Monday, July 27, 2009

Swallowing Pills

Does anyone have any great ideas on teaching a kid to swallow pills? I have been working with Hannah for several years on learning to swallow pills. She hasn't had any luck. So far we have been able to get crushable pills and liquid meds. She also is pretty good at chewing pills that are meant to be swallowed, even if they taste horrible. The problem is that now she is on a slow release pill that can't be crushed or chewed.

We've tried practicing with tic tacs and putting it in food. Nothing is working. Today, she tried for so long that the pill ended up mostly dissolved in her mouth. That can't be good! Help!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had the same problem as a kid - I was (and still am) terrified of choking. My dad taught me to stick my tongue out, put the pill waaayyy at the back of my tongue, almost IN my throat, then take a big gulp of water. If you swallow the water with your mouth open, you're so worried about not dribbline that you hardly feel the pill go down at all.

That's my best suggestion.

Mom of 7 said...

That's a great suggestion, Wendy! I'm going to have her try it tomorrow morning. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

use a cat pill shooter

Anonymous said...

I am Westons older sister, Trust me, It won't happen over night even with the method Dad used on her but it does work. Dad made it a game and when she was able to get it down it was time for great praise. Lots of "I knew you could do it"s. Relax Mom, your doing it right. Wouldn't be nice if they came with manuel overrides?

Mom of 7 said...

Thanks for all the great advice! For now, the doctor has put her on a different medication that she can chew (although it isn't a chewable!). I'm hoping to continue working with her on the swallowing thing and get her going with that so she can take the sustained release variety. It would work so much better for her.