Tips for getting 6 year old to swallow pill?

[Anonymous]

Six year old starting to take a pill tomorrow. Any advice to get her to swallow it? We could open it and mix the granules into yogurt but would like to try getting whole pill down.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We just told our kid, 7, with ASD/ADHD that it is like swallowing water. Easy. I think I was more stressed about it than he was.

[Anonymous]

Has she ever tried to swallow one?

My kid has been swallowing them since 3. The first time he had a pill to swallow, I was holding it in my hand drying to figure out how to cut or crush it when he came to me and said "what's that?" I said "It's a pill, some people swallow them without chewing". and he said "like this?"

And that was that.

So, my first suggestion is to simply make it seem like the most normal thing in the world, something anyone can do.

Beyond that, I have no suggestions because I am an adult who can not swallow pills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just told our kid, 7, with ASD/ADHD that it is like swallowing water. Easy. I think I was more stressed about it than he was.

^put pill in mouth, sip/fill mouth with water, swallow.

[Anonymous]

DD started on ADHD meds when she was 6, and when it was clear that the sprinkle-on-food approach wasn't working, we bought the Oralflo pill swallowing cup on Amazon. It has a tilted spout. DD learned quickly.

I couldn't swallow a pill well into my teens, until my sister said, "Oh for God's sake, you swallow pieces of food bigger than that pill!" She was right, and it clicked.

[Anonymous]

My kid with ADHD can't swallow the big capsules, so we break them open and put them on applesauce. I was told by the psychiatrist that it's basically the same as taking the capsule -- the delayed release function is achieved by the little tiny bead coating around the powder, not the gelatin capsule. (Incidentally, I've posted about this before, but the CVS generic XR did NOT have the same bead coating as the Giant generic....and did not work as well. So it's not a bad idea to pop open your capsules and see what's in there.)
He sometimes take a pill that is not a capsule -- we break it in half, and I give it to him with water. I tell him to take a mouthful of water, stick the pill in through the lips, and then swallow the water. That's how I take pills.

[Anonymous]

Our developmental pediatrician suggested practicing swallowing tic tacs.

[Anonymous]

BIGGEST TIP: tell him to tilt his chin down. It opens up the throat and allows the swallow reflex to occur naturally. Most people try to tip their head backwards with their chin up. That motion constricts the esophagus and tends to make people choke or have trouble swallowing anything other than water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our developmental pediatrician suggested practicing swallowing tic tacs.

Or, from personal experience, green peas. I loathe green peas and as a child would practice swallowing them whole like pills so I didn't have to chew or taste them.

[Anonymous]

Put pill towards the back of the tongue. Then take big swallows of your drink.

FYI, when I was a kid I couldn't swallow pills. My parents crushed it between two spoons, put a tiny bit of water onto the tablespoon, and then I gulped that down and then chugged water and ate a cracker or piece of bread to get rid of the taste of the pill.