Sickly children

Both children are sick again. Well, that's a bit melodramatic, it makes it sound much worse than it is, although I did have 3 prescriptions to fill on Wednesday. Got them at Boots, where Zachary screamed at me because I wouldn't let him stick his head in the fridge they have there for cold drinks!

Leo has another cold and raging conjunctivitis, so drops for that, and Zachary continues to be beleaguered (? spelling?) by eczema and has been prescribed a stronger steroid cream and some antibiotics because the doctor thought it looked a bit infected. He had bad eczema last year, but confined to elbows, knees, tummy and back, so all parts of the body generally covered up during the day. This year it's started on his hands and has now spread to elbows, so it's his hands we're having the most trouble with. Although he isn't noticeably scratching during the day, we're pretty confident that he's scratching at night, probably largely during his sleep (as evidence by lots of small blood stains on the sheet in the morning). And he's such an active boy now, loving to play in the garden and his sand pit, it makes it all the more likely something will get in the sore places.

Anyway, the antibiotics he's been given is the most bitter medicine you'll ever taste (that may be a slight exaggeration, but it's not far off!), and not surprisingly Zachary is reluctant to take it. We've tried just giving it to him plain, cajoling him, offering rewards, tried a spoon, a syringe and a last ditch attempt in juice (although he's supposed to have it on an empty stomach and the medicine can be slightly degraded by being put in other stuff), and finally last night we ended up holding him down and pouring it in. Which was truly awful. So, we've given up on the medicine as noone can seem to suggest anything else to try at the moment - fortunately I explained Zachary's lack of enthusiasm for the medicine to the doctor when she gave me the prescription (he's had it before, with the same results), so she changed the cream from a plain steroid to one with some antibiotic in it. I'm pretty much relying on that.

The annoying thing is that Zachary will practically drink Calpol down, and says that it's 'nice.' So, why can't this medicine have a bit of sugar in it, or some flavouring, or just something to stop it being so damn disgusting. Hmmm.