When did your kid start taking pills vs liquid medication?

[Anonymous]

DS is 13 and 100 pounds and cannot swallow a pill. He was just prescribed antibiotics for strep and got a pill her suppose to take twice a day. He cannot get them down at all.

We ended up paying $130 for it in liquid form. Once he’s better we want to try to work on it with him.

Any advice?

[Anonymous]

My kids were around 10. We started using tiny little nerds to begin with and then went up to TicTac’s. The easiest way to do it is to already fill your mouth with water and While water is already in there, open mouth slightly pop the pill and swallow everything together.

[Anonymous]

I was 17. I’m having difficulty getting my 13 year old to swallow pills. We had to get prescription ibuprofen liquid because we couldn’t find adult size liquid over the counter.

[Anonymous]

When? My kids? Probably 8 or so.

But, not uncommon for anyone to have issues. Works for me to place pill at the back of tongue and quickly gulping down water.

[Anonymous]

Mine could take a pill by age 10. We told them to pretend it was a small piece of ice and just swallow. There is a cup that makes it very easy to learn to swallow - have not used it but it is supposed to work wonders for kids and adults who have trouble with pills. I think it’s this one

https://a.co/d/dra21Qg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was 17. I’m having difficulty getting my 13 year old to swallow pills. We had to get prescription ibuprofen liquid because we couldn’t find adult size liquid over the counter.

You don’t need prescription medicine. Just take more of the children’s. Liquid medicine has a concentration - like 100 mg/5 ml or whatever, and if you need 200 mg, you take 10 ml, 400 mg, 20 ml. It’s annoying to drink all that liquid, but cheaper than ordering prescription. And it might encourage him to learn to swallow a pill.

[Anonymous]

At 12.

[Anonymous]

At around 8 - my kid hates liquid medicine so much that we would have to get special prescriptions for pills instead

[Anonymous]

Around 12. She had a pretty hard time too. The pediatrician recommended using small candies to learn. Like start with swallowing tic tacs, then mini M&Ms, then regular M&Ms, then vitamin D pills, etc. Basically you want to start with things that will dissolve initially, and things with smooth surfaces that slide down easily.

She still has trouble with large pills. We split anything that can be split. You can also try coating the pill with butter/oil to make it go down smoother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At around 8 - my kid hates liquid medicine so much that we would have to get special prescriptions for pills instead

Same for mine, he started at 8 because he hated liquid zyrtec

[Anonymous]

For one 7. She hated the taste of her antibiotics so figured it out.

For the other - she finally did at 14. lol. She still cannot handle large pills that aren’t the gel tabs.

[Anonymous]

Mine is still learning (12). For pills that can be taken with food, it helps him to chew up a cracker or small piece of bread first, poke the pill into the center, then swallow it all down as if nothing unusual was happening. Basically, the dog method 😂

[Anonymous]

Age 15. Just kept trying every few months, as she got tired of the ever increasing amount of the liquid allergy meds she didn't like the taste of. Even tired them in apple sauce or chocolate pudding a few times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was 17. I’m having difficulty getting my 13 year old to swallow pills. We had to get prescription ibuprofen liquid because we couldn’t find adult size liquid over the counter.

You don’t need prescription medicine. Just take more of the children’s. Liquid medicine has a concentration - like 100 mg/5 ml or whatever, and if you need 200 mg, you take 10 ml, 400 mg, 20 ml. It’s annoying to drink all that liquid, but cheaper than ordering prescription. And it might encourage him to learn to swallow a pill.

I wasn’t sure if there were other ingredients in the medicine that would be a problem if you doubled the kids dosage. I was doing it when she injured her knee but I got nervous.

[Anonymous]

Early. He started taking thyroid pills at age 8. But they are tiny. Have your son practice with tic tacs or something.