He's 7 and we are booked in for chickenpox jabs.
I'm having it too since I'm not immune. It's doing the rounds at school and I don't want ds to catch it or to bring it home to prem dd. I know it's usually mild but not always.
However he is absolutely resisting. He's become very difficult over anything medical over the last couple of years. I can't even take his temperature. He wouldn't have the flu vaccine spray. They had to give up because he became hysterical. We've talked about why vaccines are necessary and how having the illness is worse than having the vaccine, we've tried bribes and rewards. Some of it is for effect. Apparently the chickenpox vaccine will kill him and make him cry for ten years and his arm will fall off etc etc.
I know I should be sympathetic but it's starting to get on my nerves. At some point he is going to have to have some sort of medical thing and if we keep backing down now how will we manage it? I think my view is slightly coloured as I was diagnosed diabetic at 8 and was doing all my own injections and blood tests more or less straight away. I know that doesn't change how he feels about medical type things though. I have to say he generally is a drama queen. I know that sounds horrible but he is! Everything is reacted to in an over the top way - for example something he doesn't like coming on the TV is 'an absolute disaster,' losing at football makes him 'want to never play again and throw all his footballs away,' a food he isn't keen on on his plate is 'total poison and will make him sick' so he does have a tendency to be a little over the top.
Would you back down on this or not?
AIBU?
To persevere with getting ds to have a vaccination?
SweetElizaRose · 15/06/2016 11:09
Leasts its done now 1 of my dds is dramatic she got her cervical cancer vaccine and had to rest her arm for 2 days 
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
I was very needle phobic and routinely restrained for injections and minor medical procedures as a child. The phobia increased with every subsequent injection and medical procedure until I would become hysterical if someone so much as wanted to look in my ears/take my blood pressure, etc.
Many thousands of pound of private therapy later and with help from some fantastic nurses and midwives, I am a not-quite-so-phobic adult and have realised that the escalation of my phobia was not caused by the actual injection/procedure itself, but things like the shaming and feeling of being 'tricked' ("it's just a check up", "it won't hurt", etc)
Unfortunately, despite them having no idea of my past phobias, 1 of our DC has followed in my footsteps, so I now get to experience it from the other side, with the added thrill of a blood phobia too . Karma you could say.
However, whether through luck or judgement, DD's phobias are decreasing not increasing. Our approach has been:
- It's ok to be afraid
- It's ok to cry
- It's even ok if we have to hold you down; we understand why you are fighting us and it doesn't make you naughty or bad or silly. It's ok if you're not brave
- It's ok to feel/do all these things, BUT it is happening anyway because it is important. We will help the nurses hold you down help you to have it done, even if you don't want it, because the benefits are worth it
All very matter of fact, no "be a good girl" (because she can't, it's setting her up for failure), no rewards (the reward is that she is protected from X or that Y is fixed) and no shaming.
She's currently 6 and we have somehow managed to survive injections, broken bones, deep splinters and surgery. Like I said, she's getting better with each procedure, which is a huge relief.
Now if anyone can tell me how to deal with a blood phobia, that would be really helpful!
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.