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At the children's hospital where I work children with serious conditions involving alot of medication, and especially those with CF or who have or will need organ transplants, are taught to swallow tablets from age 3. They start with tic tacs and move on to skittles. Works really well. I never understand the tipping your head back to swallow a tablet - i dont see people swallowing their food doing that.

But than it's big business to sell liquid paracetamol with banana or strawberry taste for ages 4 to 8, lol. I pressume the yoghurt and apple sauce industries like the idea that swallowing tablets for children is difficult.

I have a young child with epilepsy who has a poor swallow and is nil by mouth . Everything he takes has to go down the feeding tube . He is on the ketogenic diet to control seizures and cannot have sugar and carbs and a lot of his medicines are either not available in sugar free or only in tablet form so he has them dissolved in water and syringed down the peg . So this can be a good option if a child really struggles with swallowing tablets (not the peg the dissolving in water bit i mean )

I remember as a child, in the days before children's versions of paracetamol, etc were available, my mum crushing a tablet between two spoons and adding jam into it, to give to me , swiftly followed by a drink of juice ! Diabetics have their own special jam as well ! If you are going to do anything like this you need to check with the doctor, as some medicines are in capsules so that they won't dissolve too soon.

Pingu my epileptic lo mentioned above has been prescribed steroids at hosp today as he is struggling to breathe in this awful humid air. The packet says they can be crushed and mixed with food such as jam and yoghurt. It took me back to my childhood as i had forgotten the tablets crushed with jam trick . So mother did know best after all.

Is it prednisolone wizzy? You can get dissolvable tablets if so x

No lacosamide and clonazapan. The pharmacst was horrified but they are ground down , mixed with water and i give the right strength. It seems to work well and is the only way with the ketogenic diet . Thanks though .

My trust stopped us ordering the soluable prednisolone on grounds of cost. 1 week of 50mg a day costs Plain 5mg tabs - £1 Plain 25mg tabs - £18 Soluable 5mg tabs - £124 its cheaper to supply parents with a tablet crusher which Wizzy will have as ketogenic kids cant have barely a whisper of sugar.

Thats right midge. So much easier as he is peg fed so has a formula that takes care of all the nutritian. It must be a nightmare trying to do the diet yourself! I had never heard of the diet until he arrived but it has literally saved his life and is working brilliantly along with the anti epilepsy drugs. Of course the ketogenic diet is becoming all the rage for weight loss at the moment! Hard not to be irritated when my child is depending on it continuing to work in order to survive. Do you have a child with epilepsy then midge ? Obviously dont reply if too personal.

I have a bd with epilepsy, interesting to hear how successful the keto diet has been for you. We've just been referred for epilepsy surgery and I was surprised they'd not suggested trying the keto diet first. Never thought about cost of soluble pred!! Always thought it was cheap with being around for years. I'm a nurse too and the things we've been told not to order drives me potty!!!

I would definitely look at the diet Blueberry if possible. The Daisy Garland charity actually fund most of the ketogenic dieticians based in major hosp around the country so their website would be good to look at as a starting point. Our child was at deaths door for weeks and seizures have robbed him of all his developmental skills so we are starting from scratch and he will have complex needs for the rest of his life but the diet was tried as a last resort ( they dont like to use it on babies) and within 2 days he was seizure free and apart from odd lapses when unwell he has remained so for over 2 yrs now. Truly a miracle! So much so that he is about to be included in a research study at a childrens hospital along with a few others who have also had such great results. By the way It is good to share with other parents of children with epilepsy and swap experience so thanks for that x

The medicines in capsules can often be mixed with food - by pulling capsule apart and mixing powder into food. Not all drugs can be but talk to pharmacist as they should know which ones are safe - I am lucky as I have one permanently on tap (my husband). Just had to do this with antibiotics for our cat. Obviously the stuff where capsule is coated (often slow-release or gastric resist) cannot be but I know that many can be.