Washington – Think preschoolers don’t know geography? Drive ’em to the pediatrician’s office. Starting around age 2, they’re crying before you make the final turn into the parking lot – they remember where they get shots.
Vaccinations and other needle-sticks are more than pinpricks to little kids, and often to older ones too. They cause fear that can turn a simple checkup into a stress-filled battle.
It sounds too easy, but distracting your tot can reduce the distress, concludes a new medical review that examined psychological techniques for easing pain.
Nothing will stop all the crying. But pick a distraction suitable for the child’s age and stage of development, and anything from a low-tech trick like blowing bubbles to bringing a video game can take his or her mind off the impending pain long enough to make a real difference.
While injection pain doesn’t last long, the more scared children are, the more pain they perceive. Even at age 8 or 9, anxiety can overshadow the memory that last year’s shot wasn’t all that bad.
“All she remembers is the fear from when she was 3 or 4,” explains Dr. Howard Bennett, a Washington pediatrician and author of the new children’s book “Lions Aren’t Scared of Shots,” which shows how imagination can help youngsters cope.
Bennett uses humor to distract his patients – and sometimes lets them give him a shot first, with a 2-foot-long clown syringe. “You just want to make things easier for them.”
Lindsay Uman of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia led the review, published by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international network that assesses the evidence behind health care practices. She evaluated 28 studies, involving more than 1,000 children ages 2 or older.
Hypnosis worked, she concluded. But so did easier-to-perform distraction, which significantly reduced youngsters’ own rating of their pain.
Easing the fear
Some tips on lessening the pain and anxiety of kids’ shots:
Try age-appropriate distraction. Just before the shot, have the child begin blowing bubbles. Pull out a portable video game or finger puppets.
Get the child to talk or sing. Nurses frequently ask children about their day or how school’s going as they’re swabbing the injection site. Just as the youngster answers, the needle goes in – before he has a chance to tense up.
Stay calm. Children sense and echo parents’ emotions.
Allow your children to cry. Don’t belittle them or say, “Big boys don’t cry.”
If a child asks if the upcoming doctor trip means a shot, don’t lie but do reassure the child that it will be over fast and you’ll be there to hold and hug.
Practice with a toy doctor kit or coping statements such as “I can do it.”
Don’t be afraid to enlist the doctor or nurse in coping strategies.
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics; Dr. Howard Bennett
