how to crush a pill for a baby

brandon was born with congenital hypothyroidism.  ever since he was born, i’ve had to give him a pill a day of levothyroxine, crushed in a spoon and mixed with milk.  at first, neither my doctor nor the pharmacist really had any advice as to how to administer the pill.  the pharmacist first gave me a dropper, but i was later told that the fine granules of powder could stick to the plastic walls of the dropper.  because every tiny little bit matters, it’s crucial that you get every last powdery bit into the baby’s mouth.  for this reason, over the counter pill crushers and mortar and pestles won’t do the trick here.

here are my tips and tricks for feeding a crushed pill to a baby:

1. gather your equipment. obtain a dark-colored plate, a metal tea spoon, and another implement to smash the pill with (the base must be no bigger than the size of the spoon).  the tricky part is finding the thing you want to crush the pill with.  looks for something in your kitchen that looks like a pestle.  something like this.
2. prepare for crushing. place the pill in the spoon, and put the spoon on the plate.  the reason you need a dark colored plate is that when you crush the pill, it will break up into tiny pieces, and you won’t be able to see the little specks easily unless the plate is a dark color.   i use a plate like this.
3. crush and collect flying pieces. make sure your hands are clean and dry.  then use the pestle to gently press down on the pill.  with practice, you’ll get the hang of how much pressure you need to use, but start out gently, because believe me, little pieces will be flying.
4. pick a finger. once you’ve ground the pill into a fine powder, use one finger to pick up all of the specks that have flown onto the plate and put them back into the spoon.  then use the same finger to brush the bits off of the pestle.  keep the pestle in a clean, dry place for tomorrow’s use.  don’t touch anything else with this finger.
5. add milk. put a little bit of breastmilk or formula onto the spoon.  put as much milk in the spoon as your baby can fit in his/her mouth at once.   if you’re using breastmilk, you can either practice manual expression beforehand or express into a cup and pour a little bit into the spoon.  do not mix or stir!  if you mix right now, you’ll have another untensil with pill powder on it.
6. repeat.  there will still be remnants in the spoon, so add more milk, and repeat.  then use the chosen finger to swipe the remaining powder out of the spoon and into your baby’s mouth.  let your baby suck on the finger a little until you’re sure that all of the powder is gone.

let me know if you have any other tips or tricks, or if you have any questions for me!