Our kids have gotten good at the mouth wash thing. They take a swig of mouth wash, swish it, and spit. All four of them, even the three-year-old. She loves doing what the big kids do. In the beginning of this mouth wash experience, I made sure that Evelyn, the three-year-old, knew not to swallow the mouth wash. Each time she would take any amount in her mouth in the beginning of using it, I would make sure to tell her that. I didn't have to tell her very often though because she is so good at following the example of her older siblings.
Flash forward to taking medicine for a cold and a cough at night...pour medicine into a cup (similar to mouthwash). My expectation is that she will gulp it down with its sweet grape flavor. Sometimes she even faked that she was sick when I gave medicine to the other kids for a cold or headache so that she could have some too. I didn't give it to her if she wasn't sick, so I fully expected that when she was sick, she would pretty much inhale it. Wrong.
In the thick of a nasty cold, I gave her medicine right before bed so that she would be less congested at night and cough less, but after handing her the cup of purple teaspoon of medicine, she poured it into her mouth and then puffed out her cheeks, swishing a little. I did not realize the connection in her mind between mouth wash and medicine and was telling her to swallow it, just like milk. With her worried little expression in her eyes, she shook her head no and kept swishing. I lead her to bed and she still had her cheeks puffed out and hadn't swallowed the medicine. Maybe I should have given her a spoon full of sugar...helps the medicine go DOWN...
After much persuading on my part, and much resisting on her part, she got up and spit it out into the sink. I just sent her to bed after that charade. I would just have to deal with coughing that night. Poor girl, and of course I was thinking, poor Mom, will be up at various times of the night and coughing will wake up siblings. Didn't happen. Sometimes early in the morning, while I was sitting doing quiet time with Bible open in lap, I would hear her cough, and dread the idea of all the kids rushing in on my quiet time because it woke everyone. Didn't happen. Thank you Lord!
Next time I offered her medicine, she declined. Thus, no medicine to "help her sleep" through her entire snotty, stuffy, coughy cold and she's done fine (and none of the other kids have seemed effected by her coughing). I have given her some immune boosting pills (herbal stuff) - namely, Defend and Resist from Shaklee, and she is improving and not coughing anymore. It was not until a couple of days after she refused to swallow the cold medicine that I realized she equated it with mouthwash and was horrified at the idea of swallowing it. I hope I don't have to give her antibiotics any time soon...if so, they need to be in pill form...
Flash forward to taking medicine for a cold and a cough at night...pour medicine into a cup (similar to mouthwash). My expectation is that she will gulp it down with its sweet grape flavor. Sometimes she even faked that she was sick when I gave medicine to the other kids for a cold or headache so that she could have some too. I didn't give it to her if she wasn't sick, so I fully expected that when she was sick, she would pretty much inhale it. Wrong.
In the thick of a nasty cold, I gave her medicine right before bed so that she would be less congested at night and cough less, but after handing her the cup of purple teaspoon of medicine, she poured it into her mouth and then puffed out her cheeks, swishing a little. I did not realize the connection in her mind between mouth wash and medicine and was telling her to swallow it, just like milk. With her worried little expression in her eyes, she shook her head no and kept swishing. I lead her to bed and she still had her cheeks puffed out and hadn't swallowed the medicine. Maybe I should have given her a spoon full of sugar...helps the medicine go DOWN...
After much persuading on my part, and much resisting on her part, she got up and spit it out into the sink. I just sent her to bed after that charade. I would just have to deal with coughing that night. Poor girl, and of course I was thinking, poor Mom, will be up at various times of the night and coughing will wake up siblings. Didn't happen. Sometimes early in the morning, while I was sitting doing quiet time with Bible open in lap, I would hear her cough, and dread the idea of all the kids rushing in on my quiet time because it woke everyone. Didn't happen. Thank you Lord!
Next time I offered her medicine, she declined. Thus, no medicine to "help her sleep" through her entire snotty, stuffy, coughy cold and she's done fine (and none of the other kids have seemed effected by her coughing). I have given her some immune boosting pills (herbal stuff) - namely, Defend and Resist from Shaklee, and she is improving and not coughing anymore. It was not until a couple of days after she refused to swallow the cold medicine that I realized she equated it with mouthwash and was horrified at the idea of swallowing it. I hope I don't have to give her antibiotics any time soon...if so, they need to be in pill form...
No comments:
Post a Comment