Need help! My daughter refuses to take benadryl

The dye-free liquid benadryl is bubble gum flavored as for getting a five year old to take their medicine can't be of any help there, sorry. I have a hard enough time trying to get my 5 month old to swallow and not spit it back at me.
Jami

blackmoss - thanks for your quick response. Our pharmacy is closed now but I will go out first thing in the morning (if we don't have too much snow here). I definitely know the feeling of having medicine spit back in my face. We used to use the syringe and point it toward the inside of her cheek. She had no choice but to swallow it. The funny thing is that last week when my son was sick, she was jealous that he got to take medicine. Now that she needs some, she refuses. Go figure.

Amy - Yes, we use the dye-free bubble gum flavour for Cayley. She takes most medications fine, however, my 13 year old son wouldn't take ANY medicine - I couldn't wait until he was old enough to swallow pills.

The best advice I can give is bribery and a glass of water. Tell her she can have an extra bedtime story, or bubbles in her tub or whatever "special" thing she would like. Also, give her a glass of water (or juice, and actually, carbonated beverages make Benadryl more effective, so try ginger ale) to hold in her hand, so she can sip it immediately after you dose her.

The bribery is to calm her down enough to sit for the dose, then give her the drink when she's resigned to taking it. Maybe not the best advice, but it worked for me over the years (and it's a lot easier than forcing it - believe me, I know what you're going through). Take care.

Amy, I'm not even sure if this is "good" advice or not. What Cayley's Mom mentioned about the carbonated drink - that immediately came to my mind as I had heard that it did help the Benadryl.

Jesse has always been great about taking medication. Em, on the other hand, it takes two people to get it into her. One has to hold her down and hold her hands at the same time and one has to administer the medication. We were using the syringe thing but very often she still managed to spit it back in our faces. Now what I do with her, if she needs some medication is actually mix it in whatever she is going to be drinking.
When she was still drinking her milk in a bottle, I would add the Tylenol to the bottle and shake it up until the milk and Tylenol were mixed and she would drink it, not seeming to notice the difference in taste.

Now, she's not using a bottle anymore, but I still do the same thing with the sip like cups. A couple of nights ago she needed some Tylenol for painful growing pains (also something Jesse never experienced) and she also wanted some water to drink. So, in went the Tylenol shaken up into the water.

Of course, it's only effective if they drink the whole drink with all of the medication in it. I NEVER put more than the required amount, I just simply hope that she will drink all of the drink. She usually does.

A couple of weeks ago she required eye drops for pink eye. My soul, what torture we went through trying to get those drops in and I'm not clear if that's not why she needed a second round of them.

I don't know if any other parent would suggest this. I really like what Cayley's Mom suggested. I also have a friend whose daughter refuses to take medication and this woman, she actually brings her daughter over to me to try to get me to get the medication into her! Wonderful! I can see her years from now remembering me as the woman who forced her to take some kind of medication.

At least you know you're not alone, but again, I'm not clear if anyone would recommend or second my way of doing it. It's the only thing that I've found truly effective with Em though.

Please let us know what's going on with your daughter, especially if you suspect it's a reaction. And, like Cayley's Mom did, I'm waiting for the pill form of every medication for Em especially. She will take her night time vitamin no problem.

Good luck and best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

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I was at my sister's house last month and my DD was having an allergic reaction to her dog;nose running alot. & itchy eyes. I put her benedryl in Orange Juice but just enough juice that I knew she would finish it. She didn't like it very much but I hoped that she would still finish it. My sister took her cup of coffee and said "O.K. let's do cheers!" And she *clinked* cups with my daughter's and said "here's to the snow!" Then my daughter thought of something to *clink* to and of course each time they HAD to take a sip...this went on and on back and forth until the juice was gone...it was so spontaneous;it was great! it worked! My sister and I were laughing and my daughter thought that she was really entertaining us with all her ideas to *clink* to. :-)

I had this same problem when my children were younger. YES, liguid Benadryl is the best way to go, but if you can teach her how to swallow the pill form, it will make it easier on her and you...and at least it is getting in her, one way or the other. You can take a chewable and break it into four pieces and do it that way.

When I introduced the concept of taking pill form, I explained it to them as an advantage to them. "You can either take this yucky liquid that makes you gag, or you can place this little pill in the back of your throat and swallow with water. I've seen you swallow big pieces of food, so you're not going to choke." All three of my kids have been taking pill form anything since they were three years old. It was better than having them gag themselves enough to vomit after taking a liguid form of any drug.

Benadryl is also available in chewable tablet form, at least in Canada.

Now that my son is old enough to take his medicine like a big boy (he's 4) we've explained that if he spits it out...he gets seconds! We still have a lot of whining and screaming, but no more spitting out.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I found the bubble gum flavored benadryl this morning. I woke my daughter at 3:00 this morning and she agreed to take the cherry flavored since I told her I found out there is a bubble gum flavor and I would go out in the morning for it. Her eyes are still itchy (not as bad though) but the red face and hives are gone. We'll see what the allergist says next week. For now, she's back to no dairy.

If she tries the bubble gum flavor and can't stand it, would anyone recommend the chewable benadryl. Will it be effective enough since she isn't haven't life threatening reactions? She is currently on chewable amoxicillin for an ear infection and doesn't mind that.

My allergist has actually recommended giving my PA son claritan when he has a reaction (prior to the epi if needed). He said the claritan can be chewed and is just a effective as the benadryl. We haven't had to test it out--but this is our official plan of action. Since our son is 10 and very much on the go, it makes it much easier because we can put the epi and the 4-6 claritan (individually wrapped samples) in a cylindrical toothbrush holder, along with a reduced sized copy of his reaction instructions. If we ever were far away from any sort of hospital or pharmacy I might stock the benadryl too as a precaution. The benefit of the claritan is they are small. I don't know what they taste like. I would think that the reaction time difference between a chewed medication and a liquid one would be very very small. I suppose someone out there knows the answer to this? Back to the original question about the liquid verses the chewable Benadryl, I would think that whichever was less traumatic to the child would be the best choice.

Frances - do you have a copy of your reaction instructions that you could share with us? What a great idea.

Frances, I don't mean to be contrary, but there has been much discussion on this board about why Benadryl is the recommended antihistamine for allergic reactions to food.

My PA son is on a daily dose of Claritin. However, when he had his third reaction (2nd anaphylactic), the emergency doctor still gave him Benadryl and basically didn't want to hear from me about him having Claritin until he had made sure my child was okay. I was confused at the time, but he did somewhat explain, in doctor terms.

Then, when I found this site, I made it a point to ask several questions re why Benadryl, why not Claritin, etc.

My son is still on a daily dose of Claritin but should he have a slight reaction he would still require Benadryl and if he had an anaphylactic one he definitely would.

Also, I believe there must be somewhere on this board or you could simply ask your pharmacist about the difference in absorption time between liquid and chewable Benadryl. I don't think it would be that much different. If it isn't, and you are having to use it every 6 hours until your daughter's reaction finally goes away, that might be the way to go.

I know that I mentioned my daughter Em above and her terrible ways when it comes to taking medication. I have actually gotten her to take pill form Gravol with water. Had it been the flavoured liquid Gravol, no way.

Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

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My son takes Claritan daily also. My allergist believes that potentially this might lessen any anaphylactic he might have. We don't know because he only had one allergic reaction since being diagnosed three years ago (the reaction was about two weeks after the first and he hadn't been on the claritan for long). That reaction however was from a child opening a candy that contained peanuts near him. He had severe abdominal pain but not other symptoms. His action plan should he show signs of an allergic reaction would be to be given two claritan tablets (10 mg each) to be chewed and 2-4 puffs of his maxair. Then if it progresses or he shows any breathing symptoms he is to be given the epi-pen injection. We use the emergency plan form from Food Allergy Network. I really like it because it identifies signs of an allergic reaction and seems thorough.

I really feel for parents whose kids won't take medicine. My three kids always have--but I know that isn't always the case. Two bad they can't make all medicines taste great--or have some patch form of benadryl like they do for some medicines.

Frances, Jesse has been taking Claritin every day for 2-1/2 years. Now, he has still had two anaphylactic reactions while taking it.
However, I have wondered if the Claritin does help him to not have a contact reaction that he would otherwise have. I can't find any information about it though. I know that I've read quite a bit about children having contact reactions or breaking out in hives, etc. and Jesse hasn't done that. And I do wonder if it is that daily dose of Claritin.

Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

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My allergiest doesn't believe the Claritan will prevent reactions--but he does believe they might lessen them. At any rate the Claritan is very effective for his dust mite allergies. I am amazed the more I visit this site, about how knowledgeable people are about PA issues. The only other person I knew who had PA children--moved back to Australia. My son is the only one in his school (of 300+ kids) who has food allergies. I really do feel isolated. It isn't so hard anymore because after three years I am much more comfortable with it. But, I do find that talking about PA issues helps relieve some of the anxiety and questions I do have. But back to the issue at hand--I spoke with our pharmacist today. He didn't know about the claritan/benadryl issue--as to which would be more effective--but did say that they were very comparable as antihistimines--but that the benadryl has a longer history. He did tell me that there is a Claritan reditab--which is given sublingually--under the tongue--and the absorption rate is even faster than a swallowed liquid such as benadryl. I don't know though how they taste! Someone should issue a taste rating for all these medications. How many of you have had to buy more than one of a certain medication because your kids refused one taste or the other? If any one has more info on the claritan/benadryl issue I'd love to hear it. Also, the pharmacist said that a chewed tablet is the same thing as a liquid swallowed. The absorption starts to take place in the intestine and the length of time it takes is the same (this is not true for a pill swallowed whole of course, and all medications can't necessarily be chewed).

Fran

Hi Amy, I know how you are feeling, my son hates medicine. My doctor told us not to give the kids flavored stuff because he feels they get confused with candy. So what I do is today Stephen needed Robitussin. He hates it and was fighting me. I took a straw and sucked up what I could and blew it into his mouth. He laughed at me and never realized that I was making a game out of medicine. I would prefer the bubble gum stuff as well. The doctor we had told us never to tell him it was tasty and that way they don't get into it when they shouldn't. It must work because none of my kids ever want to take unnessary medicine. Oh and by the time Stephen realized I had given him the medicine in the straw and wanted to spit it out it was swallowed. Take care and have a good day. Have any suggestions for a good cough medicine? Claire

Neither of my sons can stand the taste of Benedril either. What we do is give them a small glass of Coke to chase the Benedril with. That's a treat for them, and seems to quickly kill that terrible aftertaste.

i know kids often really hate to take meds, but have yoou considered that your daughter might be trying to tell you something?

i'm allergic to diphenhydramine (benedryl)... when i was little, i screamed and raged over being force fed it b/c it made me feel so much worse. a five year old (and i was a very vocal, expressive five-year old) can often have trouble expressing this... my mom thought i was just trying to get out of taking it... i was a very sick little kid and the benedryl just made me feel worse.

now that i'm older and have been tested, we know that i *am* allergic to it and should never take it.

ygg

Well I found the dye-free bubble gum flavored benadryl. My daughter wasn't happy taking that either because she thought if it was bubble gum flavored it should be pink in color. The clear color really threw her off. She insisted that they make a pink bubble gum flavored one. Well tonight she needed benadryl again. I gave her a choice - clear colored bubble gum flavored or cherry. She voiced that she didn't want to take any but ended up choicing the cherry flavor. She drank it all down. Go figure.

We use Benadryl chewable GRAPE tablets. my son loves the taste of them and my DOc says they work just as well as liquid.

There were some questions raised about Benadryl and Claritin in this thread, and while these 2 articles don't address the sublingulal Claritin dose, they contain interesting information about the 2 antihistamines.

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1. Oral Allergy Medications
Oral antihistamines are available in U.S. as OTC and as prescription drugs. Oral antihistamines can be subdivided into two classes: first-generation and second-generation antihistamines.

First-generation antihistamines include such drugs as diphenhydramine and brompheniramine. (These drugs are commonly known as Benadryl