Tips for getting 6 yr old to swalow pills | ADHD Information

My son, chews up his Ritalin and then drinks juice, he wont swallow it either and I know it tates horrible. I am going to try the pill taking suggestions that have been posted. I just wanted to say that with the LA acting Ritalin you can open the capsule and mix the small little balls with applesauce or yogurt as long as they swallow it and do not chew it up, it is fine. This is what my physician and pharmacist told me and it seemed to work. But on another note I found the LA to last only a little bit longer than the SA Ritalin. Anyone else have this experience?

Be careful with crushing up pills. There are some types of ADHD med, that can't be crushed up. The dr. had told me that if a certain type of med. is crushed up and isn't supposed to be then the child will get ALL the med at one time instead of over a period of time. I would check with the dr. Also, the kind you can crush or pour .. you might try and put it in a spoonfull of applesauce or something else your child likes. Good luck.

Oh and a friend of mine her 10 year old has a hard time swallowing the pills. She made up a game where he opens his mouth and she just throws or tosses it down his throat. He thinks it's funny, so he takes it. Sounds weird, but it works for them.

-googles-38813.9775Hi my 12 year old still can't swallow his pills, and I've tried all the swallowing methods to help him try. He just gags and gets very upset. The only way he can take any kind of pill form is to put the medicine whole in applesauce, or yogurt you push it done so it can't be seen then it goes right down his throat, this works every time.

No child should be on a mediaction that they have to take a second dose at school. Consider a long acting medication that can be sprinkled on applesauce such as Adderal XR 8-10 hrs, or metadate- 6-8 hours.

Good luck!

IMac38945.6740509259The patch is called Daytrana...looks good!

I mix it with hot tea for ds (chamomile) and give him a straw. He takes adderall which is blue, and he likes to chase the little blue pieces with the straw. It doesn't have any taste and the chamomile tea is very calming for him.

Sarah

Joe mom,

Yes, they are the short acting tablets-and I think I am going to try the pill swallowing idea, as he is still leary of Orange Juice after I mixed some other liquid cold medicine in it about TWO years ago!!! My doc "frowns" upon the liquid ritalin (though wont give me a specific reason), just says "HE" doesn't prescribe it . He will also not prescribe the long acting until my son is better at swallowing because he says it is bigger -- true?

Thanks for everyones advice and help, I really appreciate it!

kewood,

Is ritalin SA the short acting tablets? If so, would taking two 5mg tablets be any better? I know the size is a bit smaller...also if this gets really bad you can try the liquid form...

my son had more trouble with the capsules ritalin LA--we tried dumping the meds into everything but he hated it and now he wont even eat pudding

give the pill lessons some consideration because when dealing with ADHD--- meds or even alternatives ( omegas and mag) are a part of every day life---

joemom38798.4308217593[QUOTE=joemom]

kewood,

Is ritalin SA the short acting tablets? If so, would taking two 5mg tablets be any better? I know the size is a bit smaller...also if this gets really bad you can try the liquid form...

my son had more trouble with the capsules ritalin LA--we tried dumping the meds into everything but he hated it and now he wont even eat pudding

give the pill lessons some consideration because when dealing with ADHD--- meds or even alternatives ( omegas and mag) are a part of every day life---

[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=kewood99]

Hello all -- newbie here with a request for some tips on helping my son swallow his meds. He currently takes 10 mg. SA Ritalan and it is such a sad battle in the morning. He keeps it in his mouth for so long that it begins to melt and that scares me, I also think he might be chewing it a bit and I know that can't be good! His school nurse has mentioned to me as well when he takes his afternoon dose. Poor guy, he does terrific on the medication and it just breaks my heart to see him struggle with swallowing!

Thanks for all your help!!!

[/QUOTE] Try mixing it with applesauce. It has worked for my four year old wonderfully. What I do is if I am going to be out I take aplastic spoon with me and individual size applesauce and give it to him. You could sendone to school... Hope this helpsyou need to start some "pill swallowing" lessons at home...I did this with my 6 year old son when he was about 5 years old...we started out with candy sprinkles and slowly moved up to bigger sized candy sprinkles ( about te size of the meds) ...if you do a google you will find lots of web pages with various approaches to swallowing pills...my son was better at tablets at first, capsuls gave him trouble because they were so light ....but he learned to use lots of water to wash them down....Good luck I know this can be very difficultBuy a pill crusher and mix it in juice, or go to the Alternatives board and seach under "cup" or "pill cup" --- someone posted about a cup the supposedly makes it easier to swallow.[QUOTE=kewood99]

Thanks for all your help!!!

[/QUOTE] My son was diagnosed with ADHD last year when he was 5 years old and he was not able to swallow pills. Because most medications are time release, I was informed by my doctor and my pharmacist that "crushing" pills was NOT an option as it would mess with the time release function. The only medication that he could take initially was Adderal - because each little ball inside the capsule was time released. So we were able to break open the capsule and put it on a spoonful of yogurt and then swallow - yogurt because kids tend not to chew it, they just swallow it. After about 6 months, Adderal quit working well for him and we switched to Concerta. Because he was still not good at swallowing, we "set" the pill on the spooful of yogurt and it worked beautifully because he still was just swallowing the yogurt - not chewing - and the pill simply went down when he swallowed. So he eventually got used the the pill just going down! He is now 6 and BRILLIANT at swallowing pills! Hope this helps those of you with young children. If they like yogurt, it is a great solution!

I had my son put the pill in his mouth, take a drink and put his head down. Then throw his head back and swallow. When he did that it puts the pill in the back of the mouth and mixed with the liquid. And also use some kind of carbonated beverage. Make sure that it is caffiene free. That is how I got my two sons to swallow a pill.

I started my sons out with the allergy pill, loratidine. It is a very small pill. If you can get them to swallow one that is small then alot of the time they can move on to a bigger pill.

I never gets easy. They are going to fight you just because they dont want to take any medicine. If you take any medicine of your own, make sure you take it the same time the kids do and then they dont feel like they are so different.

BEST OF LUCK!!!!

coat the pill with butter and have him tilt his head back as far as he can with his tung out and drop it in the back of his throat and he will swallow it the first time w/o a problem.I know when my son started on medication I thought it was going to be a struggle. But what I did was put the pill on his tongue close to the back and then get him to drink a glass of water just to rinse it down. At first I put the pill on his tongue and then he got use to it and did it himself.

Thanks for all your help!!!

Check with the Pharmacy, but I believe that Ritalin can be crushed and then you can put it in a spoon with apple sauce or yogurt or ice cream. Call them.

My son can not swallow and the he has tried Focalin,Ritalin,Adderall,Metadate and they all can be sprinkle or crushed.

Good luck

FDA just approved the Ritalin Patch for children. Maybe that would be easier and better. It stays on for 9 hours each day. Good luck.