Can you tell me what the test is like - I have to take my 16 month old :-(

[RagamuffinPuffling]

I feel terrible, is it going to be traumatic?

No I did my own. Touched the back of my throat both sides then up my nose. Wasn’t traumatic at all!

It says it will be up the nose and down into the throat - I didn't realise the bits could be done separately, that sounds better

Thank you :-)

I second SummerPeony - it's more of a weird sensation than anything else. I think at the beginning the nasal swab was more invasive and that might be why we all had the impression it was going to be super uncomfortable.

The throat one is fine. The nasal one was quite unpleasant but the nurse really rammed it up my nose which probably didn't help!

I had my three month old baby and my toddler tested very recently. We went to a drive through one but I had to administer the test myself. It was really easy to do. For very small children and babies you don't do their throat, just their nose. So you stick the swab up both nostrils and spin in around for 10 seconds in each. Both my little ones did cry when I did it, but it was over quickly and they were fine!

Are you swabbing your DC? Take someone else in the back of the car or you'll have to climb over the seats into the back to do the swab as you cannot get out of the car at any point.
My 11 month old did not enjoy it, and swabbing her throat without the swab touching any other part of her mouth was impossible. But it was quick and she was fine once it was done.

I just did my 16 month old yesterday. You can't get out of the car so be prepared to climb over the seats, and I'd recommend having two people if yours is wriggly - we needed one of us to hold his head still while the other did the swab. Not nice but he just cried a bit. Only up the nose, no idea how I'd get it to his tonsils without touching the rest of his mouth.

I'm a bit worried the swab didn't go far enough up and it will come back inconclusive, as it was too big to go far in his nostril.

Thanks all, it was ok. He screamed the place down so like @whatswithtodaytoday I'm not sure how good a job we did with the swab. Hopefully the results won't take too long

We had to take out 15 month old DS this morning, we also only had to do the nose swab. It was difficult trying to keep him still with one hand whilst I swabbed with the other. I'm just hoping I managed to do it correctly.

I took my 16 month old about 2 months ago. Just did her nose as per the instructions for a young child. Came back as negative within 24 hours.

@whatswithtodaytoday I was allowed to get out of the car to administer one to DD. She is in a rear facing car seat and I had 3 year old DS in the other rear seat so there was no chance I could climb into the back.

@Snailsetssail That's good they let you. We had two car seats in the back too, it was a real squeeze.

@whatswithtodaytoday they had a specific parent and child bay for this purpose that they directed me to. I would never have managed otherwise.