I do not know what to do
 

My son (age 3) is supposed to take Singulair, for wheezing, every night, until January. It comes in 2 forms. 1 is a chewable tablet the other is granular. He refuses to take the chewable so the doctor said I can put the granules in ice cream or appleasauce. Well, he must be on to me. Because now he won't eat either one. I do not know what to do anymore. Not sure if mixing it with juice is a good idea. Unless he drinks the entire cup. This is going to be a long 2 months. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Sometimes we just have to put our foot down.
I know you hate confrontation of any kind, but he is the child, you are the parent. Any crying, whining, etc., he will do is a ploy-it won't be a constant. Once you show YOU mean business and won't back down, he'll do what you tell him.
By letting a child dictate to you what he wants, then getting it, you lose control, they try to do more of the same and it becomes more tiring than the one time you show strength and do a little battle.
Do you really want a 3 year old making the rules? Medicine now, something else tomorrow, something again next year.
As far as WHAT to say? "You HAVE to take your medicine, like it or not and if you don't take it now, you can sit in the corner til I tell you to come out and THEN you will take it anyway." Then DO IT.

Call the pharmacy that dispensed the medication, the pharmacist on duty should be able to give you more suggestions on getting the little guy to take the medicine.

If the pharmacist can't help you, call your doctor. Many people feel they "don't want to bother" the doctor, but that's bullshit- that's what they're there for, to answer questions we can't. So, there you go. :)

I agree with ngdawg, if you win this battle now, you will save yourself so much grief later on. Years ago I was at a friends place and he told his kids to clean up, they didnt and I overheard the older one tell the younger one 'Dad will rant and rave at us abit but he wont really make us clean up, he will do it later" It doesnt take long for kids to cotton onto whether you back yourself up or not, and medicine is not a thing that should be battled over, hopefully he will realise this. Good luck.

And don't forget to add a reward element. i.e. don't just punish him for not doing what he is supposed to do. Reward him for doing what he is supposed to do. So if he takes the medicine without complaint he gets a treat. If he does not, he not only loses the treat but he also gets the electric chai. . .um. . .the corner ;)


Of course, be careful with the reward system. Don't take it to the point where he refuses to be good unless he gets a candybar ;)

I have had the night to think about the responses I got here. If I force the pill down his throat he chokes, throws up and there will be no way to give this to him again. I tried forcing him to eat a spoonful of ice cream with the granules last night, and he choked and spit it all out. This is surely not helpful. I told him if he takes it he can have a piece of candy, he said he didn't want any candy. If I threaten to take something away that is also counter productive. Then he associates the medicine with something bad. Tonight I am going to see if my daughter will help me, somehow. If this fails, tomorrow I am calling the doctor.

There seems to be two issues surfacing .. which of the two is it?

Is he : refusing to take the medicine because he doesn't want to

AND/OR

Is he having a physical problem taking the medicine?

I know when I was a kid I got shoved full of so many pills as a baby that I had reflexes that could dig out medicine no matter how well they were buried. I couldn't swallow pills until i was almost 10 years old. If he's just having problem getting the medicine down, call the doctor.

amonkie - I am sure it is that he is refusing to take the medicine because he does not want to. If this is something he will have to take for a long time, I'd like to be able to give it to him without a struggle, and without choking him.

My nephew does the gagging/choking/throwing up thing whenever he's told to eat something that he doesn't want to... like vegetables, in his case, it was mind over matter, and got him attention for being a little dramatic.

He's three, so reasoning with him his probably not the best course of action.. or even bribing him to do something.

Have you asked him why he doesn't want to do take the pill?

As someone who got subjected to regular allergy shots as a kid, I'd take pills over a shot anyday of the week...

Mal - all he says is that he does not want to, he does not like it. He hasn't even tried it to say that. Should I tell him that he will end up getting shots if he does not take it?

Tell him that he is a Big Boy - because he is a Big Boy, this is one of the things he Must Do. Period. If you go down the "take it or ... " road ... be darn sure you are willing to do whatever you threaten, often best to not step down that road to begin with.

Gawd that sounds so much like my nephew... I can hear his voice saying - "i don't yike that" and the second it goes in his mouth - the gagging starts... and my sister would let him get away with it... she'd take the veggies away and give him something that he would like.

I'm with amonkie on this - tell him he's a big boy and this is what he has to do... Does the granules have a taste to it? If it was mixedd with milk or juice and given to him with dinner would he notice?

Threatening him with shots I think would only serve to make him afraid of the doctor... I know I used to have moments of extreme panic when I had to go to the doctor because I was gonna get stuck with something...

My son and I had a little talk today. On his level. I found out that he didn't want to take it because he feels good. I told him if he wants to always feel good he needs to take it every day. He was agreeable. So after dinner, I reminded him about our talk and handed him the pill. He took it. He did try to spit it out, but I managed to make him keep it in. Then he had juice. I didn't offer candy if he took it, and I didn't threaten to take anything away. and tomorrow will be another day. Hopefully each time it will get a little bit better.

It's a good step in the right direction. Reminds me of articles I've read about parents trying to get their kids to eat vegetables. Hope your son gets over his wheezing without incident.

a little out of left field but certainly, imo, helpful. an old classmate of mine used to have heavy weezing attacks, to the point where paramedics had to get her. my bio teacher at the time advised her to drink iced tea saying it helped asthma.

she began drinking iced tea regularly and we never saw another weezing attack again. maybe he is too young to be drinking iced tea, but hopefully something to consider.

i think right now he is too young for ice tea, unless i can give him decaffeinated. I will definitely keep it in mind though.

Congrats! I hope this continues to work for you. I'm glad you found a solution based on communication rather than trickery or force.

Good job. :)