How do you teach a kid to swallow a pill?

I didn't get the hang of it until I was in my 20's.
For many years I took a bite of food, chewed it up, and then when I was ready to swallow the food I threw the pill in too and swallowed it with the food. I still do this a lot of the time because it's habit and easy.

The latest tip I've seen that works is to teach them to tip their head forward when swallowing the pill, not back as many people have been taught. It really does work. And take some water first and then add the pill if you can.

Put it in a piece of cheese and they'll eat it right up!

No wait, that's dogs.

I never had a problem with pills. You just swallow them. My sister would cry and cry. It would make our dad so mad. Eventually she just got over it, but not without difficulty.

I would try getting them to swallow candy or something first. Get some tic tacs or something and make a game out of it. Then slip them the pill when they're unawares. Or do the food trick! If it works on my stubborn dog, it might work on a stubborn kid... not to be offensive.

Good luck!

Practice with M&M's or other small candies. That way, if it sticks on the tongue it won't be bitter and nasty as most medicines are.

We loved Pill Glide. It really helped. www.walgreens.com/store/c/pill-glide-swallowing-spray-strawberry/ID=prod6003555-product

The strawberry flavor is tasty as well.

I still have trouble swallowing pills of any size, and I'm 50! What I do is consider what it is and what (if anything) it shouldn't be consumed with, then I bury it in a spoonful of applesauce, yogurt, peanut butter or something similarly easy to swallow without chewing. Down it goes, very easily. If it's something that can only be taken with liquid, I'll second taking a sip of something carbonated, pop in the pill, take another sip and swallow. The bubbles do help it go down without getting stuck.

DH thinks I'm ridiculous, but it's been problematic my entire life. I think I'm usually living in a state of perpetual dehydration and trying to swallow dry pills with water only makes them stick in my throat.

My husband takes a mouthful of water, then pushes the pill in between his closed lips. Then he just swallows and the pill kind of gets lost in the mouthful of water as it goes down. That might work for your DS since the pill is small. I think everybody has to figure out the method that works for them...you might try leaving him alone with it and see if he can come up with his own idea that he can live with.

 That was it for me exactly. Couldn't swallow a pill until I was in my 20's and it still can be difficult. It was not for lack of wanting to be able to. I just physically could not force myself to do it without gagging every.single.time. I tried all of the tricks mentioned and it didn't matter. It ended up being desperation to treat severe migraines that I finally was able to get mind over matter and do it.  And I still find that I have to relax and concentrate to swallow pills 20 years later. I can, but I will never be like my husband and swallow pills without any liquids at all.

Is it a crushable tablet?  If it really is that tiny, crushing it into one spoonful of something with a strong flavor doesn't seem unreasonable to me at that age at all. I would think making a big deal about it could be adding even more pressure to an already stressful situation for him. 

The nurse at school uses pudding or applesauce

Coat it in butter. The other thing you can do is put a Starburst in the microwave long enough to soften it (not long!), cut off enough to wrap around the pill, and have your child swallow that. If the pill can be crushed you can crush it and mix it with the Starburst as another option.

DS was 17 before he finally mastered swallowing pills. We were always able to get around it before, but with his wisdom teeth extraction came 3 different pills multiple times a day and it was a mind over matter challenge. Good luck.

Our pediatrician taught both my children how to swallow pills. You just put it in your mouth and quickly swallow a gulp of water. It will go right down.

He specifically said to not put it on the back of your tongue (which many people do). If you just pop it in and swallow some water, it should go right down with the liquid without you even feeling the pill.

The hospital had a little girl in DD's hospital room practice with Tic-Tacs, too. 

I taught my oldest to put the pill in his mouth, drink a little, swish it all together and swallow. He figured it out after doing it twice. We don't have many issues now. The youngest is 8 and hasn't had to take a pill yet.

My kids learned like this:

1. Take a drink of water so that your mouth is not parched. (Otherwise the pill can stick to your tongue, plus it can make it harder to swallow quickly, and if you take too long you taste the pill, which is always a gross thing to happen. Pills taste terrible.)

2. Now, the order here is up to you, but my kids then toss the pill in their mouth and immediately take another drink of water, gulping it down so that the pill goes down with the water.


I actually had the kids learn with something other than pills. We started off with gummy bears cut into pieces. They were soft, so no jagged edges, They couldn't choke on them. And, they were something my kids are not normally allowed to have, so they were happy about the lesson.   Then they moved on to tiny candy, like tic-tacs.

The we tried to be sure that, like in your case, the first real pill they tried was a very small one, and for my kids it clicked and they've been good with them.

DS #2 actually started taking pills pretty young because he HATES liquid medication. A few times we have found that pills don't exist or aren't easily available due to his age, and the poor kid is so miserable. Most recently it was Tamiflu. We had to get the liquid. You swear we were trying to kill him for how he reacted to having to take that stuff.