Pediatric Compounding

Bring a medicine bottle out of the cabinet and smiles may turn to tears. Kids just don’t like medicine. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do about that: there’s nothing fun about being sick, and taking medicine just makes it worse. While there’s no guarantee that taking medicine will ever become an entirely pleasurable experience, there are some ways to help. One of the best involves contemporary pharmaceutical compounding.

Compounding is the art and science of preparing customized medications for patients. Physicians working together with pharmacists are able to offer their patients the benefit of medicines tailored specifically for certain needs. This approach is especially helpful in treating children, as commercially manufactured drug forms are often not the best solutions for kids.

Working closely with our compounding pharmacist, the pediatrician can prescribe medications for pain relief, respiratory disorders, oral thrush, diabetes, head lice, diaper rash, cold sores/fever blisters, and more. Compounding can benefit patients in a variety of ways.

Taste is one reason a child will refuse to take their medicine. The compounding pharmacist can solve this problem with the dozens of flavors that are available. The flavor and color of the medication can be enhanced, while ensuring that the flavor’s pH is compatible with the medication’s properties. Children don’t mind taking medicine as much when it tastes like bubble gum or even chocolate.

Many children have a very difficult time swallowing capsules or tablets, especially if they have to take more than one medication during the day. To solve this problem, our compounding pharmacist can develop and prepare medications in alternate dosage forms that the child won’t mind taking. These include lollipops, gummy bears, syrups, suspensions,freezer pops, lozenges, transdermal gels and even pacifier dosages for infants - and all can be administered in any number of great flavors.

Every child is unique. Children vary in size and weight. Some have allergies and varying drug tolerances. As a result, it’s often a challenge to find a commercially available medication suitable for the individual needs of your patient. Our compounding pharmacist can be of great help in formulating a medication which comes in the exact dose needed for a child of a certain age and size.

If you have questions about any medications, please stop by or call the pharmacy anytime. We are happy to help!