Yes, I am the bad mommy today/tonight.

My 4 yr old absolutely refuses (and has for over a year now) to take ANY type of medicine. She has been coughing all day consistantly and I have tried to get her to take her cough suppresant (liquid and thin strip form) to no avail. (and have tried over 6 times today)

if i hide the syrup, she detects it and wont drink it (or whatever its mixed with) she wont take it outright, she refuses to open her mouth for the thin strip and if i hold her down with hub and use the plastic syringe, she will only spit it out at me and then vomit the rest up due to hysteria.

i am so tired of fighting this battle that i propped up her pillows, gave her water by her bedside and told her good night. its 10 pm, she keeps waking up with coughing fits and crying....but im not going in...its not like i can do anything about it anyway.


so whats a mother to do? i figured there must come a point where she must learn that sometimes we have to take medicine to make things feel better.


thoughts?

No thoughts other than to say good luck! I have a 4 year old that is exactly like that with medicine. You CANNOT get medicine down that child. I know people say just make them take it, but with him you can't!!! He is the same way as you were talking about, he will vomit it back up, or just spit it out. When my son has coughing fits like that, I end up on the couch with him holding him sitting up and usually after about 30minutes, I can put him back in his bed and he is ok. Again, all I have to say is good luck!!!!

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Moms of little boys work from son up 'til son down!

My kids hate medicine too but will do the strips. Thankfully, they have never needed antibiotics. They are talking about taking multi-symptom cold medicine off the shelf for kids under six anyway. I don't know why they think they are ineffective as they certainly seem to help my kids.

Hope your dd (and you) get some sleep.

This is how I got my daughter to take her medicine. Last year, just about this time, my cat became really sick and stopped eating. I took her to the vet, where they explained cats do this and it usually is stress related, I must take her home and force feed her this canned cat food.

For the month that I forced fed this cat, and talked to her, usually saying, "I know you don't like this but it is good for you," Liliana watched this. Soon after she became sick and I had to give her her medication. She informed me then that Like Cami (the cat) she didn't like her medication but she knew she had to take it. From that day on she takes her medicine like it's candy.

So basically you have to get your cat really, really sick!

I have the opposite problem. When Bobby sees me give James medicine he says, "Bobby's turn" or if I have to give him anything for any reason, he asks for medicine the rest of the day.

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Look at it this way- your dd may just be smarter than we are. I also have been hearing that cold medicine is being pulled from the shelves for kids under age 6.
I also agree with your thoughts- she will learn.

Hope she is doing better soon

First of all, your not a bad mom. If you were a bad mom you wouldn't care and wouldn't be trying to help your babies feel better. I have two very spirited children. My daughter just turned five this weekend and my son is two. Anyways, my trick is that I leave the correct dose of medicine on her nightstand/table and let it be her choice. "I calmly say this will help you feel better, but you don't have to take it if you don't want it." Forcing never works. You could cause the child to choke or they could inhale the medicine into their lungs, either way, it's not good. I hope this helps and I hope the child feels well soon.

Oh man, I have a 8 yr old like that!!! Finally last month, he willingly took meds when he was so sick with bronchitius and an ear infection. Even then I had to put it in a syringe and squirt it into the back of his mouth and follow it with a big glass of lemonade.

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~Happiness is a large family~

You are NOT a bad mom - some kids are just like this! My son didn't like medicine either in the beginning so I switched from the cherry flavored to grape and he's fine.

They are pulling cough meds anyway and say they have no proof that it works in kids under 6. My boys and I are all coughing right now and none of us are taking anything right now. Apparently some kids have been dying taking some of these over the counter meds, so unless my kids are REALLY hurting I plan on cutting back a lot!

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kelly your not the bad mom... here is a great tip someone sent me an email i can't find it or i would post it. there was a canadian study about coughs and the most affective remedy was....... it sounds crazy but we have been doing it over a week now and it really does help... was to put vicks vapor rub on the feet and cover with socks... i first read it and thought that is crazy we had tried it on the chest and it did not help...dh said what have ya got to loose the kids been up all night for 3 nights hacking his head off....so we did it and guess what he did not wake up until 4am and only had a couple minute coughing spell and went back to sleep... i totally swear by this now. my son now asks for his foot cream(he has a lingering cough do to a bad cold)... give it a try it helped us as crazy as it sounds.

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SILENCE IS GOLDEN BUT DUCK TAPE IS SILVER.