Miss S has an ear infection again. We've been doing pretty well this year. She hasn't been sick since April. The only problem is that when she gets sick, she ends up with an ear infection. Ear infections mean antibiotics, and antibiotics mean battles.
The only thing that I regret about our almost 3 years in France is that Miss S had a TERRIBLE experience with antibiotics while there. She had a rash of ear infections one winter. She was doing okay until she reacted to penicillin, then amoxycillin. The doctor told us that they didn't have anything else to give kids. We tried mashing up adult tablets and dissolving them in water, but they tasted AWFUL! I didn't blame the kid for refusing to take them.
But she needed them.
We kept insisting that she take the medicine, and she kept refusing. It was awful. She went so far as to sit in her booster seat for about 6 hours one day. All she had to do was take the medicine and her Dad would let her get up. She refused. AWFUL!
We tried bribery, tears, yelling, and all kinds of other stuff. She wouldn't take the medication. Soon she even refused to take American kids' cold medicine or Tylenol. I have never been so worried or cried so much. I felt like an awful parent, and I was scared that she was going to have permanent damage to her ears. We even considered flying home so that she could be treated in the US. We were not beyond hospitalizing her in the US so that she could have antibiotics by IV. AWFUL!
We are still paying the price for that whole experience. There were horrible shouting matches last spring, and more refusing to take the medicine. More crying on all parts. We got through it though, and I thought she understood that we would never make her take medication that she did not need. I thought we were finally past all of the horribleness that involved Miss S and medicine.
Not so. We went to the doctor yesterday, and she seemed to get that she needed to take the meds. She got it so well that she sat in her seat at the table for 2 hours before she finally took the medicine. I finally told her that she had 5 minutes to take it or I was going to take her into the bathroom, strip her down, and make her take it.
For some reason that worked yesterday. I also told her that she would have 10 minutes today to take the medicine or I was going to take her into the bathroom, strip her down and make her take it. She argued a bit this morning, but I walked away. After about 8 minutes she announced that she was done.
I gave her big hugs, told her how proud I was, and found a fun activity for us to do together. Sly Mommy now has about half of the Christmas presents wrapped AND a happy girl. :)
I know there will be another battle tomorrow morning. It may even be worse because she will have less time to put it off as she is going back to school. I hope today's success will be useful in getting her to take the medicine tomorrow. I need to have a good morning with her. I need her to understand that she needs this medicine, and I am making her take it because I love her.
1 comment:
Wow. That is stubborn. I have no advice, just plenty of sympathy. I've had that problem with one of my kids, but when he was much, much younger and I could force it. Good luck. Hopefully one of these days the ridiculousness of the attitude will hit her and she'll stop.
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