For families affected by childhood liver disease, medication becomes part of the daily routine for children and young people. It is not always easy getting little ones to take their medication. So, our community have shared their top tips to maintain an efficient medication routine.
What do you use to help the medication go down?
In some cases, the biggest element that puts children off taking their medication is the taste. Taking medication with juice or dissolving tablets in a flavoured drink can be very helpful.
Questran in particular was mentioned as having a bad taste and texture, as it comes in powder form. One suggestion was to add enough water to make it mouldable and create shapes for children to eat, making it a fun task.
How do you remember to take medication each day?
A dossette box or pill organiser is a useful tool to sort out medication at the start of the week. With different sections for days of the week and times of the day, it makes it easy to build medication into the normal family routine.
Reminders can also be helpful, whether it is an alarm on your phone or the reminder function on an app or digital device.
More tips from parents and carers
Keeping children in the loop, even when very little helps to normalise the process. If switching from liquid to tablets then involve your children in the discussion with the consultant, and make sure they know what each medication is used for.
Some days you might find bribery or making it into a challenge the only way forward, don’t feel down heartened by this! If your child hates to be proved wrong, like many! Say “I bet you can’t take all of that medicine”- you will be surprised how well this works!
Make a special pot to keep the medication in- this could be made from Lego or Duplo.
Finally, although it may not work for everyone, Lorraine told us “when he was small and would not open his mouth his big sister made him laugh, the medication would go in and then it would be play time!”
Useful tool for young people when they start to take control of their medication routine, giving them control over their liver disease.
If you have any more tips for a successful medication routine and would like to share them with us, please email families@childliverdisease.org and help other young people and families affected by childhood liver disease.
