Conference moira::parenting

    
    No answers on making the medicine palatable, but if you aren't
    aware of any potential lead sources that your grandson might 
    have been or is exposed to, I believe that finger-prick lead
    tests can often show false highs.   My son had a very high 
    reading on that test at 5 years old; the venous test came back
    very, very low (i.e. normal).   I was told that they can read 
    high if the hands/fingers of the child are dirty when the blood
    is drawn (or perhaps the lab nurse though they usually wear 
    gloves).   Anyways, his pedi wasn't that concerned - perhaps
    because he was 5 and his earlier tests hadn't shown a problem.
    Our sitter was very concerned for our younger son since her
    house is older; so concerned that she had her house tested 
    (again) without even waiting for the blood test results to
    come back.   
    
    Hopefully, your grandson's venous blood sample will read fine.
    
    Carol
    

With a different medicine, my pediatrician recommended mixing it into a cup of
chocolate milk.  Worked like a charm.  Check with the doctor, though, to make
sure that it won't affect the medicine.

							Brian

    
    I mixed the drops (surely yucky) with juice.
    
    
    Eva

There's another topic somwhere in here with some great ideas about how
to get kids to take their medicine (it has a couple good ideas that worked
for me...)

Dan

    Ask the pharmacist about mixing ferrous sulfate with milk - calcium may
    be one of the things that negates the effect of the iron. I had
    tremendous difficulty finding the right time (not interfering with
    food) and liquid to mix ferrous sulfate with. Finally resorted to
    giving my son a multivitamin with added iron and that helped his low
    hemacrit (which is what the finger prick measures).
    

    
    
    Our pedi suggested mixing it in with a little ice-cream.
    
    Maybe the medication comes in a pill form?  I found that 
    easier to disguise than the liquids.
    
    Kristin

    I have a friend whose little boy is developmentally disabled and has to
    take dilantin daily to avoid seizures.  She mixes is into a few
    spoonfuls of whipped topping, which is just sweet enough that nearly
    any child will eat it, well-disguises nasty medicine tastes, and the
    non-dairy kind *usually* won't alter the effect of your medicine. You
    should be able to call your pharmacist about this and get a faster
    response than from the doctor.
    
    M.
    

    Thanks for all the suggestions.....  
    
    We started giving K.J. the ferrous sulfate on Saturday.  Made a big 
    production out of it with a 'special' juice glass that can only be used 
    for taking 'special healthy medicine' to make him strong like Popeye..... 
    I measured the right amount of medicine into the glass and then added a 
    tablespoon of orange-banana juice, gave it a guick stir, and then
    handed him the glass; he downed it right away. I then give him about a
    third of a teaspoon of sugar to take the taste away and it seems to be
    working. 
    
    I've asked him if he wants anymore of the juice (without the iron) and he 
    replies:"Uhmm, noooo".  He is being very good about taking it, so far... 
    of course it's only been two days and things could change.
    

Also see notes:

topic    replies
-----    -------
131        36     How to get kids to take medications
940        17     ANY IDEAS FOR GIVING A 2-YEAR OLD MEDICINE
 

    An update on K.J..... his venal test came back with a level of 5(which
    is not considered a problem) where his finger-prick test had a level of
    25.... They admitted that his hands were probably contaminated by
    things that he handled and the med tech didn't bother to wash his hand
    before doing the initial test... 
    
    I wasn't too impressed with either the med-tech's technique or 
    "bedside manner" with K.J. when she did the test... She is new at the
    pediatric service and in her early twenties...It was as though she
    wanted to do her job as quickly as possible and didn't care to explain 
    what she was going to do to K.J.... 
    
    I've had vets do a better job explaining procedure to my dogs and cats and 
    calming them.. than this girl did with a child.
    
    He is still taking the ferrous sulfate in banana-orange-strawberry
    juice with no problem.... although he seems to have developed an
    enourmous apetite since he started on it...  He's already big for his
    age... 33" tall-33 lbs.... and wears sz 4t,5, and 6.... This stuff
    seems to be like the 'Miracle Grow' I use in my plants.... 

    
    Good news!
    
    cj/