How to Make your Child Swallow Tablets Easily

Most of the children have difficulty swallowing pills / tablets and capsules.  Tablets are given for kids when they are extremely sick and the medication is essential to bring down the illness / infection. When the baby is small doctors prescribe syrups and tonics with a pleasant taste, color and aroma to attract the kids. But as the child is above 6 years doctors prescribe tablets to take care of the health problem.

When the child is sick the parents have a tough time to ensure the child has taken the medication. Parents become desperate and try various tricks to make sure baby swallows the medicine. In my childhood days I remember my parents powdering the tablets adding with sugar and asking me to just gulp it down with a mouthful of water. Some attempts were successful and some failed. The pungent smell of antibiotic is very strong and the sticky taste when the tablet melts on the tongue makes it all the more difficult.

As a mother of a child I have gone thru’ several experiences myself and would like to share a few tricks to the young parents. At times I’ve stuffed the tablet in a piece of banana or diluted in soda to disguise the tablet. It is a good idea for parents to teach their kids the technique of pill swallowing before they really need it. A sick or cranky child will not cooperative to learn swallowing a tablet.

Train your child the technique of pill swallowing

Parents can help child swallow a tablet by gradual practice. You need to experiment it with tic-tacs that come with sweet and minty flavors. Place the tic-tac on the tip of the child’s tongue. Give a glass of water filled to the brim. Ask your child to sip in water and quickly tip head back. The tic-tac pill will be washed to the throat and swallowed with the gulp of water without the tongue being involved. This can be tried for children above 6 years.

Parents can also experiment with small peppermints, soft cake decorations, sugar candies (sugar coated soft ones) such that it does not get stuck in the throat.

With capsules (which float), you do just the opposite. Have your child look down at the floor instead of up at the ceiling while you slip the capsule into her mouth. Have her swallow while still looking at the floor. The capsule should float to the back of her mouth and roll down her throat with the water.

The child can have as many practice trials as she needs. Most children find swallowing these balls surprisingly easy, so the first attempt is almost always a positive one. Praise the child for both effort and success.

Few suggestions to make tablet swallowing easy

• Keep a calm and positive attitude.
• Eliminate distractions during medicine taking time. Close the door, turn the TV off, etc. allowing the child to concentrate on the job at hand.
• Be patient. Some normal children can’t accomplish pill-swallowing until their late teens!
• Some tablets are easier to swallow if they are broken into halves. Check with the pharmacist first, however, to make sure a divided pill does not lose its effectiveness.
• Encourage the child to do better. Avoid negative comments.

Swallowing the various sizes and numbers of pills can be a challenge for any child regardless of age. Make this requirement an easy one for your child. Children get scared of incidents happened in the past. Train the kid with simple steps such that when the need comes he will swallow the pill with ease.

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