The Grape Flavoring Debacle

So Caleb has another ear infection. It's his right ear - same as the second infection. I think that the 2nd round of meds didn't clear it up all the way and that it just came back. Dr Ramirez put us on a milder antibiotic the second time and even by day 10 he still had green snot and was a bit fussy. We're back on the 90 proof stuff now so it'll kill the germs for sure. And that's where my post for today begins...

The antibiotic is actually called Augmentin and it tastes bad. Really bad. Really, really bad. Think yellow Triamenic people. Yup, that bad. Caleb tolerated it the first time around and so when we went to Walgreen's this time to fill the prescription I told Juan that we should ask for flavoring. They'll add a flavor to liquid medication for a mere $4.00. 25 flavors to choose from! What parent could say no? We agreed that if it saved us from battling a very strong 9.5m old then it was worth it. Which flavor to choose though! I know he doesn't like cherry b/c the baby Tylenol is cherry flavored and he always makes a horrible face when I give it to him. He doesn't seem to mind the grape baby Tylenol so we went that route. All kids like grape right?

Wrong! We gave him the first dose on Tuesday night and he gagged. Worse that the avocado gagging. He actually threw up. All his dinner and 3/4 of the medicine. And completely refused to eat or drink anything at all after that. So we put a very infected baby to bed on an empty stomach without any meds. You can see where this is going.

He went down (without a peep!) at 6pm. Woke up at 11pm, 12am, 1am, 2am and 3am. At 3am I made a pallet on the floor and tried to sleep with him. We've never co-slept before and now I know why. He wanted to lay next to me with BOTH baby arms wrapped around my neck and his baby face pressed up to mine and breathe down my neck. Really sweet for about 30 seconds. Then it was just amusingly uncomfortable.

At 5:30 I called it quits and woke Juan up. He took Caleb and I got to sleep. I love my husband a lot.

I'm getting ahead of myself though and forgetting the real point of this post.

So once he went to bed at 6pm I called Walgreen's and asked the pharmacist if it was possible to de-grape our antibiotic. She said unfortunately no, no de-graping. Sigh. She also said that we should think twice before calling the Dr's office for a new prescription b/c insurance won't pay for the same prescription twice. This puppy costs $80 so guess what? Grape is it! She did suggest mixing the medication with 1 Tsp of food and seeing if he'd take it that way. I rummaged through the pantry looking for the strongest flavored baby food I could find. Prunes! Yup, prunes it was.

So, yesterday morning we stealthily mixed the Augmentin with a spoonful of pureed prunes and said Yumma Yumma! Caleb ate it without a second thought! Hooray! It's worked three times since then. I'm thrilled. Caleb is feeling better and we all slept very well last night.

Next time we'll try a different flavor though...