It never pays to force kids to take their medicine – they will just resist and hide future symptoms from you. Most of the herbs I recommend here my kids will take cheerfully, but here are some tricks I have learned along the way to help them take their supplements:
Herbs in liquids
So many of us think to put powdered herbs or liquids into our kids’ juice cup – but often times the taste of the herbs ruins the juice and the herbs never get in the body. I prefer to put a dropperful into a shot glass with a mouthful of water, followed by clear water and food. Cashews take the taste of strong herbs away very quickly, I find. Sometimes, my youngest will fill her mouth with a bit of water, then hold it open for me to squeeze some liquid herbs in. Odd, perhaps, but it was her idea and she loves that I go along with it – and she takes her herbs happily!
Herbs that are liquids
Some liquid supplements are better than others, when administering to small children. Colloidal Silver looks and tastes like water. Umcka is delicious berry flavored. WishGarden does a wide variety of mild tasting liquids that are easy for kids to take in a mouthful of water – and they have a formula for everything from cough to anxiety.
Honey Spoons
To get my severely autistic child to take capsules (she took a long time to learn to swallow them) I empty the capsule into a spoon, fill it with all-natural honey and mix with a toothpick. Herbs with a super strong flavor may not work this way – but my kids take Laminine and Coral Calcium this way happily.
Can they chew it?
My daughter used to chew up magnesium tablets. They looked like aspirin, but I guess they helped enough that she did not care how they tasted, she just crunched them up, for a long time.
Teaching a kid to swallow capsules
I had tried and tried with no luck to do this – then I had my older niece try to teach my youngest daughter and it was done in 2 minutes. Often kids can speak to each other in ways that adults can not, it seems. I had the same experience with bubble blowing, incidentally.
Teaching a non verbal kid to swallow capsules
I eventually did teach my severely autistic, non verbal daughter to swallow capsules. I gave her small cranberry soft gels that had liquid in them. She put it in her mouth and went to bite down on it, but it was way too sour, so she just swallowed it to avoid the taste and that was that! I celebrated her accomplishment and gave her another as I said “just swallow” and she did. From there she could swallow capsules!
Consistency
Herbs need to be taken consistently for them to work – so finding a time that is vitamin time each day can be very helpful. My youngest likes to get her vitamins first thing in the morning, while my severely autistic child prefers them in the bathtub. Getting kids into the habit will eventually have them asking you if you forget, so this is very important.