Mum shares brilliant 'unicorn potion' trick to get kids to take their medicine

Any parent will know that getting a picky child to take their medicine is no easy feat.

So any sneaky tricks to help the healing along get a free pass.

Rachael Begley came up with a pretty genius way to get her daughters to gulp down their medicine, using just sprinkles and some imagination.

When Rachael’s daughters Anna, three, and Rosa, 16 months, were struck down with tonsilitis, Rachael struggled to give them the week-long course of ‘horrible-smelling’ antibiotic medicine they were prescribed to take four times a day.

After unsuccessful attempts disguising the medicine in yoghurts and juice, Rachael, 27, spotted a jar of cake toppers she’d stashed in a cupboard.

She tipped a load of the hundreds and thousands over the medicine to turn it into what she calls ‘unicorn potion’.

Advertisement Advertisement

Anna happens to love unicorns, so while she was initially suspicious she was quickly convinced to give it a go.

After a cautious taste she declared the potion was ‘great’.

Rachael shared the hack with her friends and then on her blog, Mummy Looks Funny, where it was flooded with comments from grateful parents.

The post, which has received more than 23,000 likes, shares and comments, reads: ‘Parent hack of the century.

‘My friend messaged me asking what it is that I do to get my kids to take medication if they are sick.

‘So I told her. She was mind blown. This sh*t works. I’m talking ANY MEDICINE.

‘Seeing as kids are germ infested and there’s a plethora of sickness going round at the minute I’ll share with you the hack that I dreamed up last year when I was at my wits end trying to get a tantruming toddler to get up off the floor and take a vile yellow antibiotic.

‘What you do is: 1. Grab your stinky medicine that your kid has been flat out refusing to take. Measure the required dose and put it on a spoon.

‘2. Grab some rainbow sprinkles. Dealers choice for the brand. I’m a high roller so we have Tesco own make.

‘3. Sprinkle the sprinkles onto the spoonful of previously repulsive liquid.

‘BAM! You now have yourself some delicious and magical unicorn potion.’

Advertisement Advertisement

Parents will need to make sure they sell the illusion, mind you. No kid will believe you’re giving them something magical if you offer up a half-hearted story about its powers.

This is unicorn potion. Treat it with the respect and wonder it deserves.

Rachael, from Belfast, said: ‘Last Christmas Anna and baby Rosa got really sick with bad tonsilitis.

‘Both of them were so sick and were prescribed medicine to take – it smelled horrible.

‘The baby was fine but because Anna was a bit older and in the terrible twos stage she just wouldn’t take it.

‘She tried it once and was just like ‘no’, I felt really bad and was thinking ‘please just take it’.

‘I was at my wit’s end and I opened the cupboard to get the syringe and the medicine.

‘I saw the sprinkles and just thought ‘ooh this could be good’ – I was just so desperate and tired.

‘I had it on the spoon and said ‘look it’s a unicorn potion, it’s great’.

‘She was a wee bit unsure so I said ‘well if you don’t get it Rosa’s going to eat it all up’ so she ate it, it was such a relief.’

Advertisement

Thankfully Rachael hasn’t needed to use the trick again, but says she now always makes sure to have sprinkles in her medicine cupboard.

‘I’d tried everything so was really pleased and relieved when this worked,’ she said. ‘It was quick, easy and painless enough – it was great.

‘Anna hasn’t needed another antibiotic since then but from now on I’m always going to have to make sure I’ve got hundreds and thousands in the medicine cupboard.

‘When it comes to hundreds and thousands, the more the better.’