Would you have any problems with this? She turned 3 in June.

[insahmniak]

Partner and I are having some medical tests tomorrow. We are fasting tonight and will have some bloodwork done in the morning. Daughter will be with us, kind of juggling between the two of us, I guess.

We both think this is okay. I guess I'm just checking to see if anyone has any other thoughts about exposing a 3 year old to bloodwork. (I think the draw might be a "healthy" one.)

TIA for your opinions!

[sabrosina]

I don't see any harm in it. I had my son with me when I had blood drawn, and he was fascinated with the process. I just explained that the nice lady was taking some of mommys blood through a tiny little tube so the doctor could look at it through a microscope. This lead to many different discussions, none of which were negative or concerning to him. He just thought it was cool that you could do that. I find that talking about everything in a calming way goes a long way...

Hope all is well with you and your partner.

[the_lissa]

My daughter has been with me twice when I've had blood taken, and she is 2.5 now.

[Ruthla]

I see nothing wrong with it. Why would a child be upset by a blood draw unless she's been taught to fear it?

[insahmniak]

Yeah. That's pretty much what we were thinking. We have anatomy books that she likes us to read to her. I thought it could be a good thing for her to see.

I just have the vague recollection from waaaaay back in nursing school, during ped rotation, that kids go through a heightened body-awareness stage, where any threat to the integrity to their bods is hugely difficult for them. Not that this would be her body, but she gets really worried when I sew, for example, that I'm gonna sew/poke my hand.

So those things just give me pause.

[Deirdre]

I think you can resolve this quite simply by having your partner go first and you wait in the waiting room with dd, then you go and partner stays with dd.

Unless you want her to see the procedure so she won't think it's scary if she ever has to have it done?

[phathui5]

My 2 1/2 year old dd thought it was funny when I was pregnant and got blood drawn. (I didn't find it as amusing)

[Sylith]

Oddly, having 3yo DS with me was good for *me* during the several blood draws I had to have done while pregnant. He was very curious, watched closely, asked lots of questions. I have a certain horror of needles, but he helped distract me, and of course I worked very hard to control my reaction for his sake.

We had to play "midwife's office" every day for awhile, but he was anything but traumatized by it

[ewe+lamb]

DD came with me to get blood taken - she was fascinated with the whole process and I explained everything to her, I think if it's handled well it can be a positive experience for the child.

[mom2noah]

DS came with me to almost all my OB appointments and saw me get my blood drawn several times. He was fascinated by it and it never bothered him in the least.

[becoming]

I think it'll be a good experience, IF you and your husband don't scream and act like it's killing you when they draw your blood.

[insahmniak]

I'm not worried about the two of us, but now that you mention it, I think this may be kind of a "group" testing situation, where there might be others with more unpredictable reactions. Hmm. We'll have to consider that if it's the case.