Tips for giving toddler covid test

[Heymumma29]

Any tips for getting my 3 year old to comply with the test please?

I am afraid for us it was a mixture of bribery and pinning the poor thing down... . We also counted out loud so he could hear how long was left and praised him throughout. And we didn’t even attempt the throat swab.

Try to go to a walk in if you can. Squirming toddler, vials of liquid, different bags and sheets of instructions do not make in car testing a pleasant experience. In the end, I just had to pin him down and be firm. It was pretty horrible, but it just needed to be done- I didn't want to go through all that for an inconclusive result. Good luck!

Agree with the PP, don't do the throat swab. My DS (2) has had 3 tests so far and we only did the throat test on his first one and it was the most traumatic by far. The last two we've taken him to a drive through site. My DH has sat in the back next to the car seat and then me in the front. I've climbed over to the passenger seat and leant into the back to hold DS's head with one arm and pin his chest to his car seat with my other. DH has then swabbed both his nostrils and it's all done. It's really horrific for all involved, DS ends up in a mood for the rest of the day and won't let us near him till he calms down but it's a needs must situations. We've made sure Peppa Pig or similar has been playing on a phone and we've had loads of chocolate to reward DS with afterwards.

Oh forgot to say our first test for DH was an at home one and it was awful. At least when you're in a car, your child is strapped down and can't move too much if someone holds their limbs.

I was going to say the opposite to dancetothemusicinmyhead, we went to a drive through so that he was already restrained in the car seat before I explained what we were doing. That way I didn't need to pin down arms and legs or risk him trying to run, just hold his head and do it a quickly as possible, and promise a massive (for 3yo) bag of sweets when it's done.

Yes, we did a drive-thru one and did appreciate the fact that he was strapped into the car seat.

Drive through, car seat helps and have the buttons/biscuits ready straight away.

They’re all so different. One child opened their mouth happily while clutching their bag of chocolate buttons. The other child had to be pinned down kicking and screaming and it was horrendous

When we went we did drive through and the little one being strapped in the chair helped. We practiced on teddy's at home with cotton buds and I did my 'test' and teddy's tests with cotton buds in the car right before to get her used to what was going to happen. When I used the cotton bud on myself I giggled a bit and said "oh that feels weird, it's so tickly up in my nose" so she would know what to expect.

She was ok with getting nostrils done but I didn't even try throat, nor would I in future for a young child.

We also dangled the promise of chocolate buttons which helped.

Good luck!

Which test? Our was the test at home kit and we told DD 2.5 that we was playing doctors and she needed to lay down and be the patient worked well because she's into playing doctors at the minute and received a doctors kit for Christmas!

Thank you so much! We’re going to the drive through- I’ve explained to her what’s going to happen and she seems happy enough right now. We have chocolate fingers at the ready for afterwards! I didn’t even realise you could just do the nose? X

It might not be as bad as you think. I put something on a tablet and gave it to the 3 year old, and it silenced most complaints. He squirmed a bit but was nowhere near as bad as I’d imagined

Drive through, so already restrained. Bribery with sweets.
Although probably not the best to advise as my DD is quite accustomed to medical tests...

DD has had 4 tests. First two were absolutely fine..3rd one hurt her a bit so then the next test was an effing nightmare.

I actually don't think it's safe or gets a good sample if a toddler is non-compliant.

My advice would be to aim for cooperation as there's no going back once they've had a bad experience.

I wish they'd develop an alternative test for kids! I'd rather do a finger prick blood test on DD, or get a urine sample.

I did one the other day on my just turned 3 year old (it was his birthday) at a smart testing site. He fell asleep in the car so put him in the buggy and took him in asleep, did the whole thing during the nap and although he woke up a little when it was up his nose we got a sample and he was non the wiser. If you're little one still has naps I would recommend doing it that way!

Just a quick update we had her tested and it wasn’t great- she was fuming with me in the end haha! We swabbed her throat in 3 doses of ‘ahhhh’s’ and she did okay- the nose she definitely did not like. Bribery did work with chocolate fingers and peppa helped distract her throughout.

The test came back negative but we are not convinced- she had direct contact with 8 positive cases and came out with symptoms 3 days after, all of which are the main symptoms. This has also been so different to any cough/cold she has ever had before, so we are all isolating anyway for the recommended time scales just to be on the safe side!

Thank you all for your recommendations and tips though, they really helped!

Sorry to hear that your DD isn't well.

You're obviously doing the right thing by isolating.

I worry about nurseries as I can imagine a lot of children are going back with their negative result when in fact it's just difficult to get a valid test from young children.

We need to lobby for a more realistic test for children!

I wouldn't bother, the test massively traumatised my normally very sensible 8 year old, I'd just comply with isolation guidance.

Gin for mummy.