Do I tell my 3 year old about vaccinations?

[Manchestermummax3]

Good evening.

Just as the title suggests really. 3 year old is having his vaccinations next week. Obviously was too young to be told when he was a baby.
Do I explain? (I'm not sure lying is the right answer either)
Like a lot of 3 Yr olds, he's very switched on & inquisitive. He will be asking why we are at the doctors etc.
I don't want to scare him but don't want to lie & him mistrust me in future.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Mine has his recently.
told him 30 mins before, if it has been longer he would have been worried for ages. I did it light and breezy and he was okay with it. Cried for a few seconds but over it

@MargaretThursday

I completely agree. I think it would be awful to just turn up and with no warning whatsoever the child be given a jab. It's different when they're babies and you can't talk to them. I was conscious I didn't want to create a fear of the drs so had a chat with him first and it seemed to work :)

I told mine the day before. He'd had the nasal flu one so he was pretty on board with the concept of vaccinations. He also thinks vegetables are a vaccination because they stop you getting scurvy. However, he got a bit fixated on the stickers and chocolate aspect so he hadn't quite grasped that it was going to actually hurt and was a bit indignant afterwards. He was much much braver than for last year's flu vaccine though - that time the sticker saying 'I was brave today' was not really very accurate.

My son is autistic so I wouldn’t be able to explain it to him and he understand. He had to have a blood test, and the vein failed in the first arm, so we had to do the second arm poor kid. I opted for the cold spray rather than wait a whole hour for numbing cream. Anyway recent flu vaccination was up the nose, and I asked the nurse to take the quick and distraction approach.

Agree with others, tell them the same day/ shortly before.

I think I told mine that they might feel a scratch, as I didn’t want them to be surprised by that. Promise of picking out whatever they want from sweet shop/cafe/treat of your choice. Luckily there was a cafe next door to our GP so it was a short trip!

As a practice nurse ( and mother), I agree with the many posts saying tell them, on the day is fine, before, not so much, it gives them too much time to ruminate. Also agree, age appropriate, ( and you know your own child best), bright and breezy with treat afterwards.

One word of caution, if giving a sweet or chocolate button, don't (!) put it in their mouth as the 'prickle' goes in. They will most likely inhale sharply as its administered, and could choke on the sweet.
This happened to my colleague and she didn't see the parent pop it in at that direct moment. The child was fine, but needed sharp administration of hand between the shoulder blades to dislodge the sweet. It was a distressing event and I've never forgotton her telling me.

All the best, OP. Practice nurses have done thousands of these jabs and you would be very unlucky to find an unskilled nurse; it's usually done efficiently and swiftly.

Do remember to take his 'red' book, or whatever colour it is in your area. It's amazing how long into the future one needs to look back at vaccination records for forms, etc...

It is important to tell children, in an age-appropriate way, what to expect. If you take them down to the health centre without saying anything and they are met by a nurse putting a needle in their arm with no warning, they will be nervous of future medical visits and, possibly, lose trust in you. When my children were having their pre-school vaccinations, each of them, on knowing what was about to happen, asked if it would hurt. My reply was that they might feel a little scratch, but if they looked away it would be better. I then added: “and of course you are a big boy/girl and will not make a fuss.” In the event, by looking away they didn’t notice the needle going in and were surprised to be told that it was over. Needles these days are very fine because they are disposable - a far cry from the needles of my childhood which were reusable and sterilised and very often blunt, meaning that they were quite painful.

I didn’t tell my eldest but he had them the same time as he 8 week old sister and it was fine he was told about 30 secs before he got them and it was the right decision
I did tell DD and that was the right decision for her.

If you ever have to do it again you can buy the numbing cream in advance and apply it yourself an hour before the appointment (assuming you know in advance they need the blood test). It works really well and my 2.5 year old didn’t even notice the blood being taken.

I always explain it to DD and have done since she was old enough to understand. It's a needle, it hurts a bit, but not for long, and it's to stop you getting really poorly. Getting poorly would hurt a lot more than the needle. Yes, you have to have it, because Mummy and Daddy have to make decisions to keep you safe sometimes, even if you don't want us to.

I have a three year old, this is what I did. There's an episode of Bing (on iPlayer) called Vaccination. Watch this together and talk about it. Watch it again on another day and explain that they'll be going for their vaccination soon. In Bing he gets a special sticker and a certificate. Then what I did was I made a certificate for being brave and slipped it to the nurse who presented it to him after it was all over. He wasn't scared at all because Bing wasn't scared. At least for the first one... I did have difficulty getting him back in the building for a second appointment...

@ThreenagerCentral sooooo spooky I came on here to say the exact same thing !!!! I can't stand Bing haha but we watched this episode a few times the days running to the appointment (which was today), then we reenacted it and then we also made certificates and hoppity voosh stickers. He was so brave on the day. Nearly cried on the first jab but then braved the second one. So proud of him and he's pretty proud of himself too! Deffo recommended the Bing episode and talking about it and role playing it!

Now I'm just praying he doesn't get a fever wish us luck!

No

Just say he's seeing the doctor as you're driving there

I’ve got my little boys coming up, he already doesn’t like the doctors. I will be letting him know on the morning of the appointment what we are going for I think he’s going to need a lot of persuading will be promising a treat for being brave.