Won’t Take Pill

My 6 year old son had a hard time swallowing the pill, so now I put it in applesauce and he takes it without a problem.  Have you asked him why he doesn't want to take it?  My son has told me it doesn't taste good either again the applesauce helps with this. 

As far as addiction, helping him now will lower the outcome of him trying to self medicate later on.  Here's some information for you by russell barkley a reknown adhd specialist.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/int erviews/barkley.html

Marcie

When we tried my 7 yr old daughter on Ritalin I was shocked to find out that it was a pill you had to swallow.  I said to the pharmacist, "You mean all those kids swallow pills!?"  My daughter had never swallowed a pill, so of course she started with the "I can't, I can't!"  5 bucks solved the problem.  In desperation I said, "I bet you $5 that you can't swallow this."  10 seconds later it was gone and she couldn't say, I can't again.

Of course the med didn't work and we are back to just living with ADD.  I think she is quite mild and is in a special class in school to help an LD that she also has, so it is not too bad. 

Hi, First time poster with two issues. The first is that now that my 5 yr old son has the diagnosis of ADHD and has been prescribed Ritalin, I can't get him to take the pills. Sometimes, if he feels like it, he will without a problem, but most times it is a problem. I first start out in a matter of fact tone telling him it's time for him to take his pill, then when that doesn't work I'll usually try making it into a game (seeing if he can get the pill down on the first swallow), then if that doesn't work I start to lose my patience and start demanding that he take it. Of course, nothing works. So what do I do - now that I have the pills and he refuses to take them?

Also, I am concerned about the possible side effects of the medication. Will my son become addicted like a druggie? Will the medication make him shorter when grows up than what he would have been if he had not taken the medication?

Hi my son who is 11 has to take two pills every morning, and can not swallow them so what i do is put them in applesauce, yogurt, or even pudding if I'm out of these and he takes them no problem. I don't think your son will turn into a druggie, as he gets older he will just understand he needs to take them to help him focus in the world. I don't think height is a problem my son is the average height for his age, and my 18 year old nephew who also has adhd is just shy of six feet, so i don't think you have to worry.

Hello.  Fortunatelky my son, now 12, never had a problem taking his meds.  However, my husband was recently prescribed - what he called the - worst tasting antibiotic/pill ever know to man.  Anyhow, he had to take this med a couple of times a day for 2 weeks.  He found that if he placed the pill into a small amount of jelly, he didn't have to taste the horrible thing.  Now I admit - lots of sugar in jelly....but as a last resort.....and most kids love jelly.