My son has his well child check up next thursday and he's due to get about 4 shots then. I am dreading it and dragging my husband with me to help me hold him down for these shots. I'm a little worried because the last time he got some pokes (more than 1) he cries so hard that he actually cant breath and his lips turn purple. Eventually he takes a big breath and all is well, but that still scares me to death. I havn't told him he's getting poked. I'll only tell him when it's time. My question is, is their an over the counter numbing cream that might help? I know my sister in law uses that embla cream on her daughter because she gets poked almost everyday (she has cancer) and the cream seems to help dull the area before the poke, but embla is prescription. Anyone know of any good creams??
I don't know about any over the counter creams, but when my daughter was old enough, her doctor suggested giving her a dose of tylenol prior to getting the shots. It seemed to help a little afterwards...but getting the shots always lead to crying.
Hope all goes well!
My son has blood drawn all the time because he has arthritis. Just ask your doctor for the prescription because it is well worth it and they should not have a problem prescribing it. It works great on my son! I don't know of an over the counter cream
Hi nancy,
I have always given my kids Tylenol before shots, and it seems to work well. Can your sil spare a few drops of the cream before you go maybe? Good Luck, shots were always harder on me then they were my boys. Who are now 13 and 6.
When my son gets shots I ask if more than one nurse is available. If he can get 2 at a time instead of 4 back to back it seems to minimize the impact a little.
Good Luck.
H.
I just read a tip on getting out splinters, not sure if it would work the same or not for shots, but they suggested ambesol or some other teething ointment. I remember this part of the motherhood journey, it's not fun, but it does get better. My kids only get the flu shots now for the most part (6 and 8).
H.
Have you considered spreading the shots out over multiple visits? Doctors recommend so many shots on one visit because they fear that a parent won't bring their kids back in between for just the vaccinations. I've chosen to spread my daughter's shots out for two reasons: (1) I'd prefer that her body doesn't have to fight off so many diseases/toxins at one time and (2) I don't want her to have to get poked so many times in one visit. Even with spreading them out (I like to put 30 days between each vaccination and never vaccinate when she's sick - even with a cold), I've been able to pretty much meet the state-required schedule. It has been a bit more work for me since I had to make a trip to the pediatrician's office once a month for the first year and a half of her life but my doctor's office allowed me to simply call on the day-of for "vaccination only" visits. I would call and say that I only needed to bring my daughter in for a vaccination and they would usually give me a two-hour window. I work full time so they were good about letting me come in often after 5.
But that's just my personal preference. I don't have any other recommendations for the pain. The two times that she got two shots together, two nurses did them at the same time and so she at least only had to go through the pain one time...
