HELP-MY SPITTER WONT SWALLOW MEDS!!

[Anonymous]

Ack! For three nights and days now Sofie will NOT swallow her suspension

of Omeprazole. I put a little in her mouth, and she has figured out how to

gather it into a liquid spitwad and blooey it out of her mouth all within 2

seconds. I use a 3mL oral syringe and do just a half a mL at a time so she

doesn’t drown-ha ha. But the problem is, that she’s not really getting her

meds and it’s starting to show. I’m told the omeprazole is not really

effective when given with feeding, but should be given 15-30 min. prior on

an empty stomach (yeah right, with DGE???) Anyhow, any other ideas??

ARG! She’s also teething and is driving me nuts. Oh, did I mention my

husband is out of town and I’m doing the nights alone this week? ARG. Just

needed to vent and look for some advice from you all…….Thanks in

advance, Kelley

[Anonymous]

Kelley – Ahhh! I’m so sorry to hear she’s learned to spit it out! Thankfully Sarah hasn’t figured that out yet…even with her baby food. Whew!!! Of course I’m drawing a blank right now on some of the great tricks these moms have found to fix your problem! Hopefully someone will chime in soon…or my brain will start working and I can answer your question.

We have been really pleased with zegerid b/c it does NOT have to be timed around meals so we were able to mix it with an ounce of formula and get her to drink it. Is it a possibility to switch meds? Especially with her DGE issues? I also know babies who wouldn’t “drink” it could be tricked by having it squirted into their mouths while they are taking a bottle (I think that was Natalia’s great idea) Or if she is old enough (can’t remember, sorry) you could mix it with her cereal/baby food. But with prevacid you can’t do that… Boy I’m really not much help, am I?

Good luck and I hope DH gets home soon!!! I have a whole new appreciation for single moms after having Sarah!!!!!

[Anonymous]

you do NOT have to time any compound with meals.
are you getting it compounded correctly, with NO flavor and sodium bicarb, every 2 weeeks?
this is how:
https://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4505&a mp;KW=ppi

i used to keep the syringe in his mouth and go side to side and blow in his face, while someone distracted with toys, that was the only way.

you can also give it with formula since its a compound.

[Anonymous]

Good to hear! I actually am planning to switch to Zererid to eliminate the

possibility of compound errors….it is, fortunately being made correctly…I

just have issues getting it into her! Will try again soon with her bottle!

[Anonymous]

if she is old enough.. she can do a different version of prevacid as well.. shane loves the capsules because we put it in applesauce.. and he swallows it right down. he HATED the compounded versions of anything. soo maybe this could be a possibility if she keeps doing that.

[hellbennt]

try a 1ml syringe- we love these! then put in along the inside of the cheek & squirt way back there, then (thank you ndrose) as you’re squirting (or stop for a second), shift the syringe across the tongue to the other side (staying ‘back’ there) & squirt- keep doing this- this confuses ’em & makes it go down easier

[Anonymous]

I was just going to pass on ndrose’s trick myself! I find that I have this problem with compounded/liquid meds, like when dagney was on the zantac, but when we switchedd to the prevacid solutabs, she generally takes it all in fairly easily. (although the solutabs have to be given 20-30 mins before a feed) Sometimes she’ll squirt the water out the sides of her mouth, but that’s usually after I’ve “gone in” for a second squirt, and most of the medicine is in her at that point. Just another option!

Whenever I’m doing nights alone, I get quite stressed out too…maybe she’s reacting to your stress too? How old is your little one?

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Like Laura mentioned the way I finally got my little med spitter to take his meds was to put the medicine dropper (I found the dropper to work better than the syringe) into the back of his right cheek (not far enough to trigger the gag reflex, but as far back as you can) and then while squirting the meds I’d briskly move the dropper across the tongue over to the other side of the mouth. This helps because it’s harder for them to spit with the dropper still in the mouth and also because it disperses the medicaiton across the mouth instead of leaving it all in one place.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Hailey was a chronic med spitter. Part of the problem was that she had a VERY hypersensitive gag, and the taste as well as the sensation of the syringe made her vomit the meds. For kids with a hypersensitive gag, it’s actually better not to move the syringe around in the mouth, but to get a very narrow syringe and keep it close to the inside of the cheek near the back, avoiding the tongue or the back of the mouth- this triggers the gag reflex and increases the chance of vomitting.

[Anonymous]

Kelley, one more thing… Have you ever tasted her compound. A properly-prepared omeprazole suspension tastes VILE- a combination of salty and poisonously bitter. So it’s no wonder she’s spitting it out… It’s sort of a catch-22… if it tastes bad then you know it’s being made properly. If it tastes good or at all sweet, then you know that they’re adding something that they shouldn’t or that there’s not enough buffer or not the right buffer.

Also, if it is actually prepared properly, then you can give it any time without worrying about meals, so you don’t have to worry there.

Hopefully the zegerid works better for her. The omeprazole suspension never worked for Hailey. Prevacid helpes her get relief a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Kelley, Chloe is always finding new ways to avoid her meds. She will actually give a hint of a smile when she holds it in her mouth and won’t swallow (little stinker). I have found using the 1 Ml SYRINGE cvs will give you at the pharmacy or the 5 ML syringe that comes in the safety first medical kit work well for getting in the side of the cheek and far back. If I am alone I put her boppy pillow on the floor and lay her on it so my hands are available to run interference. I then do any of the following to get her to take her med
1) hold her cheeks gently pushed forward to create a pocket in the cheek for the meds
2) I put my thumb on her chin under the lip and hold the mouth slightly open so she can’t close her mouth and push it out. But this doesn’t work when she’s spraying it out
3) She unfortunaely swallows the best when she cries because she automatically swallows…so when desperate (i.e., she has been spitting a lot ou for multiple doses) sometimes I let her get into a full blown cry. I feel bad but a few minutes of crying is better than a miserable baby
4) Blow on face or rub a circle behind the ear…not easy if all alone but it makes her swallow
I know we have other tricks but I am drawing a blank right now.
Good Luck!

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