If you did a 12 mo blood draw (anemia, lead), how was the process for LO?

[oolongtea]

My ped ordered the blood test for anemia and lead, but her office doesn't do blood draws (only sticks). So I have to go to a clinic to have it done... and I am stalling. Can you tell me what it was like for your LO? Any tips? Anything you would have done differently had you known? I asked around and got the name of a tech that is supposed to be good with kids, but I am still really wary about the whole thing.

[cheryllynn]

We did it in the ped office at 12 months. The nurse did a finger prick and collected several drops of blood. DD did just fine with the prick - didn't flinch at all. She did start objecting loudly as the drop collection took too long for her patience - she doesn't like being held still. We had the results in 10 minutes.

I wouldn't do anything differently and I am hugely relieved at the lead test as I live in a house that has lead paint under the latex. But we also deal with paint chips throughout the house.

I wasn't too concerned about the anemia test as we are extremely happy with the Happy Baby rice and oat cereals and both of those are fortified with iron, plus have DHA and the all-important digestive enzymes.

[ellairiesmom]

We did the 12 mos & the 24 mos with DD. We had to go to a local Lab Corp with the slip from her Ped & they did an arm draw from a vein which was really tough to prepare myself for emotionally. At 12 mos, she did pretty well. They had me sit in the chair with her on my lap & I held her arms/hands. They made sure they had 2 techs to make everything as quick as possible. I think she reacted with the initial injection but it wasn't awful.

At 24 mos-it was much, much harder. You can imagine I'm sure.

But it was impt for me to get the lead results & we also ran an allergy panel to check on her egg allergy both times since we were drawing anyway.

I had her favorite treat ready both times AND there is a bakery right next door which she realized at 2 so she was allowed to pick out a cookie after.

At 12 mos, I sang to her while it was happening to distract & then we nursed right away. At 24 mos, I told her about the bandaid they would give her after but we were in the process of daytime weaning (pregnancy was killing my nipples) so we also distracted her by talking about what we were going to do after etc.

Good luck. It will be over quick!!!

[staceychev]

Quick trauma, then forgotten--done through a local Quest Labs. And, I'm so glad I did it. We found DD1's excessively high lead level that way.