Child learning to swallow pills?

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

If the pill is a capsule that floats (some vitamins & some gel caps), it's better to do the above, but instead of holding my head back, I hold it forward so that the pill floats to the top of the water near the back of my mouth/throat. Then I swallow without raising my head. Again, it makes me look like an idiot, but it works! :p

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This is exactly what we have our patients do with Advil, in the office. We will also give them mini M&M's to practice with first. BTW - I work for an orthodontist so most of our patients are kids.

I had my girls practice with mini M&m's. The M&m's are so small they aren't scared and if they melt no big deal, plus the sooner they learned the more candy they got to eat. They are 12 and 10 now and have both been able to swallow pills for years.
Jones.

Great suggestions. I'll try some of these and see how it goes.

We practiced with tiny M&Ms on the tongue and moved to larger things. We stopped with golf balls. :p

I just read Jones' and Kerrybelles' comments after I posted this. It does work.

I had the biggest problem with this. I learned in college to eat something. Chew it up until I was about to swallow it, then pop the pill(s) in toward the back of my mouth and swallow the whole shebang. I still do that. If I don't have a morsel around, the pill doesn't get swallowed.

Try using a water bottle. I used to have problems too -- I remember the night before a family vacation my mother gave up on trying to get me to take a pill, but my dad patiently cut the pill up into small enough pieces.

Now, I struggle with Recover-Ease pills. They're HUGE. But, if I swallow them with a big mouthful of Endurox from a water bottle, they go right down. I think drinking from the bottle opens the back of my throat.

Practice with mini M&Ms -- that's what I've always heard works. But, my kids line up to watch me swallow pills because it's such a production... and generally NOT successful on the first attempt or two. Certainly no expert here! :)

I still have problems - especially with large pills like glucosomine chrondriton (sp?) which I need to take for arthritis. I find that it helps to first drink some ice water, or somethine else cold. That seems to dull the gag reflex. I then swallow the pill with a liquid that is thicker than water, i.e., orange juice or something like that, also cold.

I do it backward--I take a mouthful of water, then toss the pill in. That way, you don't taste or feel the pill, and it just floats down when you swallow.