How to handle going to the doctor...

[ThreeKidsinKy]

My 5.5 yo DD is obsessed with her upcoming dr appt. She and her twin brother have their kindergarten entrance physical in about 2 weeks. When I made the appointment 2 months ago, we were at the dr office to get DS's ears checked so she heard me make it, and she asked if they were going to get any shots. Well, no, we aren't getting any vaccinations this time BUT they will need to do a finger prick to get a few drops of blood to test. She went a bit crazy when I told her that because the last time they did this (back in Feb when she had Influenza A) it really hurt her...I'm thinking they must have hit a small nerve or something. Now she is terrified. I can't even mention Kdg or school or the fall without her dissolving in sad tears because she knows this dr appt comes before all that (and because of all that!)

I'm not quite sure how to handle the actual appointment itself. It's a morning appointment and she and her brother will be seen together. I'm really nervous that I'll have an hysterical girl on my hands before we even get in the door. Or even into the car! Any words of advice on how to help her?

Ginnie
mama to Ryan (7.5), Max (5.5) and Lily (5.5)

[camracrazy]

Ask your Dr about a script for EMLA cream before the appointment. It's a little costly, and your insurance may not cover it, but it's worth it. It numbs the skin so that your DD won't even feel the prick. We used to use it with my DD that has CF, because she had to have a lot of lab tests done. Now she just does them and hardly flinches! We also used it once when my older DD had to be tested for CF. She is really afraid of needles but she didn't even realize that they did the test!

As for the appointment itself, I don't know what to tell you.

[LaLaLaLa]

Ooh, yeah, that cream is magical stuff! My DD had weekly injections for twelve weeks when she was a year old, and never even realized anything was being done; she just sat on my lap and merrily munched on a snack during the procedure. Get the cream and possibly try it out in a controlled setting beforehand ("look, you can't even tell you're pressing this fork against your finger! You'll never even feel a pinprick!"). It would have greatly helped my stress at that age to have something like that.

[One_Girl]

I did a lot of pretend play with my dd in the two weeks before she had to have her kindergarten shots. I pretended to be a doctor and to give her dolls and stuffed animals shots to prevent the things that the shots she was getting would prevent. She started taking over and being the doctor in the games very quickly. I would say that it would hurt but it was for their health and safety to her toys too. The pretend play seemed to make the visit go much more smoothly. I also told her we were going to the dollar store to get a toy after the shots and all of that really seemed to help. She had an intense fear of the doctor before that and she didn't have it then, nor has she had it since then. She actually cooperated for the shots and let them do them. I was very surprised by how effective this was for her.

[ThreeKidsinKy]

OK, so I asked the ped about the EMLA cream, and they said they won't use it for a finger prick because it constricts the blood vessels near the surface of the skin which would be counterproductive.

I tried to get her engaged in play regarding it but she will have NOTHING to do with it. I'm not creative enough to work out a whole play scenario to work up to it without her noticing. <sigh>

[harrietsmama]

I don't know prep wise, but my grandma's boobs were a great place to be buried when i got my allergy shots

[ThreeKidsinKy]

I thought I would update on this because it makes me laugh now. :-)

I asked the dr about the EMLA cream before we went, and she said if we wanted we could use it, but it slows down the blood flow in the process of numbing and since we were trying to GET blood, it probably wasn't a wise idea.

So I prepared my DD as much as possible, empathized with her, etc. and kind of discussed it more positively with her twin brother within her earshot. It was scheduled for first thing in the morning, so I promised them that when we were done, regardless of how things went, we would go get a donut and they could get something from the Dollar Store. Mostly I wanted them to have something to look forward to. We ended up having to wait almost 45 minutes because a dr had called in sick and there was a backlog already. I thought DD was going to have a meltdown. I asked the nurse to make sure we did the finger sticks first thing when they called us back, so we wouldn't have to deal with the anticipation while waiting for the doc for the examination. I did all of this prep work, and when we walk in the room the nurse whispers to me that DD did NOT have to do the finger stick because she'd had it done in Feb when she had the flu. : I didn't tell either DD or DS because DS was being so brave getting his done first to show his sister that it didn't really hurt. Thankfully he didn't feel the least bit resentful that he was the only one to have it done. DD was beyond thrilled, as you can imagine.

It wasn't the ped office fault that we didn't know this because everything we discussed was based not on DD as a specific patient but basic office practice...at the kdg visit they get the finger prick. They weren't looking at her chart and I didn't think to tell them she'd already had one done that year....didn't know it made a difference.

Anyway, all is well and DD is now excited about kindergarten again. Thanks for the advice!