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Frequently, an encounter with a child’s physician results in instructions to give the child some medication. Patients often leave the offices of doctors and pharmacists with confusion and many unanswered questions. One study of patients leaving their doctors’ offices revealed that over fifty percent made at least one error when describing what their doctors expected. Which is a natural reaction considering, the recordings of the medical visits discovered that the doctors did not even discuss twenty percent of the medicines they prescribed. For thirty percent of these medications, the doctors gave no information about the name or purpose of the drug. Of all the patients in this study, ninety percent were not told by their doctors how long to take the medicines, and less than five percent of the prescription bottles contained this information. This clearly shows there needs to be a clearer line of communication between patients and doctors. There also needs to be more information to make young patients and their parents better informed.
There are a number of factors to keep in mind whenever you give your child medicine. Before leaving the doctor’s office make sure you understand the instructions. If the instructions on the medication bottle differ from what the doctor of pharmacist said, call your doctor immediately. If you are confused, call the doctor or the pharmacist. Be sure of the strength of the medication. Some common medications appear in many different concentrations, and the wrong strength may be dangerous. Be sure your child is not allergic to the medication. Even the most careful doctor occasionally forgets that a child may be allergic to penicillin and may prescribe it. Do not give your child anything that you know he or she is allergic to. Be as precise as possible in your measurements. Teaspoons vary greatly in size. When most doctors prescribe a teaspoon, they mean to prescribe five cubic centimeters of medication. Kitchen measuring spoons are more accurate. Many pharmacies sell small plastic measuring devices or give them away when a prescription is filled. Never give your child medication intended for another person or medication that the expiration dates has passed.
Some of your most interesting moments with your children will be spent trying to give them medications. Getting medication into your children will be a great test of your ingenuity. But remember you are an adult, which makes you older, wiser, cleverer and ultimately bigger. There are a few ways that make it easier to give children medication. First, never tell a child medication is candy. As soon as your back is turned, children will sometimes try to get as many of these candies into their mouths as possible. Do not tell a child that medicine taste good, when it does not. This will help you get the first dose into the child, but you will have a terrible time the second time around. For younger infants, you can mix some medications in with applesauce or ice cream. Medicines usually do not give a good flavor to milk and it is not suggested to add medicine to milk. Most children know the taste of milk and will back away from funny tasting milk. Most toddlers do well with tablets; they can be ground into ice cream which toddlers like. Cranberry juice is another good place to hide medications. For infants younger than six months, a syringe or calibrated eyedropper does well.
Ultimately, every parent will participate in a knock down, drag out fight with a toddler or pre-school aged child over taking medicine. The child in this situation, with his or her ability to spit, vomit, and clench teeth, will win in a showdown every time. In fact the more the struggle the more the child likes the fight. In this situation, it pays to back away for a few minutes. Let the struggle die down and then try again. This may provide the toddler with enough sense of control that he or she will give in to taking the medicine the next time around.
Older children should be required to take medication as directed. They should not need to be threatened or bribed any more than they need to be bribed or threatened when it is their bedtime. Children over the age of three can begin to be treated as adults when it comes to taking medications. Development of proper respect for medication is important at this age. At this age, parents should start talking to them about the importance of medication to help them through their illness, do not talk about medicine as either magic or rewards.
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