How can I get my toddler to take medicine? Our son came down with strep throat recently and was prescribed antibiotics for the first time. He took the medicine just fine at the doctor’s office and it’s never been hard to give him oral medications like Tylenol before. In fact, a recent administration of Tylenol was followed by him saying, “more.” So we figured we’d take him home, give him his amoxicillin for ten days and we’d be done.
Well, every time we tried to give him the goopy white stuff he fought us off and spit most of it out. We tried holding him down and squeezing it in the side of his cheek, because his teeth were clenched shut, but he still managed to spit most of it out and then rub it all over his face.
So we decided to mix it into his favorite foods: oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce – even ice cream. He’d take a bite or two and then he was “all done,” as he says. We tried mixing it in his milk and even tried chocolate milk, but there’s no fooling that boy. Finally, Daddydoh had another idea: twist open an Oreo cookie, scoop out some of the white cream filling and replace it with the medicine. It worked! Now, he actually asks for his antibiotic “O-we-Os” as he calls them. It’s definitely an off-label use of an Oreo cookie. Since we give him one dose in the morning and another at night, he’s sometimes so full from the cookies (it can take two to get the full dose) that he won’t eat anything else for breakfast. Not the ideal diet for a two-year-old, but desperate times…