How to Get a 7 Month Old to Take Her Liquid Antibiotic?

Kintarō Hattori

Hi Folks,

We've been prescribed a liquid antibiotic which we have to give our 7 month old 3 times a day- 5ml each time. She isn't feeling herself as she's running a temperature (urinary tract infection) and we're struggling to get her to take it. My partner initially tried mixing it with her evening porridge- no luck. We then tried the syringe and she got more of it out than went in. Lastly we tried the spoon but again she was having none of it.

It's all for her own good but she's going to have a hard time getting better if she doesn't take it. Any tips, tricks or suggestions?

Many thanks.

ted1

I’d Try the syringe again

Thumpette

When I was trying to get my little guy to take Calpol I had him tilted back and used a syringe tiny bit at a time. Gravity helped!

taylor3

I can recall a special type of soother that was on the market purely for this purpose. There was a little part to it where you place in the medicine and as the child sucks the soother the medicine goes down. It was a brilliant yoke. If your little one likes or uses one this would be a great option. Good Luck.

mirrorwall14

Bottle or breast fed? We used to put it into the teat of a bottle and hold him in place until he sucked it. Not the most pleasant experience but it worked

happywithlife

Syringe
Place it fully into her check and point it back and down. She is forced to swallow it thst way. Releasing it straight into her mouth gives her the option of spitting it back at you
Also they get used to the taste pretty quickly

happywithlife

Also read instructions carefully and its a pain but you're best off evenly spacing it out 8 hours over the 24 hrs not just 3 doses over however long you are up during the day or breakfast/lunch/dinner times

happywithlife

Oh and practice with water first till you get the knack

JimmyMcGill

Just tilt the head back and get the syringe in the side back to behind the tongue. Massage the cheekbones more to distract than anything else so it goes down. 2.5 ml should go in 2 squirts. Sounds harsh but be firm and fast.

catrionanic

happywithlife wrote: »

Syringe
Place it fully into her check and point it back and down. She is forced to swallow it thst way. Releasing it straight into her mouth gives her the option of spitting it back at you
Also they get used to the taste pretty quickly

This is how our local nurse administered those oral drops as part of their vaccines, and is how I’ve always given medicine to baba ever since.

happywithlife

catrionanic wrote: »

This is how our local nurse administered those oral drops as part of their vaccines, and is how I’ve always given medicine to baba ever since.

You learn pretty quickly - I've a child with some issues. He had 15 antibiotics between 6&18 months and countless more since. He's 3.5 now and can do it himself
I find the Calpol syrgines easiest to use btw

Ciarrai76

I mix in with a yoghurt and he takes it no problem! He will not take it with a syringe so I had to mix into the yoghurt.

happywithlife

Oh another tip nobody gave me was the antibiotic can give them.an upset tummy. I find biokult good but ask your pharmacy. Natural yoghurt or probiotic might work too

xzanti

happywithlife wrote: »

Oh another tip nobody gave me was the antibiotic can give them.an upset tummy. I find biokult good but ask your pharmacy. Natural yoghurt or probiotic might work too

I give my kids the Udo's Choice, they do an infants blend and a children's blend. Just mix the powder (has to be kept in the fridge) with their milk or yoghurt, no taste off it. I find it great to keep bugs at bay.

Ciarrai76

happywithlife wrote: »

Oh another tip nobody gave me was the antibiotic can give them.an upset tummy. I find biokult good but ask your pharmacy. Natural yoghurt or probiotic might work too

I've been giving my 18 month old this for a few months now. I mix it into a drink for him and he doesn't notice it. I think its helped a bit as he's not been getting sick as often and fought off a cold very fast over Christmas compared to the times before.

Speedy2009

We had the same problem with our little lady, took 2 of us to get the Antibiotics in, but we found a method that works to this day!
Use calpol syringe to hold 2.5 ml of antibiotics
give the baby soother and let her get used to sucking on it, pull out soother and just as you are about to put soother back in, stick syringe into side of mouth and then soother in immediately after so she can't spit antibiotics out again!
Do this twice for each 5ml dose
( 5ml all at once is too much volume I found)

Good luck!

Neyite

happywithlife wrote: »

Oh another tip nobody gave me was the antibiotic can give them.an upset tummy. I find biokult good but ask your pharmacy. Natural yoghurt or probiotic might work too

A probiotic is good but you need to start it after the last dose of antibiotic otherwise the antibiotic cancels it out.

We used to mix any medicines into something he loved like a yoghurt, or just use the calpol syringe as that's what they are used to. But aim it into the cheek rather than the back of the mouth for less spillage.

The bright yellow antibiotic is a bugger though - runny, sticky and stains!

Kintarō Hattori

Ah so what a mess this whole situation was. When she had her fever she wasn't taking food in the evening but I assured my partner that she'd wake up hungry and would take a feed then. First night she did this. The second I was away on business and my partner panic'd and called an ambulance as she had the fever and wasn't eating. I arrived back to the airport and straight into Temple Street.

The poor little lady was crying her heart out, eyelashes were matted and she was hoarse. My partner had been trying to get a urine sample but it wasn't happening. While there the hospital said she was on the wrong antibiotic so wrote a prescription for another one. Nothing was happening so we headed home.

She developed a rash to the antibiotic the hospital recommended so we ended up in the north doc where he said to stop taking everything else and recommended a 3rd antibiotic. When she went back to the GP after a day or two it turned out not to be a urinary tract infection and had all cleared up!

She seems to have been turned off medicine as it's now a struggle to give her even the vitamin D, though hilariously she loves the teething granules. She's all good now though so that's brilliant.

shesty

Glad it turned out ok!Just......maybe for future reference.....babies often stop eating for several days and it's nothing to worry about(although I know she had a temp too).She might be a bit allergic to one of the antibiotics so try to remember the name of the one that worked out ok for future reference!!!

Kintarō Hattori

shesty wrote: »

Glad it turned out ok!Just......maybe for future reference.....babies often stop eating for several days and it's nothing to worry about(although I know she had a temp too).She might be a bit allergic to one of the antibiotics so try to remember the name of the one that worked out ok for future reference!!!

Oh I knew not to panic but I wasn't there to reassure my partner who was alone for the first time with our daughter so it was all a bit much for her to deal with.

Thanks though.

wuffly

Glad all is ok, better safe than sorry with a sick baby. It can be very scary when you are on your own, my OH travels a lot. My sis in law is a nurse with 3 kids she got a lot of calls over this kind of stuff. Only for her we would have been in a&e a few times I'm sure. As long as the nappies are wet and you can get some fluids in your doing ok on the feeding front.

We used the syringe too and was a battle but think he worked out quickly it would be over quicker if we managed to get it into him and water/milk straight after to get rid of the taste. To the back and side works if you can get them to hold still for the few seconds it takes. Not as bad as eye & nose drops, like wrestling and tiny angry bear with a pipette! lol!

She'll come back around to the vit d, its swings and roundabouts with them!