Shots and Kids: How to Minimize the Ouch for Both Parents and Children
Dr. Lonnie Zeltzer, director of the Pediatric Pain Program at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, offers up these helpful hints to help you help your child deal with injections and blood tests.
By Amy Sommer | September 30, 2009
1. With young children, parents can bring soap bubbles and blow bubbles during the injections with the parent suggesting they are "blowing away the hurt.�
2. With a crying infant, if the parent places the plastic bubble maker in front of their mouth, as they cry out, they will make bubbles. �I have seen babies stop crying mid-cry because they were distracted by the bubbles,� said Zeltzer.
3. For older children and adolescents, bubbles may not be as useful, but parents can help the child to breathe out slowly as if he/she were blowing up a big balloon.
4. Guide the child to use their imagination to experience being somewhere else really fun during the injections, such as at the park or at the beach. Other distraction ideas include jokes, video-games, stories and music.
5. Ask your doctor for a prescription for a numbing cream or patch and put on the areas to be injected. Do this at home before going to the clinic so the medicine has time to work. Ask the office nurse where she/he plans to do the injections, such the thigh or arm, so that you numb the correct spot.
6. If your doctor approves, give your child a dose of pain reliever, such as Tylenol, about one hour before the injection. After returning home, put an ice bag on the injection site to reduce local swelling and pain.
For more information from the doctors of Mattel Children�s Hospital UCLA, go to:
www.uclahealth.org/mattel.
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