Dealing With A Child’s Palate

Giving medication to picky children can often require both parents or a team of healthcare professionals to make the medicine go down smoothly. From the medicine’s taste to the frequency of doses, kids can quickly become frustrated with taking medication. When medication is a critical aspect of a treatment plan for an infection or more severe condition, finding clever ways to give medicines to picky children can help patients adhere to the treatment and have a better prognosis. One of these strategies is through pediatric compounding.

1. Skip the taste buds

A child’s contorted face after getting a taste of medicine says it all. Picky children can proceed to spit out the drug and reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. To make medicine delivery more seamless, parents can use a syringe to bypass the taste of the medication from the taste buds. Experts recommend parents squirt the medicine toward the inside of the child’s cheek to avoid the taste buds and ensure the entire dose is taken.

2. Change the flavor

When the flavor is just too much to handle, pharmacies can concoct a unique formulation of the medication with different kid-friendly flavors including banana, grape, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, and other sweet flavors. Pharmacists can quickly and inexpensively change the taste of non-prescription or prescription medication. Letting the child choose the flavor can also improve treatment adherence.

3. Get kids involved

Kids can become easily and visibly annoyed when prodded to take medicine. Instead of forcing kids to take the medication, parents should find creative ways to get children to want to take medicine. Parents can let the kids decide what time to take the medication, the flavor of the medication, and other small decisions to make the child feel more comfortable.

Benefits of pediatric compounding

Pediatric compounding is the practice of creating easy-to-swallow chewable or liquid formulations for children. Compounding pharmacists can create a variety of medications, including pills, liquids, topicals, and other dosage forms with sweet flavors. Kid-friendly lollipops, dissolvable troches, and popsicles infused with a prescription or non-prescription medication can make giving medication to picky children easier than ever. For more information about pediatric compounding, speak with a pharmacist.