Page 1 of 1

Can you trust pre-schooler to take his/her own medicine

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:57 am
by blue
I am still very upset now as ds1 teacher did not feed him medicine in the afternoon and he was coughing non-stop when I reached home. Got to give him his inhaler and singular pill to relieve his coughing. :cry: :(

Teacher told him because mummy did not submit the consent form which I did on Monday and it was the same teacher who had given me the form. :stupid: I am mad also because teacher did not even bother to verify with his form-teacher or simply call and check with me. :x

I am thinking if I can't trust the teacher to feed ds1 medicine, I might as well train him to take his own medicine. I had ever taught him how to use his inhaler and think he manage well.

Ds1 is 6yo, do you think it is advisable to let him take his medicine in school himself? It is usually after lunch and just one spoon each of the medicine.

Anyone can share when do you start letting your child takes his/her own medicine?

Re: Can you trust pre-schooler to take his/her own medicine

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:24 am
by jedamum
blue wrote:
Ds1 is 6yo, do you think it is advisable to let him take his medicine in school himself? It is usually after lunch and just one spoon each of the medicine.

Anyone can share when do you start letting your child takes his/her own medicine?
hi blue,
is your kid the 'reliable' type first? if he is as matured as my ds1, i don't mine him taking his own med. instead of giving him the whole bottle (to avoid overdose), you can buy those type of small plastic container (those people use for bento preparation for putting soya sauce), and then inject (using syringe) the correct amount of medication (keep different type of med separately ie if he is taking 2 med, then use 2 diff bottle) and then keep them together with his lunchbox. tell him that he can take a sweet/cheesecube etc after the med so that he'll remember to take med after lunch follow by sweet/cheesecube.
monitor to ensure that he is following correct instructions.
jmho. then maybe just ask the teacher to ensure that the boy takes his own med.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:39 am
by blue
hi jedamum,
congrats for winning the kiasu auction! :congrats:
yes, ds1 is a reliable and sensible boy.
have thought of putting the right amount into small bottles to avoid spillage, not so worry about overdose cos 1 spoon = 5ml which is what he is required to take and he understands more is not allowed for med and vitamin.
thanks for the brilliant idea 8) of putting a sweet together, think he will sure remember to take the med. :D

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:48 am
by jedamum
blue wrote:hi jedamum,
congrats for winning the kiasu auction! :congrats:
Thanks!! :D
blue wrote: thanks for the brilliant idea 8) of putting a sweet together, think he will sure remember to take the med. :D
You are welcome. :) Hope he gets well soon. :)

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:56 am
by buds
YES! CANNN, blue! :wink:

I used to work in clinic.
Both my girls know the medicines
they hafta take by their name and
not by colour. Both can read at a
very early stage. So, i have no probs
if i get them to take their own medz..

As for the forms, you can fill it upfront
at a whole week stretch and submit.
Easier for you. Cannot blame the teacher
oso, cos she's just doing her job. But she
cud call you to get you to fax a copy asap
during the usual meds feeding time. She
can also get the administrator or the ctr
manager to ring you in the event that she
may be tied up with the children under her
care.

Being from the industry, i do understand the
teacher is bound by her limitations of the "no
form, no meds" rule set by the centre.. :roll:

You can also write in to the centre and inform
them of this inhaler routine since it's a daily
dose. Mebbe they can give you a special form
for such case-by-case basis and also allow you
to indemnify the centre and the teachers of any
issues pertaining to your request.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:57 am
by blue
thanks again, jedamum! :D
hoping he doesn't get any fever or else with his bad cough and running nose, he will be the next H1N1 suspect if we have to see a doctor.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:00 am
by buds
Hope he gets well soon, blue...
Now you shud sleep, or else cannot
wake up to go to work. Ya can under-
stand... kiddies getting fever quite heart
pain especially with non-stop coughing and
the drippy nosies. I can really relate to that.
My DD1 is asthmatic.

Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:09 am
by blue
buds wrote:Cannot blame the teacher
oso, cos she's just doing her job. But she
cud call you to get you to fax a copy asap
during the usual meds feeding time. She
can also get the administrator or the ctr
manager to ring you in the event that she
may be tied up with the children under her
care.
ya, think the teachers are very stressful also with first new HFMD case in the school after being cleared of it for just 2 weeks with 10 over children infected (ds2 was one of them).
thanks for the assurance, will start to train ds1 on getting his own med. and also considering to talk to his teacher about the incident. just afraid of being label "problematic parent" as teacher is a senior staff and quite difficult at times. :|

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:48 pm
by blue
hi insider,

thanks for sharing. :D
yes, totally agree that med should be handled by adults as kids might mis-use it and result in serious consequences.

managed to talk to his teacher yesterday and apparently form was there but she had thought that it was meant for another student. she was apologetic for the mistake made.

calling office to remind teacher about the medication might not work as there are times that no one is there to pick up the phone. moreover, ds1 classroom is separated from the office/main classrooms.

for me, think will slowly train ds1 to handle his own med just in case one day he needs to take it himself and it will be easy to guide him over the phone if necessary. there were many times that when he had prolonged fever, we couldn't leave him with my mum cos she has no confidence on the medication part due to her poor eyesight. hence, if ds1 is able to do it, things will be easier then.