to think that the nurse should NOT have given the MMR

[SnowlightMcKenzie]

to a little boy today.

In the GP waiting room was a lovely little boy, watching the screen and looking for his name to be called.

We were in there for just about 20mins and during this time his 'chatty' dad kept telling everyone how much his son hates injections and that he's going to scream and so will have to be pinned down. He kept repeating this to every new person that came in.

Well when this little boy was called he went without fuss whilst his dad said to everyone 'Right, let me take my coat off ready to pin him down'.

5 seconds later the boy came running back towards us sobbing that he was scared. His Dad the grabbed him and physically wrestled him into the nurses office. We then heard screams and load crying and the little boy came ot in a right state with his dad smiling at everyone.

Now I know AIBU to suggest he isn't immunised, but surely the nurse should/could have insisted that she had the boys cooperation and told them to come back another time. At the very least, the Dad would have to consider HOW to get the boy to cooperate rather than physically.

Perhaps I just don't 'geddit' though, having no children that have been old enough yet for the MMR. AIBU?

I still have to sit on my hands when getting injections as have pretty strong reflexes to injections!

I dont think the nurse was unreasonable

the dad however - his behaviour will have just made the poor wee thing feel even more panicey

Ooooh this is a topical..er...topic for me as DD has to have her pre-school MMR booster on Friday and I have been wondering how to approach the whole thing.

My thinking was that it would be really mean to take her along for the jab without any sort of warning whatsoever. I feel I need to prepare her in some way but I don't want to scare the sh*t out of her either. I'm thinking I won't say anything until the morning itself so she doesn't spend days asking questions about it.

Anyone got any experience with this they'd like to share? I mean, I'm not planning on going into great detail about the needle etc... but should I at least warn her that it will hurt momentarily?

Took my DD for her pre-school booster last week and saw similar thing, a boy of about 4 went after my DD and because his mum had been going on about it he threw a complete wobbly as soon as he went into the nurse's room. To be fair they took some time to get him calmed down before they gave him the injection but because it was 2 jabs he had to be held down for the second one and then his mum carried him out of the surgery under her arm and just put him in his buggy to scream while they waited the 10 mins, I didn't see her give him a cuddle or anything and I felt really sad about it. Also think it was just as well that he was the last appointment as could have traumatised any other children going in. Tbh though I got the impression that the nurse was very used to having to restrain kids for this, it's a tricky age because they're old enough to be aware of what is going to happen but young enough to take a tantrum.

As for the dad it sounds as if he was more worried about what everyone else was going to think when his son
kicked off, he should have been spending the time distracting his son with games/books and then tried to
keep him calm when he got called.
I think yanbu to feel upset about this but I don't think the nurse could have done anything else. If they'd told him to come back another time then it would just have been longer for him to get worked up about it.

Olifin When I was a kid, my dad reminded me of a recent accident I'd had where I had hurt myself enough to say 'ouch', but not enough to cry and told me jabs hurt a bit, but nowhere near as much as that.

Also no deal was made of it. I think I was probably told that day, and it was just something we were goint to do inbetween going to the library and going shopping.

I was bribed too. After the jab I was getting a chocolate biscuit from the bakery.

Oh I forgot, - I was in hospital a lot too, and my mum used to sing one of my favourite nursery rhymes with me and the bit at the end where you shout was when the nurse was allowed to stick the needle in. Can't remember the rhyme though [hm]

What an arse the Dad was. Not the nurse.

The dad was the prat - the nurse was probably very no-nonsense in the way that only a nurse can be! Of course the father should have thought more about how to calm the little boy down.

Olifin I don't tell mine. It soon becomes obvious what is happening, they get distracted, it is over in 2 seconds and then they tuck into some chocolate buttons and have forgotten all about the needle.

YABU
How was it the nurse's fault if the dad is such a twat?
If you has asked 'IABU in wanting to slap a man at the GP's today?' I would have said you weren't.

Thanks snowlight and nabster, some good strategies!

What's this about waiting 10 minutes? Is this in case of an adverse reaction? I don't remember having to do that after the jabs at 13 months.

God, the dad was being a right tit! The nurse should have given him a jab for good measure.

My ds is also one that has to be pinned down, so I usually don't tell him to right before what he's going for! And I always downplay it and the nurse distracts him with sticker/lollipop whatever she has!
Yes would rather pin him down than him catching something awful, so yabu

I told both my girls what was going to happen, ie, it's going to hurt a little bit but then it will stop. I told them that it's alright to cry, and promised them a treat which they chose after. they were both just 4. Neither of them cried and they're not traumatised about going to the doctors.

The fault in this situation lies with the dad. it's all about preparation and knowing your own child.

Olifin - yes the 10 minute wait after is to check for any adverse reaction. Typically if a child is going to have a serious reaction to an immunisation it will happen very quickly. I've been asked to wait after all of DD's immunisations so not sure why you weren't.

Also if you have a child who is really petrified of the jabs you can now buy an anaesthetic cream called emla over the counter. You apply it sometime before the injection is being given and it numbs the skin. Also very good before any painful hair removal (waxing, tweezing etc) although I don't think a pharmacist would sell it to you for that reason!

Bellebelle - thanks for that, will keep it in mind.

Olifin - LO (3yrs/9mths) had her injections a couple of weeks ago. I told her on the way to the Drs what we were going for (no need to worry them too long before you get there!), she asked if it would hurt and I told her it would, but not for long. I also told her after we would go for juice at the cafe and could buy some sweets Bribery all the way! She cried and I wished I had known/remembered that you get one in both arms, because I hadn't told her about that and the poor wee mite was not impressed about having to have another one However, she did say, 'You told me it would hurt and you were right, it did hurt but it's ok now' and I reminded her that I always tell her the truth. So much better than saying, no it wont hurt, then having them feel lied to as well isn't it!

(She's a drama queen though - so it 'hurt' for days funnily enough, only when she needed to tidy up or go to bed . I don't doubt she had moments of soreness after, but nothing to warrant the Oscar winning performances . Hope your wee ones goes ok too

Dad was a twat, but as for the nurse- if the little boy was frightened, having to come back for the injection again would only make it worse for him. I used to have to pin dd down and I would have been fuming if the nurse had told us to come back another day- bad enough having to do it once.

Thanks BelleBelle and Chippingin

I will tell DD on the way to the Drs and will remember to tell her there will be two jabs! Treat for afterwards is a definite. It's going to have to involve chocolate/cake for DD