How can we encourage children to take their tablets?
Many medicines used in paediatric medicine only come in tablet form. This can cause enormous problems in getting some children to take medication. Crushing tablets often just releases foul tasting powder and slow release forms of medication cannot be crushed without impacting their affect.
There are ways of encouraging tablet taking in children (and adults).
Here are a few tips derived from the fabnhsstuff website.
Use sweets of increasing size to practice with. Relax and sit up straight and ensure the mouth is not dry.
Try using a sports cap bottle which produces a jet of water. Put the tablet at the back of the tongue, purse the lips around the cap and squeeze the bottle.
The most popular method found on feedback was the ‘big gulp method’. Swirl the tablet around the mouth with as much water as possible, then take a gulp until all of the water and hopefully the tablet is gone.
It may seem a trivial issue but it causes a great deal of child and parental stress and leads to enormous waste of resources when liquid ‘specials’ , made specifically by a pharmacist and costing up to £300 a month replace tablets.
The Melbourne teaching hospital too has a plan to help with this problem, I have taken the following from their website
We teach children not to swallow anything until it has been completely chewed and not to put strange objects in their mouths. It is only natural that they think they can’t or shouldn’t swallow a tablet.
Also, some people have narrow throats, sensitive palates or a very strong gag reflex which initially makes swallowing larger objects uncomfortable.
The plan
By starting with small lollies that are easy to swallow and slowly increasing to a larger size, children can learn to become comfortable swallowing tablets and capsules whole.
You will need
Lollies, e.g. ‘snakes’, jelly babies (1 pack)
Flavoured yoghurt or ready-to-eat dairy pudding (i.e. Yogo) (2 packs)
Juice or milk
Plastic knife and plate
Spoon
Keep this in mind
Make this a fun, relaxed project.
Keep sessions short so your child doesn’t become tired and stressed.
Be flexible.
Give plenty of praise for all your child’s accomplishments along the way. Even little steps are important.
If there is little progress, talk with the medical caregiver; do not discourage the child.
Keep all medicines out of reach of children.
What to do
Give your child some control. Go shopping together for the food and let your child choose the yoghurt or pudding flavours.
Allow your child to cut the lollies into very small pieces and put them in the yoghurt or pudding. Ask your child to swallow them with the yoghurt or pudding.
Encourage your child to swallow the pieces of lolly without chewing. Suggest to the child that this may be done more easily if the lolly is moved toward the back of the throat.
Once the child can swallow small pieces, demonstrate cutting them a little bigger and repeat the process.
Once your child has mastered average tablet-sized pieces of lolly, thin out the yoghurt or pudding with a little milk and encourage the child to practise with this.
Continue until your child feels comfortable with this, then change to swallowing with water.
Buy some small empty gelatin capsules at a pharmacy. Practise each day with these capsules in water. Allow your child to handle them, pull them apart or chew them. They may even like to fill them with sprinkles before taking them.
Buy some larger sized empty gelatin capsules for practising.
Have your child swallow a vitamin tablet daily to keep in practice.
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