What to do if your baby refuses to take medicine

Babies under three years old generally have a resistance to Chinese medicine. Whether it is an injection or taking medicine, the baby will cry and use this emotion to express their protest. If you want the baby to take the medicine, adults must be patient. After feeding the baby the medicine, it is best to feed the baby some boiled water, then pick the baby up and pat the back to prevent the baby from spitting out the medicine.

What to do if your 2-year-old baby refuses to drink Chinese medicine

1. What to do if your 2-year-old baby refuses to take Chinese medicine

When a 2-year-old baby drinks Chinese medicine, it is often given orally. When administering medicine, avoid pinching the child's nose with your hands to avoid choking and vomiting. When feeding the medicine, hold the child in your arms in a semi-recumbent position, secure his head and hands, press the middle of the tongue with a tongue depressor or a small spoon, or pinch the child's cheeks with the thumb and index finger of your left hand to open his mouth, and then use a small spoon filled with medicine to feed it along the corners of the mouth to the root of the tongue. After feeding, take out the spoon when you hear the sound of the medicine being swallowed, and then feed the second mouthful. After giving the medicine, give the child some warm water to wash away the medicine remaining in the mouth. Pick up the child and gently pat his back to prevent vomiting.

2. The younger the baby, the better it is to feed Chinese medicine

Because the younger the baby is, the less developed their sense of taste is. Deep down, the baby cannot differentiate between sweet and bitter tastes. Therefore, as long as parents are willing to cure their baby's illness as the highest starting point and patiently feed the baby medicine, then no baby will be difficult to feed medicine!

The reason why babies feel "bitter" is largely because parents bring their own "the medicine is bitter" emotions to babies when feeding them medicine. Babies receive such emotions and express them by crying and refusing to take medicine, but in fact, babies do not really know the difference between sweet and bitter!

Therefore, the first step in giving medicine to babies is to treat it as a part of daily life, with curing the disease as the top priority. Do not add to the parents' personal feelings that "the medicine is bitter" and do not think that the baby is "drinking bitter medicine", but think that the baby is drinking "medicine that can cure the disease"!

3. How old can babies take Chinese medicine?

As long as the prescription is given under the dialectical guidance of a professional Chinese medicine pediatrician or the application of Chinese patent medicine is guided, no matter how old the child is, as long as the child is willing to accept it, he or she can take Chinese medicine.

Commonly used Chinese medicine dosage forms for children include decoctions, granules, pills, finished medicines (granules, oral liquids), pastes, etc. Depending on the severity of the child's condition and the difficulty of taking the medicine, the doctor and parents can discuss which dosage form is most suitable for their children to prevent the medicine from being difficult to feed, which not only wastes the medicinal materials, but also affects the efficacy and misses the best treatment.

Do not add sugar to Chinese medicine for babies

Chinese herbal decoctions are very effective, but they are quite bitter, making them difficult for adults to drink, not to mention children. So some people thought, in order to cover up the bitter taste that is hard to swallow, can we add some sugar to the soup? This practice that only cares about the refreshing taste should not be encouraged, otherwise it will reduce the efficacy in mild cases and cause side effects in severe cases.

Sugar has the effects of moistening the lungs and the middle, nourishing the spleen and soothing the liver. It can be used to treat dry cough, dry mouth and tongue, middle-jiao deficiency, and stomach pain. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine also regards sugar as a Chinese medicine. However, it also has some contraindications in clinical use.

First of all, eating too much will increase heat. If the patient has symptoms such as abdominal distension, damp heat stagnation in the body, phlegm accumulation in the body, thick and greasy tongue coating, etc., it is generally forbidden to add sugar to avoid adverse reactions. People with phlegm should not take it.

Secondly, white sugar is cool in nature and brown sugar is warm in nature. If white sugar is added to warm medicines, or brown sugar is added to cold medicines, the medicinal properties will be weakened, hindering the full absorption of the medicinal effects and affecting the efficacy.

Thirdly, the chemical composition of traditional Chinese medicine is relatively complex. Sugars, especially brown sugar, contain more iron, calcium and other elements. Proteins, tannins and other components in traditional Chinese medicine can combine with them to produce chemical reactions. Some active ingredients in the medicine solution will coagulate and denature, resulting in turbidity and precipitation, which not only affects the efficacy of the medicine but also endangers health.

How much Chinese medicine should a baby take at a time

Just take enough medicine. Drinking more won't help your condition much. Generally speaking, for babies under 1 year old, it is best not to take more than 20 ml of Chinese medicine a day, and the number of times it is taken does not count, and frequent taking is the main approach, as long as the medicine is drunk roughly evenly in a day; for babies aged 1 to 3 years old, the medicine can be decocted to about 40 ml and taken in 3 times; little ones aged 3 to 6 years old are relatively obedient, and the medicine can be decocted to 60 ml and taken in 3 times; after the age of 6, parents will have less worries and the medicine can be taken in two times.