When your little one is sick, the whole world seems to move differently. They are tired, crabby, and don’t feel well. You are worried about them, low on sleep, and hoping not to get sick too! Colds and fevers can make any average day miserable with little children. Tylenol and Ibuprofen can make the day go so much better! BUT you have to be able to get the right dose into that little tummy for it to help!

In the hospital, we give medication based on your kiddo’s weight, and we use kg because the conversion is so much easier that way! There are lots of charts out there that have already done the math, you just have to find your kid’s weight and it will lead you to the right dose. Or check out a post I did a while back if you want to know the math.

Here are a couple good charts!

These are my favorite: http://rockymountainhospitalforchildren.com/parent-resources/medication-dosing-charts/

Tylenol:

Child’s weight (pounds)	6-11	12-17	18-23	24-35	36-47	48-59	60-71	72-95	96+	lbs
Liquid 160 mg/ 5 milliliters (mL)	1.25	2.5	3.75	5	7.5	10	12.5	15	20	mL
Liquid 160 mg/ 1 teaspoon (tsp)	—	½	¾	1	1½	2	2½	3	4	tsp
Chewable 80 mg tablets	—	—	1½	2	3	4	5	6	8	tabs
Chewable 160 mg tablets	—	—	—	1	1½	2	2½	3	4	tabs
Adult 325 mg tablets	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	1½	2	tabs
Adult 500 mg tablets	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	tab

Ibuprofen:

Child’s weight (pounds)	12-17	18-23	24-35	36-47	48-59	60-71	72-95	96+	lbs
Infant Drops 50 mg/ 1.25 mL	1.25	1.875	2.5	3.75	5	—	—	—	mL
Liquid 100 mg/ 5 milliliters (mL)	2.5	4	5	7.5	10	12.5	15	20	mL
Liquid 100 mg/ 1 teaspoon (tsp)	½	¾	1	1½	2	2½	3	4	tsp
Chewable 50 mg tablets	—	—	2	3	4	5	6	8	tabs
Junior-strength 100 mg tablets	—	—	—	—	2	2½	3	4	tabs
Adult 200 mg tablets	—	—	—	—	1	1	1½	2	tabs

Whether you are giving a basic medication like ibuprofen or tylenol, or giving a prescription medication from the pharmacy, it can sometimes be a fight. My three year old loves medicine. He pretends to be sick sometimes to get medicine. He’ll drink it out a syringe happily, and then ask for a refill. Unless he’s really sick, then he doesn’t want anything and it takes more convincing. My 1 year old is not such a fan. She will run, scream and fight back.

If a medicine syringe is all you have, lay that little one down, hold down hands and steady the head (this may take two people) then squeeze small amounts in her cheeks. She’ll either swallow or spit, but she’ll get some of it either way. Sounds slightly traumatizing, but she’ll get over it and sometimes medications are that important.

Or you can try mixing the medicine in a very small amount of juice and put it in a sippy cup. I say a small amount of juice because you want them to drink it all so you know they got all the medicine.

The best option for resistant little ones: a medi-nurser like this one from Nuby. It’s like an itty-bitty bottle. The Nuby medi-nurser is nice because it’s durable, has the measurements clearly on the side, and is easy to open and close. You can measure the amount of medicine, pop the cap on, and then the little one can suck it down just like sucking on a bottle. This sucking motion is a comforting motion, and the bottle shape will look familiar if they’ve ever had a bottle before.

My little Emie loves her medi-nurser so much that I actually used it to help her switch to milk from breastmilk bottles: I put those tiny amounts of milk in, she sucked it down and handed it back, refilled it, and so on. She never seemed to get enough at once to realize the taste was different. Then I put the same milk in a sippy and made it very obvious that is was the same solution she was loving from the medi-nurser over and over again. It was time-consuming and we did it a couple times, but she did eventually decide that milk from a sippy was an acceptable idea.

Once you get the medicine in? Wait about 20-30 minutes and see if it has the desired effect. For example, if the fever goes down or the child perks up. If one medicine didn’t work, try the other at that point. If it seems to work but wears off before you can give another dose, start alternating the two medications: give Tylenol, then 3 hours later give ibuprofen, then 3 hours later it’s been long enough to give Tylenol again, 3 hours later ibuprofen is allowed again…. you get the idea.

Of course, your doctor or local nurse line is always a good resource for knowing what to do next or even how much to give. Don’t be afraid to call and ask!

 

Nuby provided me with my Medi-nurser. Opinions are 100% my own.