Teaching kids to swallow pills

Aneroo, LPN · Apr 10, 2009

Practice with M&Ms.

rnsrgr8t · Apr 10, 2009

Practice with M&Ms.

I am not a school nurse but teach my peds patients to do this. I have them start with the mini M&M's then graduate up to the regular size. Works like a charm. I have very few kids who cannot do it!

Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2009

Good tip! I will talk to the mom about it. I think part of the problem is behavioral/lack of discipline at home and the other part is that the kid does not have the skill yet. We shall see!

Aneroo, LPN · Apr 11, 2009

I've had high school students who still can't swallow pills! I have orders for OTC tylenol/motrin, and I've seriously considered getting liquid b/c some of them can't swallow!

mama_d, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2009

I think sometimes it depends on the kid. Our twelve year old can still barely swallow a pepcid, but our ten year old could swallow pills when he was three. That's how old he was when he told his pediatrician the first time "I'm not taking that yucky medicine anymore, give me pills like the big boy you just said I was." Apparently outspokenness is an inherited trait :)

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Apr 11, 2009

I have my kids put the pill at the back of their tongue and swallow. It works !

Aneroo, LPN · Apr 13, 2009

I have my kids put the pill at the back of their tongue and swallow. It works !

That was how I started as a child (maybe 4 or 5 years old). I'm 27 and just recently started being able to take pills normally. :lol: If it tastes bad, I still have to put it in the back of my throat. I've had several incidents where I got it too far back there and have almost choked though.

adhrn711 · Apr 15, 2009

I have found (with my own kids at least) that they have a much easier time if they swallow the pill with a spoonful of yogurt.

Flare, ASN, BSN · Apr 16, 2009

I worked in special ed for quite a few years - many of these children were on some type of medication so pill swallowing was a vital necessity. For some it wasn't a big deal, but many of them took meds in a capsule that could not be crushed or chewed. This left out the idea of using candy such as m & m's as a practice pill as these children were not able to pretend it was a pill and would chew it every time. I went to my pharmacist and asked if i could get empty capsules - he gave me a website and we were in business. The problem then was filling them... no filling made them too light, filling with sugar gave them a nice weight but was problematic as then children always bit into them the first time and would not be discouraged when they realized it was sweet inside. Filling with salt seemed like an awful lot of sodium so i finally decided on flour (except my gluten free kids, who would have gotten corn starch). Starting slowly, I worked with the kids each day, teaching them how to put the capsule in the back of their mouth and take a big sip of water. If they were successful, they got one of their reinforceers (special treats given throughout the day for good behavior in the special ed circuit) if they were not, we would try again the next day. The program worked very well - usually it only took one time of getting a mouthful of flour to discourage them from cracking open the capsule again. The only really tricky part was learning how to fill those little capsules.

linda1959 · Apr 22, 2009

If they are learning to swallow capsules, have them tip their heads slighty FORWARD after the liquid is in their mouth. Capsules float, so if you have them tip their head back, it brings them to the front of their mouth, which you don't want.

With my own son, he can swallow wads of gum! . . but hated the texture and/or taste of medicines if they started to melt. So, he gets all pills/capsules wrapped and sealed in a layer of fruit roll up (certain ones work better, so experiment). Goes down smooth, no instant melting, and tastes ok (and he gets his choice of flavors).

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Apr 24, 2009

So I need help teaching one of my students how to use a MDI. I went over the steps with him time after time. We even practiced and he's still not getting it ! Instead of him inhaling the medication into his lungs, he blows it straight out.

I keep telling him to inhale, hold breath for 5 seconds and then exhale. I think this kid needs a spacer but unfortunatley don't have one. He's in second grade but I have kindergardners that know how to use their inhaler !