Medicating our Babies

First, I feel that I should explain: This is not a post about giving Benedryl to babies to get them to sleep or even rubbing whiskey on their gums for teething. No, this is about actual medication needed and benefiting our babies and how the hell to dose it out!

As of this week, Spencer takes 4 different medications. In the evening he takes Oxy Powder, that was how it started. He's been known to drink it from a ramekin or take it from a syringe. He started out being very "good" at taking his medicine. Some nights were more difficult than others. Then we added his Atenelol (half a pill), which is a beta blocker he takes for his hyperthyroidism. I just add it in with the Oxy Powder.

Yes, I have to first cut a pill in half, then crush it.
I put it into a ramekin and hand-express breastmilk into it.

In the morning, now, he takes 1.2mg of Loratadine (Claritin) as well as half of a baby aspirin (also cut and crushed like above). I can mix the orange powder into the loratadine and still even add breastmilk to make it a little less thick and hopefully easier to take.

He is figuring out that medicine can be gross. The Atenelol does not taste good. Sometimes we can trick him into opening his mouth for an imaginary teething tablet. I've sometimes had luck getting him to look UP at a toy or book and sneaking the syringe into his mouth. Sometimes we have to literally hold his arms down and pry his mouth open. It pains me to write that.

I really, really hate having to be so forceful with him. I hate it. Its awful. :( But... without the Oxy Powder, his bowel movements make him scream and cry. He needs the thyroid medication to keep his hormones in check. Without the allergy medicine, his eyes get glued shut and he can barely breathe. And he definitely needs to take the aspirin, for 6 months. It is to prevent any clotting while his heart heals over the device used to close the hole in his heart. (I'm sure I'll write about THAT sometime, too.)

What to do? No, seriously, what do I do? I'm really looking for some solutions here. What has worked for you? When Ronni was little, I'd dangle a maraschino cherry behind the spoon of nasty medicine, a promise to get that taste out of his mouth immediately. But Spencer isn't old enough to eat a cherry, nor to understand the bribe deal.

How do you help the medicine go down?