The new trend in children’s medicine is designer flavors that are fit for an ice-cream shop.
That’s pretty tasty news if you’ve ever been the parent of a sick child. About a week ago, my son got the stomach flu and my wife and I got to clean up the vomit stains that came with it.
Our pediatrician recommended a strict liquid diet in the beginning, which meant my son had to drink either grape-flavored Pedialyte or the bubble-gum version (the only choices available the day I shopped at a nearby CVS store). He hates the bubblegum, which meant he had to spend nearly two days drinking grape. Of course, my little boy quickly became tired of the grape taste and it became a battle to get him to drink up. It’s hard to explain to a child who is not even 3 yet how important it is to stay hydrated when you’re sick.
Anyway, I wished he had more flavors to choose from. That’s why I was excited to see recently Walgreens and Target stores advertising pharmacy services that allow parents to add a variety of sweet tastes to children’s (and adult’s) medicine.
For $2.99 at Walgreens, your child can choose from 11 flavors, including sour apple, raspberry and watermelon. At Target there’s no charge and the medicine menu includes 19 flavors, like citrus punch, strawberry cream and chocolate banana pie.
Almost makes me wish I had the stomach flu myself just so I can get the watermelon-flavored medicine, or maybe the strawberry cream. Man, I can’t decide.
