What happened to my baby???? Adult needle used for immunisations.

[MyRubyEagle]

When my youngest daughter received her first lot of vaccinations, I knew straight away that something was wrong.

The needle went in and then they injected her but then clear fluid started to spill from her leg followed by blood.

This was nothing like I had ever seen on my other child’s vaccinations, and so I asked what was happening. They said that someone had attached an adult needle. Obviously my baby was screaming at the time and they said we were fine to leave. I think I was in shock about it, so I just left but am now wondering how this can have happened? I have no medical knowledge so I’m wondering if anyone can explain how they ended up using the wrong needle.

This happened a while ago but it’s been on my mind lately. Can anyone help?

It's normal for there to be a few drops of clear fluid from the needle. And then blood, well, yes, it breaks the skin, that's why they put a plaster on.

It was a pretty substantial amount of clear fluid and a decent amount of blood too.

What are you worried about, exactly?

I’m just wondering what they meant when they said someone had accidentally attached an adult sized needle? They said that in direct response to the liquid that was coming out and the blood. Like I said, I’m not medical so trying to understand how there was an adult needle attached and in what way this has caused so much liquid to spill from her leg and then the bleeding. Which was excessive by comparison to every other vaccination I have witnessed. I mean, in my head, the size of the needle would be irrelevant because surely it only matters how far they insert it? I just don’t really understand what happened and I’m seeing if anyone (maybe with a medical background) can possibly help me to understand.

I’m also a little concerned about the fact that so much clear liquid spilled back out. If this was the vaccination, then surely she didn’t get enough of the dose.

Anyone?

Same thing happened to me when I had my covid vaccine. The nurse reassured me it was nothing to worry about.

I work as a nurse and often administer child vaccinations- unsure why they said they used an adult needle as we always used to use blue needles for intramuscular injections, whether the patient was an adult or a child? Also clear fluid (solution from injection) and blood is very normal after having a vaccination, and often if the baby is warm they will bleed a lot more. Hope this gives some reassurance that it sounds very normal and your baby will be fine!😃

We don’t have adult and child sized needles….

Needles are needles, no suck thing as adult or child ones.
As Pp said, sometimes they bleed, sometimes they don’t. It’s honestly not something to worry about

Such 🙄

This is all very confusing. I am a paediatric nurse and there is no such thing as an 'adult' or 'child' needle. Needles come on various widths (gauge) and lengths. The needle used for baby vaccination is blue, and is used for adult vaccines also. Sometimes the vaccines come prepackaged and have the needles already attached, depends on the brand. I imagine your concern is that the needle was somehow too big and that caused damage? I wouldn't be too worried about this, 1) because I think it's a very odd mistake to be made by any nurse, and is IMO very unlikely anyone would use a bigger needle for a vaccine for no reason, and 2) we often use MUCH bigger needles for other sharps procedures without issue (eg needles for blood transfusions are huge). The bleeding is normal, and I would expect enough to leave behind multiple spots on a small round plaster. It is also normal for some of the vaccine itself to leak back out again (the clear fluid) - baby will still have received the correct dosage as this so calculated as 'waste' in the syringe. Your muscles naturally contract when the needle is inserted and this squeezes a small amount back out. The amount given takes all this into account so baby will have still benefited from the vaccine. Nurses also have something called 'duty of candour' which means they have to tell you if an error has been made so I would hope that if any mistakes were made in error you would have been informed and any consequences would have been clearly explained to you.

I'm a mental health nurse and don't give vaccines, but I give IM injections of other drugs.

Clear fluid is normal. If you've seen more blood than normal (especially if it spurts out) it will be because the needle has nicked a capillary on the way in or out. It's alarming (it certainly was the first time it happened to me!) but not harmful.

There is no adult and child needle for IMs. There are just needles of different lengths.

You didn't know straight away that something was wrong, because nothing was wrong

Another nursing professional here who does childhood imms. No such thing as an ‘adult’ needle.

Can tell it's Friday night.

It's difficult to go wrong with childhood imms. Where were the injections? If in chubby thighs or arms occasionally hits a tiny blood vessel, that's all.

Okay, thanks for those who responded in an informative way. The “adult needle” thing made no sense to me at the time either. I suppose maybe with the baby screaming etc, I could have misheard. Although I was certain at the time that’s what the nurse said.

I don’t know why some people are mocking me for my post. Thought this was supposed to be a supportive place for parents to post? Not a very kind way to treat someone who is simply asking a question. You don’t need to reply if you don’t want to.

FWIW, I’m quite lonely irl. So next time you decide to mock someone, maybe consider they don’t have many people to ask in real life and maybe just be kind.

When I got my covid injection there was enough blood to have it dripping all the way down my arm. I had never come across bleeding like that with a vaccination before either but the nurse who gave me the shot said that sometimes it happens. I can see why when it happened with your baby you were concerned. I was concerned and I'm a grown woman!

I was hospitalised for a week in 2019 and had bloods taken daily. On one occasion I had 14 phials of blood taken. The phlebotomists had difficulty finding veins and one of them told me that they were using a needle they normally used for children.

Is that not a thing?

(I think she said it was a "butterfly" needle?)

No idea why pps are being such dismissive dicks on this thread.

OP, I'm not medical so can't advise on that, but of course you were worried after what happened and what was said. Very pleased to hear from the helpful posters that it seems like baby will be fine ❤️

Course it’s not normal, I’d report it. Things like this are happening all the time and nobody reports it.

They use a large blue needle normally for the injection. I don’t there is adult vs baby needles for injections.

it’s horrible to watch. My kid vomitted all over the nurse.

That is different as it is taking blood from a vein rather than putting something into the muscle. Smaller veins need smaller needles otherwise they will just 'puncture' them. This isn't an issue for injecting intramuscularly.

If your not happy contact the practice manager