Marco & Medicine Tricks

In my opinion, these are the big milestones that make things a bit easier for moms and dads everywhere. They include:

* sitting up

* child puts self to sleep

* walking 

* talking

* getting dressed by themselves

* toilet trained

* buckling themselves into a car seat

* taking medicine without issue

* the day you can start to reason with your child, or convince them to do something because it is good for them, even if they don’t like it. (keyword = start… because I know this is a lifelong issue!)

Well, Marco just crossed (sort of) another of these milestones… but he had to do it HIS way. I finally found a trick to giving him medicine without having to waste an entire bottle of medicine!

I would rank him *third worst medicine-taker* of my children. 

Giuliana was the worst. Matteo was the second worst medicine-taker. 

I literally had to try everything in the book with Giuliana. I even sought sneaky technique advice from my friends on F.acebook. We tried letting her do it in her own time, holding her down, sneaking it in while on the changing table, putting it in food, ice cream, chocolate syrup, sip it from a straw, take it from a spoon, etc. You name it - I tried it. The worst was when we wasted an entire bottle of medicine trying to get 4 mls in her mouth. The thick syrup was instead all over the floor, counter, in her hair, in my hair, it had painted our clothing and was disbursed across various desserts and beverages and yogurts. She would successfully spit every last drop out of her mouth. It was awful. Even the nurses tried to help. They agreed. She was a little H.oudini. Somehow we eventually tricked her into thinking medicine could be fun to take. And, never a problem since then. 

Matteo wasn’t nearly as bad a Giuliana. But, we did have a few instances where it seemed like medicine was everywhere BUT in his little mouth.  

Marco is a lot like Matteo was. But, he’s gotten smarter and better at spitting the medicine out… and he wont’ stop spitting until it is all out. Every last drop. 

He’s been on an antibiotic every month since January due to ear infections. In February, the medicine delivery had reached the point where I dreaded having to give it to him. I would be stressed he wasn’t getting a full dose, wondering how much he actually did consume, and already fearing the day’s second dose. Finally, I decided to just try and reason with him about his medicine, and also bribe him with a treat. 

Marco still doesn’t talk a whole lot. But, I do know that he understands most of what we are saying. I can tell him to go do something - and he will. Or, if I talk about someone or something, he will look around for them/it. 

So, one day I just sat him in my lap and told him it was medicine time and how important it was he takes his medicine so we could get rid of all the yucky sick germs that were making his ears hurt. I told him I would give him a treat if he took his medicine nice. Then, I put him down and filled up the medicine syringe and got a little caramel treat. I followed him around telling him it was time for him to take his medicine (5 minutes maybe), and all of a sudden, he opened his mouth up big and drank the medicine without any protest or spitting. I was so excited I started cheering and jumping and telling him what a good boy he was. He was SO PROUD of himself. And, he really enjoyed the caramel treat. Every day we did the same thing and it worked like a charm after that. 

Well, of course he got another ear infection right before our trip to Italy. And, of course it was a different antibiotic - one with a worse taste. He hated it. Back to the spitting. Again, I tried reasoning with him. It didn’t work. I tried hiding it in chocolate syrup. I tried bribing. A few times, I had to lay him down and try to stick it in the back corner of his mouth and hope he would swallow most of the dose. That wasn’t working so great. 

Finally, we decided to try making it a party. This worked great because we had the entire family home, as well as and my mom & dad and Maria (one of our wonderful au pairs, from Germany). I scooped Marco into my arms and told him it was medicine time. I put the medicine in a spoon dropper. We also started clapping our hands and singing, very rhythmically, “med-i-cine, med-i-cine…Marco’s gonna take his MED-I-CINE!” and we repeated that mantra over & over. He had a big smile on his face, he drank up his medicine in one go, and every single one of us high-rived him after that. He thought this was the coolest thing in the world and LOVED all the singing and attention. 

It was hilarious and fun and he TOOK HIS MEDICINE! YAY!

Now, let’s hope I’m not alone the next time he needs medicine. Because I’m quite certain I am much less of a party than a group of 9 people. :))