How do (or do you even) prepare a 3 year old for his vaccination?

[BollocksToThis]

He loves our health centre, friendly with the staff and happy to see doc or be examined. But due jabs next week. Do I talk to him about it or spring it on him and hope the post-prick sweeties neutralise the trauma?

the latter. love your name btw!

I was dreading this with ds1, who is, to put it mildly, a drama queen.

He was FAB. I explained what wold happen before - why he was getting the jags, and said that yes, it would be 'jaggy' and stingy but would be better afterwards and he would get a plaster from the nurse.

He didn't shed a tear! He might surprise you? Good luck.

Oh, but yy, sweets too, natch!

My hv has a supply.

we told DD (who has always been fine with jabs before - including swine flu earlier this year).... the problem we had which I think was my fault was the second one! I think I forgot there would be two and she Was Not Impressed.... also known as screaming blue murder 'nooooooo mummyyyyyy I don't want anottthhherrrr oneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

fine for the first mind, and when the second was done her pink milk cheered her up no end

Argh my ds (3) has his jabs this afternoon too. It's a double whammy for me tho my DD (8 wks) is having hers too!

I have tried to prepare DS by saying you're having an injection etc but to be honest he doesn't really know what I'm talking about so I'm just gonna hope for the best ! Good luck

tell him just before he goes in.
I told DS that the nice lady was going to give him some medicine to keep him healthy and it would hurt a little bit but LOOK here are some chocolates you can have afterwards!
he didnt even cry, he was so focused on the chocolates lol

I would explain. I said to my 2 that they were going to get some special medicine that would stop them getting poorly. I explained the injection was like a little pinch, so it would maybe pinch for 1 second! We would then go and buy some sweeties as a bribe treat!

I also got a Drs set, which had an injection in it. They spent weeks injecting me, dad, cat etc, saying "just a little injection, its good for you"

Emla patch.

Took DS for some overdue jabs recently. He didn't feel anything.

Do you think the nurse would mind if I applied an Emla patch though? Mine is quite scary!

I told mine the Dr was going to put some medicine in their arms to keep the bugs away. And after the first one got a bag of sweets out to look at while they did the second. Big cuddle & they were fine.

DD has hers last week. She is prone to drama queen moments but she was absolutely fine. The nurse gave her a sticker and a small bag of Haribo (which she told her she didn't really like and did she have any chocolate buttons instead )

I told her the day before (special medicine, it was sting a bit but would make her healthy etc)

I told mine that he will get a special medicine that will help him staying healthy. And I told him that it will involve a needle.
it helped a bit that baby got her vaccines at the same time and that I had the flu shot, so he could see that it is not a big deal.
if he is too worried about pain, the nurse can put a magic gel onto the arm that numbs the skin. but a good nurse can give a shot without it hurting at all.

I don't see why she would mind. Make sure you apply it at least an hour (or hour and a half, check the notice) before the jab. 3 yo would get his jabs in the upper arm, I guess, but check that as well.

DD had Emla patch put on from 3 mo- her paediatrician suggested that.

OK well DS was fine yesterday, we hadn't really talk much about it and just let him go in first (before 8 wk old DD). We didn't have time to apply an emla patch though winny as i forgot we were going from nursery straight there.

Anyway the first was fine, took a few seconds to register that it hurt and then he realised that the nurse was changing arms to give him another so pulled his arm away as she jabbed him! She quickly just reinserted the needle. He was quite upset but absolutely fine after about five minutes. And the way our immunisations are scheduled in this borough, that will be his last til he's 13!

So the only advice I would give is to hold that second arm tight (if your DC is indeed given a second jab at the same time).

poor 8 week old DD just wailed as was expected

good luck!