Every once in awhile I stumble across an amazing life hack.

It’s like when I learned to throw the laundry soap cup into the washer to clean it.

Seriously, mind blowing.

Well this week, I stumbled across another.

And by stumbled, I clearly mean I fell into it. 

Last week the Princess developed an ear infection.

It was conveniently timed.

She was fine until 5:08pm.

On a Friday.

Yes…

You know what that means, it means a trip to the pediatric urgent care- thank goodness for health insurance.

So we go, the doctor takes a peek and says she has an ear infection and that we need to start antibiotics ASAP. I mean honestly she didn’t even need to check, the Princess was pulled on her ear and screaming “OW!”, the ear infection diagnosed itself.

So we get the prescription and head home to start the first dose.

Do antibiotics for kids scare anyone else?

They terrify me.

Not because of the chemicals, please friends, I feed my kids Yellow 40 all the live long day.

No, they terrify me because they smell awful, are a disgusting color, and taste like… well they taste bad.

And the directions say the kids need a heck of a lot twice a day for 10 days.

Trust me, I get it, kids need to take the full course of antibiotics. We could chat for days and days about why that is… don’t you love it when that public health graduate degree gets used?

But… I hate hate hate giving my kids antibiotics because, it usually ends up with one or both of us crying, covered in the sticky pink glop, and none of the medicine in their mouth.

I’d rather eat mushrooms than given them antibiotics, and that’s saying something.

Why don’t they make chewable antibiotics? That seems like a brilliant idea.

The first go round of antibiotics ended with the Princess screaming, me practically sitting on her, forcing her mouth open, dripping the medicine in her mouth, and both of us showering…. yeah.

We tried again the next day… same result.

We tried a milkshake for the third dose… it was better, but honestly she spit more of it than she swallowed.

Then in the middle of the night while I was not sleeping… I had a brainwave.

An epiphany.

The kind with the hallelujah chorus and flashing lights.

What if I mixed the medicine into ice cream, stirred it up, and served it in a mini ice cream cone.

I know, your mind is blown too.

Ok so here’s the deal (or the dill depending on what part of the country you’re from). Some antibiotics can’t be mixed with dairy, but amoxicillin isn’t one of them. Dairy and amoxicillin are just fine… trust me, I’ve done the research.

I tried the ice cream cone method, telling the Princess it was Princess Poppy ice cream.

She saw me mix the amoxicillin into the ice cream, looked at it, and then… ate it.

And then she ate the next dose that night, and had no issues with every dose after that.

Now she’s asking for the medicine first thing in the morning, going so far as directing me to get the cone, the ice cream, and the medicine.

There have been no tears, no fights, everyone is clean (ok relatively, she’s eating ice cream after all), and she’s getting her entire dose.

It’s a miracle.

Trust me, amoxicillin ice cream is the way to go.  Next time your kid is prescribed antibiotics, pick up some ice cream and mini cones… it will make your life a million times easier.

I’m fairly certain that this works with any flavor of ice cream and that sprinkles could be added… just as long as you have mini cone to put it in.

Who knew that 2 teaspoons of ice cream would make all the difference?

Amoxicillin Ice Cream 

2 teaspoons of your child’s favorite ice cream

1 dose of amoxicillin

1 mini ice cream cone.

Mix ice cream and amoxicillin together until the consistency of soft (very soft) serve ice cream. Put in cone, and give to your kid to enjoy. If you’re feeling fancy you might want to add sprinkles, but let’s not get too crazy.