How
to teach your child (or yourself) how to swallow tablets
They are often supplements that
your children need, like Omegas or B-complex but that don’t come in
kid-friendly forms. Teaching your younger child how to swallow tablet becomes a
necessity. I’m very picky about the supplements I use, and frankly, most
of the supplements for children are not well tested. My children are
highly allergic and several are ADD, so in order to increase their nutrition, I
end up giving my children appropriate amounts of my adult vitamins and
minerals. Many of my clients do this as well. This is why I use only
Shaklee brand supplements because I can trust their quality, potency and
safety. This is what I do for my family, and is not medical advice.
Learning how to swallow
supplements and medicines doesn’t come easy to everyone. Often people are
afraid to swallow a pill because they may bite it (natural reflex), and
experience an awful taste. Some are afraid that the table will get caught
in their throat. The throat of a child over 2 years of age is approx 3/4″ in
diameter. It’s even bigger in an adult! There is plenty of room for
swallowing tablets. I don’t think anyone will be swallowing tablets that are
1/4 ” big!
Another reason people get tense
and their throat constricts when they
try to swallow tablets is a lack of calcium. We have found that
increasing someone’s calcium intake to the recommended daily amount (RDA) usually helps relax the throat and swallowing tablets becomes easy. We
use chewable calcium for this. (Yes, chewable calcium is very chalky.
Learn to swallow tablets)!
I tell my clients and children who
have trouble swallowing to visualize the tablets going down their throat the
way a small toy would quickly go over a waterfall.
Mom can use her own judgment, but
it’s difficult to teach a child younger than 5 years old how to swallow.
I’m talking here about healthy children without developmental delays.
Start by getting some Mini
M&Ms™. Your child will swallow these without fear. No one is “afraid” of
candy! Then cut the vitamin tablet or medicine into mini- M&M™ sizes. Use a
tablet cutter. You can get these for under $5 at any pharmacy. Have your child
swallow cut tablet. Be calm and natural. Most swallowing issues are
fear-based, not based on physiology.
In many cases, you can put the cut
tablet in the bottom of a juice glass with a small amount of juice, milk, or
water. Some of the larger fun straws that are given as party favors are
great for this. Don’t use the curly straws- everything will get stuck!
Put a straw over the cut up tablet piece, suck the juice through a straw and
Voila! The tablet is swallowed. This works for adults too. Don’t do
this with a quickly dissolving tablet!
Why can’t more come in a liquid,
powder or chewable form? Some vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants just
naturally have a bad taste. Quality manufacturers don’t want a lot of
additives in their supplements to make things taste better. Tableting
supplements is more efficient way to get the appropriate quantity delivered.
In other cases, the vitamin will
not remain stable in solution and it will degrade.
Powdered supplements may settle in
the canister, and the manufacturer cannot guarantee that dosage in each
serving.
Swallowing tablets allows your
child to expand into more targeted supplements, and makes it much easier to
follow a program. Teach your children how to do it.
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