Power To The (Little) People

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I Said I’m Not Eating It!

A Spoonful of Sugar, Peanut Butter, or Grape Juice: How to Get Kids to Take Their Medicine

What is it about some kids?

Some kids take their medicine (ok, expect the really disgusting ones) without a peep.  Some even love the taste of medicines and ask for them when they’re not ill at all.  I was one of these strange kids.  Grape-flavored dimetapp was definitely incentive to develop a little sniffle. Most kids seem to struggle a bit but eventually remit.  But some will not ever-ever-ever-under-any-circumstance-even-if-they-feel-horrible-terrible-no-good-very-bad-and-are-old-enough-to-understand-that-the-medicine-will-make-them-feel-better let that icky stuff get anywhere near their mouths.

I have recently been struggling to find a formulation of medicine that will be tolerable to a 5-year-old patient of mine with acid reflux.  Her stomach makes more acid than is necessary to digest her food, and the stomach contents manage to sneak back up into her esophagus, a common problem in adults and also in some children.  However, this is not your garden variety acid reflux.  This stuff is so toxic that the stomach acid sneaks out of the esophagus, scoots over into the trachea and dives down into her lungs where it creates general havoc: inflammation and infection.  She had now had pneumonia six times, each episode requiring several nights in the hospital on oxygen.  A medication that reduces the acid in her stomach can prevent the pneumonia.  Without this medicine, the inflammation can create permanent lung damage.  She needs her medicine.