Anybody have any tips on teaching them how to swallow a pill.....

My 12 year old refuses to swallow pills, how, oh how, do I teach her to swallow one?

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My kids learned with Sudafed (small red pills) because the snotty little things live on them! But for practice you can have them start with mini m&m's. I had them put the pill as far back as they could get it then sip water and swallow it all down. Smaller pills can be swallowed with a mouthful of applesause too. Good luck!

My youngest ds 9 learned with the Sudafed too. My oldest was around 9 also and learned to swallow a Motrin. He was tired of the liquid medicine. Like twocrazykids says have them put the pill as far back as it will go sip, tilt their head back and swallow. Good luck.

I always used a spoonful of applesauce or pudding, something with a slick texture..then just cut down on the amount in the spoon ..now all I do is hand Daniel a water glass and stick the pills in one at a time,...he takes five every morning..

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My niece could not take pills and was on 18 to 20 a day. Her mom would open them and put them in applesauce. One day a few years ago my niece saw me take pills by filling my mouth with water, poppng the pills in and swallowing. She tried it and has been doing it that way ever since.

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Nutella,....
proving some of the best things in life come in a jar.

I also refuse, unless they are really small....
I always feel like it is getting stuck and i am choking

So, I totally understand where your DD is coming from

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I'll have to look and see if I can find the link, but there is a special cup you can buy that has a little 'lip' where you stick the pill. You drink from the cup normally, and the pill just goes in with the drink.

One of the nurses at the urologists office told me about it when they put my son on DDAVP. I remember looking it up, but we didn't order it because he was able to swallow the pills with no problem, luckily.

Give me a bit to see if I can find it.

OK, so this isn't the one I was thinking of, but I did find this one. HTH

How to Swallow A Pill, Helping Children Swallow Medicines, Medication - A Difficult Decision

Could you cut them in half or smaller, so he doesn't really notice it when it goes down? I have tried putting pills way in the back of my throat, and I still feel like I am going to choke. I have just recently gotten a little bit better at taking pills, so I also know where he is coming from.

Good-Luck!!

I had my grandsons learn with tic tacs

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My son would gag as soon as he felt the pill on his tongue so his dr suggested giving him something with carbonation in it to swallow it, he didnt notice the pill in all the bubbles

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Practice with M&Ms. I had to get my kids to learn like at 2 they would vomit all liquid meds.

If a tablet is enteric coated (coated so it will not be dissolved by stomach acid) then it should be swallowed whole, and not crushed, chewed or cut. It lessens the effect of the medication .also true for time release meciation. , Doing so will effect the time release. I suggest M&M's. try using a straw too,. that does help.

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I never learned to swallow pills till I was pregnant and HAD to take a lot of pills.
I think the secret is in learning to relax the back of your throat.
However, I have no advice on how to do that!

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Thanks.....will look into this...

She had cramps last night and got desperate and chewed an advil.....that made me want to puke! Will have her practice with some of the ways mentioned this weekend....Thanks guys!

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"You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward."

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes

O-H-I-O

OOOH I know this. I am one of those that REFUSED to swallow anything till I was like 18...plus I had migraines - I was chocking down liquid tylenol for headaches - yuck. Here are my tricks:

Get REALLY FROZEN icecream (without stuff mixed in) spoon out a thin slice of it with the spoon and then quickly wrap it around the pill...then swallow the icecream (with the piggy blanketed pill) I learned this from a vet that suggested we wrap dog pills in a piece of cheese...I used ice cream because I was afraid it would get stuck in my throat and I knew ice cream would just melt(quickly) if it got stuck.

Now I skip the ice cream and fill my mouth with water/drink and then put the pill in and swallow - I mostly don't like to *taste* anything.

My DD (who is 8) learned this year and she practiced with tic tacs....actually my mom was giving her tic tacs but they were mint and she didn't like mint so she just swallowed them....my mom then suggested the next time she need some medicine to try swallowing it like she was doing with the tic tacs.

I am going to order the cup - This will be perfect for me!!!!

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The frozen ice cream method sounds perfect! I never thought of that.

When Steven was diagnosed with asthma at age 2, he was on liquid or chewable pills but we knew with his condition, he'd have to take pills sooner or later. We taught Steven to take pills (especially the bitter ones, like Prednisone) and put them in a tablespoon of Hershey's syrup. We even did that with the Prednisolone liquid: we just poured Hershey's in with the dosage. Plus he sometimes has to take phenergan, and that's a bitter one as well - of course, it did help that, with the phenergan, the alternative is a suppository so that was a great motivation tool to try the pill in the syrup.

Speaking of Steven, I can't believe I registered at this site back in '98 looking for diaper coupons when he was first born. He's now 9 years old. Time flies huh?

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Catt
~ Mirror Mirror on the wall, I am my mother - after all! ~

I never thought of putting some Hershey's syrup in with the Prednisone......My 11 year old son, who is autistic hates hates hates prednisone.....and is unfortunately on it a lot, will try this next time he needs.....(which hopefully won't be anytime soon!)

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"You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward."

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes

O-H-I-O

Well, my 12 year old won't swallow pills either so don't feel bad. I fully understand though, I cannot swallow a pill unless it has a slick type coating, if it is something like a regluar Tylenol I CHEW it, yuck I know, but it does get stuck in my throat if I don't.

I remember all the horrible tasting antibiotic liquids when I was little and just remember wanting a tablet or capsule form if available. It made taking medicine a lot easier for me if I didn't have to taste the nasty tasting liquid.

DS took his first ones with pop. He would gag to the point of getting sick when he took liquids or chewables (those melt away things were the worst) so he had to learn. With DD we didn't have any pop so she had to have water. She tried several times but it wasn't working then I had her put the pill in her mouth, take a drink and swish the water around her mouth and then swallow. By swishing it around she lost track of the pill and it went right down.

When I was sick I was taking over 20 pills a day, some were huge (a little bigger then a gummy bear). My family thought I was nuts when I'd pop 5-6 pills in my mouth and just take a little sip of water. Except the prednisone, I could drink a gallon of water and still have that taste in my mouth, they really need to coat those things or something. Now I can take normal size pills without a drink.