Desperate fear of first aid

[DevonFolk]

DD is 5 and for as long as I can remember she's hated the idea of needing a plaster or antiseptic wipe. She's now added a fear of tweezers to her list. She's only ever had one injury that has required proper first aid (bloody nightmare to deal with) but this happened once it was already clear that she had an issue with it, so I really don't know how it started.

I know that if she falls over at school she doesn't tell anyone because she's scared they might insist that she needs first aid. Fortunately she's never come home with more than a graze or bruise, but she's getting more and more anxious about something terrible happening. A couple of weeks ago on a warm morning we had a hell of a time getting ready for school because she was determined to wear tights, her theory being that she's less likely to cut herself if she were to fall over in the playground. I really don't want to pander to this because I know all too well where it can lead (I work with children who have social, emotional and behavioural issues - spot the irony ) If she hurts herself she doesn't want me to look at it, she gets extremely distressed just talking about cuts and blood, even if nothing's happened and I'm just trying to have a conversation about it.

She's currently got a splinter in her thigh but won't let me near it, despite blatent bribery attempts.

Does anyone have experience of this or wise words? I feel useless because it's just the sort of thing I'd be asked to help with if this were a child at school I'm aware I need to warn her teacher but I see her so rarely and keep forgetting. More

Could she be worried that the first aid will hurt?

Is she associating first aid with another medical experience?

My dd has had issues after a really bad experience at the doctors, those are so bad we have resorted to professional therapy.

Yes she's afraid it will make it hurt more. She hadn't had any bad experiences before it started. She got a nasty cut when she smacked heads with a friend last year but the fear was already there which made dealing with it really difficult. Now it's like all her fears were confirmed because it was so difficult when it came to taking the plasters off.

Is there anyone medical you know she could spend time with? A nurse or doctor who can show her actual medical kit and let her get desensitised?
Our local doctors is amazing and always go the extra mile. Before I gad children myself I went to the nurse to get my ears syringed one day. The nurse asked me if I minded having a 6 year old assistant! She had a medical phobia which they were treating with these 'assistant' sessions. We had great fun and she did seem to loosen up. She hadn't seen the syringing stuff before and it is noisy so she was visibly scared at first. Then calmed, the held the instruments and finally squirted the nurse with the syringing thingy!

I'd probably use a 2 step approach:

Be honest that cleaning an injury/removing a splinter can be painful, but getting an infection would be worse (obviously making the descriptions a bit funny, but still serious enough to make an impact).

Where possible I'd switch out the plasters for sterile pads secured with a bandage or zinc oxide tape (the zinc oxide comes off much more easily than normal plasters do in my experience). Tie this with an explanation that like tooth brushing/maths/whatever necessary thing she hates, sometimes big girls just have to deal with things they hate.

If that doesn't work and no one else has any better advice I'd get some professional opinions, not pandering is fine and often works but if this is a full on phobia then she might need some different strategies.

(Encouraging her to play with some cheap plaster on a doll might help her get more comfortable as well)

I would get her a play first aid kit and be the patient. Dad, Gran, toys, etc. can all be 'injured'.

Thank you all. Picklesausage that sounds amazing!

She's had a doctors set for years and is keen on being a vet so most of her teddies are already covered in plasters and bandages. We do talk about infections, particularly with this recent splinter. It came out just now but only because it had worked it's way nearly all the way out. I suggested the tweezers and she said they were too sharp. No amount of reassuring talk would convince her that because the splinter was so far out the tweezers wouldn't have to actually touch her. I managed it with my fingers in the end.

I'll see if I can chat to someone at school about her helping with first aid at break times (obviously not the really nasty cuts, but anything that might need a quick wipe and a plaster)

Thanks again