$Unique_ID{PAR00005}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Medical Advice:  Medications}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{
Editors of Consumer Guide
Chasnoff, Ira J}
$Subject{Medication Medications medicine medicines prescription Prescriptions
tablet tablets capsule capsules pill pills candy candies drug drugs}
$Log{}

Your Child:  A Medical Guide


Medications


     Treating a sick child with medication is a two-way responsibility and
it's a perfect example of how parent and doctor work together in the interests
of the child's health.  The doctor is responsible for making an accurate
diagnosis of the child's condition and prescribing the appropriate drug.  But
it is the parent's responsibility to make sure that the drug is administered
correctly.
     It has been estimated that in 10 to 30 percent of cases in which
medication apparently failed to work, that failure was because the medication
wasn't given properly.  Whenever a doctor prescribes medication for your
child, the doctor will also instruct you in how the medicine should be given.
If you don't understand, ask.  And don't rely on the scribble on the
prescription.  Prescriptions are written in a form of medical shorthand that
is quite clear to a pharmacist but may not mean a thing to you.  So make sure
you know, before you leave the doctor's office or get off the phone, just how
to give the child the medication.

HOW MUCH MEDICATION TO GIVE

     The quantity of medication the doctor prescribes for your child depends
on the child's weight and age.  The dosage prescribed for a baby will be much
different from that prescribed for an adolescent, even if the drug is the same
and given for the same reason.  It's important to give the child the exact
amount prescribed, which means that you can't rely on hit-or-miss
measurements.  It's easy enough to give one or two pills, but liquid measures
are trickier.  You can't use a kitchen teaspoon to administer a teaspoonful of
medication--you could be way off.  One teaspoonful means 5.0 milliliters (ml)
of liquid.  Half a teaspoonful means 2.5 ml--not what looks like half of the
teaspoon you use to stir your coffee.
     You can buy a specially marked measuring spoon for medication from any
pharmacist.  Keep it in the medicine chest and be sure to use it any time you
are giving your child liquid medication.  If you have a child who insists on
taking medication from his or her own special spoon, transfer the medication
from the measuring spoon to the child's spoon after measuring.
     Make sure the child takes all the medication.  If the child vomits within
20 minutes of receiving medication, you can assume that the medication was
lost and should give another dose.

WHEN TO GIVE MEDICATION

     It is also important to follow the doctor's instructions about when
medicine should be given.  Medications vary in the amount of time it takes for
them to be absorbed by the body and start doing their work of helping the
child get well.  Some medications need to be given at very precisely regulated
intervals.  Therefore, make sure you fully understand the prescription.  For
example, "four times a day" and "every six hours" do not mean the same thing.
If the label on the medication tells you to give the medicine four times a
day, it means that the child should have four doses within the waking hours at
fairly equally spaced intervals.  On the other hand, "every six hours" means
exactly what it says.  Each dose must be given six hours after the last one,
and the child must be awakened at the appropriate time if necessary.  This
instruction may also appear on the prescription as "every six hours around the
clock."

HOW LONG TO GIVE MEDICATION

     A mistake that is all too easy to make is to assume that because a child
acts well, he or she is well.  Stopping a child's medication too soon can
cause a relapse and complications.  The symptoms of an illness can subside
long before the illness itself is over.  The child's earache goes away, the
fever drops, the appetite returns to normal, and the parent thinks the child
is well again.  In fact, the healing process may barely have begun.  Strep
infections, for example, require ten straight days of antibiotic treatment.
Some infections--urinary tract and ear infections, for instance--often take
even longer, even though the symptoms may disappear in a day.  Therefore, such
instructions as "Give for ten full days," "Continue for two weeks," and "Give
until finished" are not just so many words.  They are precise and necessary
directions to you from the doctor.  Consider such an instruction, not as a
request, but as an order.

HOW TO GIVE MEDICATION

     It is best to let your child find out early that taking medication is
just one of those things that children have to do now and then--a situation in
which you are the boss and the child doesn't have a choice in the matter.
     Every parent needs to know how to give a child medicine, and the parent
who reports to the doctor that "my child just won't take your medication" is
forcing the doctor to resort to another method of treatment that may be less
effective.  In extreme cases, a child who cannot be medicated at home must be
hospitalized so that the appropriate medications can be given by
professionals.
     A young child, approached in a reassuring and matter-of-fact manner, will
usually accept medication without any trouble.  There are also some special
techniques that may make it easier for both you and the child.
     Liquid medicine can be given directly from the spoon (after careful
measurement), and many medications designed for children are specially
flavored so that they are not unpleasant to taste.  An alternative method is
to use a nonglass medicine dropper to squirt the liquid slowly into the
child's mouth.  If you use this method, you must be very careful not to direct
the stream of liquid forcefully against the back of the throat and down the
windpipe, but rather against the inside of the cheek.
     If the medicine doesn't taste good, give the child a sweet treat
afterward to take away the bad taste or disguise the medicine in a little
applesauce, ice cream, or juice.  If you do this, however, make sure the child
takes the entire portion.
     Some infants and toddlers will accept medicine in the form of chewable
tablets, or even regular tablets or capsules that can be swallowed whole.
However, do not give pills and capsules to even a cooperative child under the
age of five.  Small children can easily choke to death on a bulky pill.  If
the medication is not available in liquid form, a tablet may be mashed (or the
contents of a capsule emptied) and mixed with a small quantity of juice or
food.  (Always check with your pharmacist or physician first, though, to be
certain that the medication will be effective if given in this way.)  Again,
you must make sure that the child gets the whole dose.
     After the age of five or six, your child can probably swallow tablets or
capsules whole.  You can help the child learn how to do this by taking
advantage of occasions when he or she needs a nonprescription remedy--aspirin
for a slight headache, perhaps.  If the child is willing, show him or her how
to put the pill on the back of the tongue and swallow it with a drink or with
a half-teaspoonful of ice cream, applesauce, or jelly.  It's also possible to
buy a special glass that delivers the pill into the mouth automatically with
the first gulp of liquid.  Whenever a child is taking a pill, watch to be sure
that the medication goes down smoothly and that the child is in no danger of
choking.
     A final caution:  Don't ever try to fool a child into taking medication
by saying that it's candy or just like candy.  Many cases of drug poisoning
have occurred in children who helped themselves to medications that looked or
tasted like candy.  Many doctors even discourage the use of children's vitamin
pills that are sweet, brightly colored, or shaped like cartoon characters.
Such products blur the distinction in the child's mind between candy and
drugs, and the child may make a tragic mistake.