Injections! What do I tell my 3.5 year old about them?

[daisylawn]

I'm not sure whether to tell my 3.5 year old in advance that she is about to have a vaccination injection.
I'm worried that the jab might make her nervous of going to the doctors. Any tips?

I would advocate telling child of this age. She will be more wary of going in future if she gets a nasty surprise. They do remember anyway (I recall how my 18 month old ds screamed in anticipation of his mmr despite having only previously entered that same room on one occasion at 5 months for an injection). At least by 3.5 they can understand the logic of having something to prevent them being unwell, as they can usually recall an earlier illness and how that made them feel. Could you play doctors beforehand and demonstrate on a doll/teddy ?

To reduce the pain try to distract her whilst the injection is done. Our dr got ds to cough for his mmr booster and dtp at 4.5 and he didn't even wince. They can also use a local anasthetic spray but suspect they still feel it regardless.

hth

I think you just tell them all about it before hand in quite a lighthearted way. Last time my dd needed one I also had a tetanus at the same time - I had mine after hers and she didn't say anything and I said "OW!" quite loudly by mistake which she thought was hilarious as it proved she was much braver than me.
the local anaesthetic spray is very cold and my ds hates it much more than he hates injections themselves.

I always told mine in advance. With the last one (the only one I can remember in any detail) I said it was going to happen, and it would hurt a bit, and he could yell if he wanted to, and afterwards we would go and get a Twister (his favourite thing at the time).

It's like saying goodbye when you leave them somewhere, rather than creeping out - I am a great believer in being upfront about Life.

daisylawn, I too told ds he was going to have an injection on the night before his pre-school boosters and we played with his doctors set injection to make him familiar with the procedure (but not the pain!). I also always take along a drink and a reward like a few smarties for "being such a good boy even though I'm such the injection much have been a little bit ouch!".

With my ds I try not to tell him and then when we get there, I just explain that sometimes you can get pill and they are sending something in to try and make sure you don't get too ill, he once replied "What like a soldier" and I said yes, he is fine about it now, he doesn't like it, but knows it has to be done.

Tell him/her and be honest with out scaring them to death! There is a Bear in the Big Blue House video that is all about little bear having an injection. It might be good to watch that or find a book about it Topsy and Tim must have had a few injections in their time!

Many thanks for the advice. I was thinking of not talking about it in advance - thanks to your advice we did talk about it beforehand.
The result?
DD enjoyed talking to the nurse (who is lovely), and started to shake when the injection went in - I feared tears, but she was in fact giggling! She said that it tickled her!!!
So, a very positive experience, and many thanks again for the advice!