "hack" that I've used. Instead of the sugar-loaded (or even worse, fake-sugar-loaded) liquid medicine, you can just take the appropriate dose of ibuprofen and crush it between two spoons. You have to be confident you know how to calculate the dose. For example 100mg would be 1/2 of a 200mg adult pill. Just crush it and put a blog of yogurt in with it and feed it to your kid as a treat. Don't even say it's medicine.

Chris Thompson
http://www.talkingtotoddlers.com

[Bethany]

Giving them the liquid medicine while they are lying down helps also. Now that my kids are older, we're using the Meltaways strips and chewables. So much easier.