Starting vax at age 6 - question.

[zannster]

I'm just curious...if you had an older child and decided to give them any vaccinations, how did you go about it? I don't mean the schedule; I mean the inevitable battle/trauma when they realize what's happening (maybe after the first time). Did you find any way to make this happen more smoothly? Were any bribes more effective than others?

[Dandelionkid]

Hi,

I can give you what worked for us today. My 4 yr old ds hates the anticipation. Last time he completely freaked out. This time we didn't tell him what was happening until a second before they injected the shot. He also was watching a movie on the Iphone at the time. He barely registered the needle at all- no reaction. It was such a relief!!

[Cinder]

We do vaccines quite slowly, no more than 1 vaccine per appointment, so at 8 and almost 7 my kids still get 1-2 shots per year, plus, Janelle didn't get her first vaccine till 2 and Kincaid didn't until 3.

Anyway, nothing works for Janelle, we have to literally hold her down...but, this is true for blood work, even finger pricks, as well, and x-rays for who knows what reason also.  She is also just kinda scared of getting hurt in general, she won't ride a bike, or go down slides for the most part (except water slides...)

Kincaid actually ASKS for shots.  We bribe them with a toy, under $25, after every shot...which for Kincaid means a new my little pony set...and he would be willing to get 10 shots a day if we'd let him for this.  But he is very much the opposite of Janelle, he cries at the drop of the hat for emotional things, but gets up and walks away with a broken toe for physical injuries...he has a very high pain tolerance.

We are going to have to change the bribe rules a little, since River is going to be starting human growth hormone shots, and obviously I'm not going to buy him a toy a day for them...so maybe only for vaccines, or only for shots given in the doctor's office or maybe we'll just stop the bribe altogether, since neither of the little boys really know about it yet...I haven't decided.