Success or failure?

amother

Navy

Sun, May 06 2018, 3:33 pm

So last night my DD4 woke up crying from knee pain at abt 11:30pm. This happens on occasion when she doesn’t wear her foot orthotics, and the best solution is always to comfort her and give her Tylenol/Advil for the pain. So I went to her, hugged her, and told her we will go get the medicine. She and I went to the medicine cabinet and I saw that for some reason the larger medicine syringe and the spoon thingy (both her medicinal preferences) were not on the shelf, but the small measuring cup was there. I told her and measured out the correct amount. She completely refused to take it. I tried explaining that the dropper was lost, I offered to tell a story while she drinks, I said she could take it herself or I could feed it to her, this will help her feel better...Nothing doing. And all throughout she is holding her knees and crying.
Eventually I went the route of trying to force her to take it and it was a total disaster. She was spitting it all over herself and me, gagging, screaming, etc. I was sooooooo frustrated and I was showing it. I realized I was no longer helping, only fighting, so I just stood up and left the bathroom. She stayed there crying while I washed myself off and took a few deep breaths in the kitchen. After a minute of so I went back with baby wipes, cleaned her off, and Bh found a solution that worked for both of us (we used the baby syringe multiple times after measuring in the cup). I then put her back to bed, told her a story, sang some songs, apologized for my anger, and she went to sleep.

I feel extremely guilty but I can’t figure out if what I did was totally wrong, or was it ok in the end? Did I go through the right steps or totally wrong?? I need some advice and/or validation please!

imasinger

Sun, May 06 2018, 3:56 pm

You did just fine. The baby syringe was a wonderful idea.

There is no way that an overtired, irrational child in pain is going to be forced into drinking from the medicine cup in the middle of the night.

The only alternative you might have tried would be to pour from the medicine cup into a regular teaspoon.

There is also no way you could have predicted the intensity of her reaction.

If you want, you can build the skill by practicing under less stress. Or get an extra syringe and/or medicine spoon from the pharmacy, and keep them for "emergencies."

Refuah shleima!

MitzadSheini

Sun, May 06 2018, 4:53 pm

What imasinger said.

But adding - you also did a GREAT job of modelling teshuvah! You were afraid. Afraid that your daughter was in pain, wouldn't sleep etc etc. IME most fear stems from YH and leads a person to make a "bad" choice. Bad as in not good for it's purpose. Ok so you tried to force it, realized it was RA (bad), stopped in the middle (WOW!!!) came up with a better solution, and apologized.

Pretty great parenting moment from you, the way I see it.