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Helping to prevent needle phobia in kids


Darryl

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Needle phobia generally begins from around age five, and can last through to adulthood. It can be a barrier to health-care access and treatment.


So it’s important to establish positive attitudes towards needle procedures, particularly vaccination, early in life.

 

https://theconversation.com/needles-are-nothing-to-fear-5-steps-to-make-vaccinations-easier-on-your-kids-153639

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Interesting read. I have needle phobia due to a bad experience. I was 5 and jumped up out of my mum's arms when the needle went in, it dragged down my skin and I ended up with a nice little scar. I have to look away when I have vaccinations or blood tests and I drag my husband along when DD need's her vaccinations to make sure he has a firm grip on her to avoid the same situation.

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Thank you [mention]Mister Mum[/mention] I had awful trouble getting my primary age child last year to get the Flu shot.

While my Kinder age child stood there and said l'm going to be brave and said it was all fine!

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I grew up terrified of needles. IVF didn’t fix the terror but it improved it. I still get very nervous. It’s are all fine so far. I just tell them they’re going to have their immunisations, it will hurt for a second and then their body will get stronger and be able to fight germs. No fuss, no lying about it not hurting. Immediately afterwards they get a lollipop (when old enough). Fingers crossed I’ve managed not to pass it on.

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Unfortunately DD needs regular blood tests and one of them was a very difficult draw (actually they all have been, but one in particular I had to tell the phlebotomist to stop as DD was getting distressed, then we had to try the other arm). It really is horrible, and unfortunately I have had to resort to presents for blood tests.


And often I go and to the GP and organise a test I can do at the same time as DD (I need 6 monthly tests so have pretty much got our schedules aligned). That helps a bit.

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acidulous osprey

Ask for a butterfly needle as these are smaller and can hurt less. When DS was getting lots of bloods done, we would take him to the Childrens Hospital in preference to the suburban clinics. Now he gets excited when he needs bloods done as he knows he gets $2.

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Ask for a butterfly needle as these are smaller and can hurt less. When DS was getting lots of bloods done, we would take him to the Childrens Hospital in preference to the suburban clinics. Now he gets excited when he needs bloods done as he knows he gets $2.

 

Thanks, they do use butterfly needles but doesn't always help. The Children's Hospital was actually the worst one. We had a brilliant brilliant phlebotomist next to our GP but she retrained as a nurse.

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Ask for a butterfly needle as these are smaller and can hurt less. When DS was getting lots of bloods done, we would take him to the Childrens Hospital in preference to the suburban clinics. Now he gets excited when he needs bloods done as he knows he gets $2.

 

Thanks, they do use butterfly needles but doesn't always help. The Children's Hospital was actually the worst one. We had a brilliant brilliant phlebotomist next to our GP but she retrained as a nurse.

 

I’m sure you’ve already thought of this but you can ring the pathology head office and ask where the best nurses for kids are located. I worked in nurse dispatching for Dorevitch a million years ago and we knew where the gun nurses for kids, needle phobic people, elderly people with terrible veins etc were and we were happy to make recommendations. Just ask to talk to the nursing department.

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Thanks. They always just direct me to the hospital though. Hopefully it was just a one off bad one, and it's better this time (need a test soon). She's been having them since before she was 3, poor kid.


She always gets a bit worried about getting vaccines until I am really clear it's not a blood test, then she is says how the vaccinations barely hurt and are easy. So that's one plus of having regular blood tests I guess? Vaccines don't seem so bad then.

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Thanks. They always just direct me to the hospital though. Hopefully it was just a one off bad one, and it's better this time (need a test soon). She's been having them since before she was 3, poor kid.


She always gets a bit worried about getting vaccines until I am really clear it's not a blood test, then she is says how the vaccinations barely hurt and are easy. So that's one plus of having regular blood tests I guess? Vaccines don't seem so bad then.

 

As another who's had gazillions of blood tests, I'd agree. Sometimes it does depend on the person - some have left me with huge bruises and I know it's because they've been doing it in too much of a rush and had to fish around for the blood vessel. I had one bloke insist he could get blood out of either arm, despite me telling him left is fine, right is unlikely. After trying and failing several times, he actually said 'don't ever let anyone bully you in to trying your right arm again', which I thought was magnanimous of him.

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TheGreenSheep

Not needle phobic perhaps, but DS is medical treatment fainter. Immunizations, X-rays, procedures. Even if he can’t see what’s going on. Bang. Down he goes. Walks out afterwards. Bang down he goes. Sight of blood leaves him grabbing for a counter to hold himself up.

Having a round of immunizations for heading OS plus flu vax has taught me to prepare him, have a bag of jelly beans, lie him down, and it’s slowly getting better. At least we don’t have to wait as long whilst he gets reviewed by the medical staff before leaving. He did at one stage want to be a doctor, he’s now convinced he wouldn’t cope. Ya think LOL.

Side note there are family members of DHs that are major medical fainter who can’t control it, so I wonder if there’s something in that as DS has never had a negative experience. It’s just afterwards.

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DD7's blood test a few years ago was traumatic for both of us! She kept resisting and knocking the needles out, made it a hundred times worse. She ended up walking around holding both arms up like a zombie 😂


She doesn't like vaccinations (not a phobia though), I used to give her (and later her younger sister) a lollipop afterwards. But a year or two ago I switched to giving them the lollipop just before the shot, so they were distracted by that when it went in. I think it really helped. They also sometimes give glucose to newborns who have to be poked and prodded more than usual.

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ClaudiaCosette

MY DD1 (age 7) hates anything medical. If she falls over and starts bleeding, she'll hide and not let me look at it. She recently needed some dental work. She let the dentist put the numbing gel on, but then it took an hour for her to open her mouth again to have the work done.


About a year ago she had some hot coffee spilled on her back. I knew that she needed cold running water on it, but she absolutely refused and was kicking and screaming and would not let me put her in the shower. So I had to take her to Emergency, and of course they said put her under cold water. Eventually she allowed the nurse to get her in. Luckily it was a minor burn and didn't cause any lasting damage, but I really dread her getting more seriously injured - or needing an injection. She was okay at her last round of vaccinations (age 4) but her fear has gotten a lot worse since then.

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I remember when DS was little and lots of my friends had babies, it seemed like every second day someone had either commented on, shared or written a post like:

"Baby's first immunisation 😭 I cried, DH cried. Bub crying broke me #doingtherightthing #heartbreaking"


I used to wonder whether the parents crying and tensing, lead to the babies being more distressed, leading to greater anxiety for the next ones etc.

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PocketMacrophobia

The kids are nervous now after a bad cannula insertion.


Originally they were fine. The both saw me have heaps of shots and blood tests and I'm ok with it all so I guess that might have helped. Probably just luck though.


They're getting better again now they've realised that needles are a great way to bribe me into buying them stuff...


I think needle phobia would be hard to over come. I know if I'm terrified I tense up, so a needle in the arm at that point is just going to confirm that it'll fucking hurt.

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I took DS with me anytime I had a flu shot or a blood test from when he was really little so he could it was no big deal. It seemed to help when it was time for him to have any needles. He's still nervous but is brave enough to sit still.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had needle phobia that I had to overcome. Eventually I was able to tolerate blood testing, but I did wuss out of a lot of vaccines I required. Cannula are ok too, as it was not an injection of something.


I ended up having my first flu vax at 34 and my tetanus jab at 34 too, instead of the school one at 14.... my last school vax was the one hep b vax in year 7. I didn't even get the boostrix pertussis vax when pregnant.. which was a great source of shame for me,


Now after working really hard and having 2 injections as an adult, I am feeling confident for this years COVID vax and the flu vax.


I also recently trained as an early childhood educator, so felt I must protect unknown children to me, so I did get the boostrix at end of 2019.

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