How to get antibiotic to go in and stay in 15 month old (perforated eardrum)

[SMcCartney]

Help, please! My child developed a rapid-growing bacterial infection in his ear and perforated his eardrum. We are heartsick that this has happened and are desperately trying to get the nasty tasting Augmentin into his 15 month old system twice a day. We are on day three, and it is getting progressively harder. My husband and I have done the following, all of which worked once and failed at the second use or did not work at all:

PS It is already flavored by CVS for the $2.99 fee- flavor is so not working)

mixed with juice and yogurt as a thin smoothie (in bottle) (worked once)
on metal, "big guy" spoon imitating mom and dad (works for veggies, not for this medicine)
mixed with yogurt (worked once)
mixed with pudding (worked once)
in chocolate milk (bottle) (worked once)
held him down, lulled into security on changing table with bottle of juice *horrible, barely worked

[Anonymous]

This last round my ped wrote the prescription for a double strength formulation so it would be easier to get in - this was for zithromax which could not be mixed so I just stayed with the syringe. My DC is a fighter and it was a huge challenge each time.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

We had the same problem OP. DH and I had to literally put DS in a headlock, hold his arms down and give the meds in tiny little squeezes. If they wont take it on their own and they need to take it you have to do what you have to do. We offered soda afterwards and a piece of candy as a reward to make it less traumatic. I donot give soda but I needed something to stop the little guy from being upset. At that age they do not know what is best for them and I was not interested in wasting half of our meds trying to find something to mix it with he would take.

[Anonymous]

We can only use the syringe for Augmentin, and it generally takes both DH and I to get it in. DH holds DS, almost in a cradle hold, but with DS's head very tight against DH's body, so it's harder to squirm and turn away. I am in charge of the syryinge -- the key is to get it in the pocket of the cheek near the back, squirt slow enough so he doesn't gag and barf it back up on both of us (which has happened more times than I care to count), but fast enough so that he can't get too upset and squirmy. I also put a hand under his chin so that once the medicine is in he can't just open his mouth and let it dribble back out. I'm not going to lie, it's not a fun process, but we've had recurrent ear infections all winter and this is the only method that's worked. I also recommend some probiotics or yogurt if you haven't started those already. Augmentin can wreak havoc on the digestive system . . . Good luck!

[SMcCartney]

Thank you, all- it appears that brute force is the only option. Big sigh. Thanks, especially, for the last post. The placement of the syringe, speed of transmission, and parental hand/body placement is soooo helpful. Not heartening, but helpful.

What is heartening is that it is this hard for all kids. He takes the Amoxicillin with a smile, and the Tylenol, and the Benadryl. No problem. But this, no way.

[Anonymous]

Force didn't work with us because he got hysterical and just spit it out anyway. What worked was to distract him (TV which was novel, look outside at something he loves to look at -garbage truck, dog, etc), then either give it by spoon or syringe and have the spoon ready to catch it on his chin if he spit it out, then put it back in.
What worked best was to put in Baby Einstein video, wait until he was enthralled, and then go-- sometimes he would turn his head everytime I got near but I kept trying, not forcing, until finally he let the spoon in.

[SMcCartney]

I like that idea much better!! He has had zero television and video, but I am happy to forego that issue in order to get this in him for the ten day cycle.

Thank you so much- I would so very much rather a non-threatening method to achieve this thing. I cried after the physical hold episode this morning. And haven't really stopped crying over the perforation. It felt like I was hit in the stomach. How did this happen, so fast? So adding physical insult to literal injury (and anxiety, guilt, sadness) was feeling way too much to bear.

[Anonymous]

Sadly, if you clamp the mouth shut, this works wonders for preventing him from 'just spitting it out anyway.' I'm not delighted to do or even write that, but it's true.

I noted that keeping meds down in a baby/young child is eerily similar to pilling a cat or unwilling dog. I use the same techniques. (ie, not TV and fruit flavoring)

[Anonymous]

SMcCartney wrote:I like that idea much better!! He has had zero television and video, but I am happy to forego that issue in order to get this in him for the ten day cycle.

Thank you so much- I would so very much rather a non-threatening method to achieve this thing. I cried after the physical hold episode this morning. And haven't really stopped crying over the perforation. It felt like I was hit in the stomach. How did this happen, so fast? So adding physical insult to literal injury (and anxiety, guilt, sadness) was feeling way too much to bear.

I'm the PP who did the distraction method. My DS had had no TV or video either until he was sick and I put in that Baby Einstein video that was given as a gift that we had never opened. It worked wonders for calming him down when he felt so bad and it worked wonders for distraction when giving the medicine. Note that after this though, he will likely want to watch the video so you will have to deal with several days of distracting him when he wants to watch until he forgets about it.

That said, I now think a little TV ('quality' programming) is not that bad but that is another issue.

About the perforation, I think it actually sounds much worse than it is. If it makes you feel better when DS had his ear infection I took him to the dr on a Wednesday believing he had an ear infection b/c of his screaming and putting hand to ear and they said he just had fluid (no infection). His eardrum burst that night as the infection set in and escalated. I took him back the next day, they saw the infection, and we started antibiotics immediately. There should be no lasting damage from the perforation. In fact, it relieves the pressure so they actually feel better.

Hope this helps! Oh back to the medicine, the spoon ready to catch any spit out is KEY!

[Anonymous]

My daycare provider showed how to hold my child down to give medicine. Only one person is needed to do this, but it gives you both of your hands to fight with your child's mouth.

Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Have your child's head between your thighs, and their arms straight out from their body, pinned under your thighs. The worst thing they can do is kick their legs up, so beware if their legs are long enough to kick you in the face. Now you should be able to administer the med with a syringe (into the back cheek pocket, as a PP advised). If you have to clamp the mouth shut afterwards, you should be able to do that as well.

My toddler quickly learned that it was better to not fight it since there was absolutely nothing he could do to get out of this hold.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

You will still need to hold them down, but I have a friend who dipped the syringe in chocolate sauce so she tasted that on the outside before the meds.

[Anonymous]

With my DD, I mixed the med with a "shot" of Hershey's syrup and had her drink it. Sometimes it worked, other times I had to mix it with chocolate milk or hot chocolate (although I don't think you are supposed to heat it, but sometimes you have to go to extreme measures). My DD gets perforated ear drums several times a year, so I feel your pain!

Hope your child feels better soon!