Cold temperatures mask unpleasant flavors, so keep the medicine chilled. If that isn’t enough to mask the taste, mixing cold medicine into equally cold foods—pudding, applesauce, yogurt, or ice slush—may work. To make an easy slush, break off a piece of a popsicle, and microwave it briefly until slushy. Offer the rest of the popsicle as a reward after your child takes the medicine.
Mix the medicine with soda. Orange or grape soda, served very cold, will disguise the taste of just about any liquid medicine—and is a treat for your child. Adjust the mixture to the nastiness of the medicine.
Play Mary Poppins—administer the medicine with one spoon and follow promptly with a spoonful of chocolate syrup (load both spoons in advance). Among its many other beneficial properties, chocolate really eliminates the aftertaste of just about any medicine.
Let your child decide where to take the medicine—yielding one small element of control to your kid often does the trick.
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