We’ve reached an exciting milestone and I can’t help but share. Hadley can now swallow a pill on her own with only a sip of water! No more crushing pills in a spoon. No more filling a syringe with water, pouring it out because it’s too full and refilling it with water. No more very carefully spilling the crushed pill into the water-filled syringe, only to accidentally miss the syringe wasting half of the crushed pill and starting over again from the beginning. Nope, no more of that.
Hadley is 2 ½ now, she’ll be 3 in January. I have no idea if we reached this milestone “early” or if this is the average age when children are able to swallow pills. It’s not something we have ever discussed with Hadley’s endocrinologist, and it’s not something I have ever come across in my on-line research. Either way, after watching us go through the pill-crushing, syringe-filling process hundreds of times, I decided to give Hadley the benefit of the doubt. It was first thing in the morning and time for her daily Synthroid. I showed her the pill and asked her if she could swallow on her own? She just looked at me blankly. I acted it out for her--I pretended to put the pill in my mouth, took a sip of water and threw my head back dramatically (because I am THE WORST at swallowing pills) and pretended to swallow. I asked her again if she could swallow the pill. This time she nodded.
Hadley opened her mouth and I popped the pill in it. For a moment she did nothing. Then she bit it. I waited a second for a reaction, but we just stood there and looked at each other. When she didn’t react, I put the straw from the cup of water I was holding in her mouth and told her to drink. She took 2 or 3 sips and then proudly opened her mouth to show me that the pill was gone. She did it! Since then we’ve had no issues with pill swallowing. Every morning Hadley belly’s up to the kitchen island and opens her mouth. Kyle or I drop in the pill and stand there with cup and straw in hand for her to sip. Sometimes she takes a bite of the pill before swallowing, but I think that’s fine. This saves us several minutes in the morning and anyone who tries to get themselves and 3 kids out of the house in a timely manner in the morning will agree that those minutes count. This is definitely a win for us.
Now, most people would just stop there. I so wish my over-analyzing self was capable of stopping there. But I can’t help but worry and wonder if there are any reasons why Hadley shouldn’t be swallowing her pill just yet. Was some of the crushed pill not quite making it to her bloodstream? Is she getting more/too much of her medication now? I’ve gone back and forth on this one. I’ve considered reaching out to Hadley’s Endocrinologist, but again, I overthink too much. Will she think this is a dumb question? Should I just keep my antenna up and watch for a change in symptoms? Should I just ask? Ugghh. I wear myself out with self-doubt and end up just telling myself that I’ll just think about it for another day.
For now, I will do my best to celebrate this milestone. (And I’ll message the doctor’s office in the morning.)
