Preparing 2.5yo for vaccination??

[kristenk]

<<I couldn't come up with a better, more descriptive title for the post.>>

DD will be going to preschool for 2 mornings a week starting next week. According to the preschool, she needs the Varicella, Hep.A, and pneumococcal (prevnar) immunizations. I'm splitting them up and tomorrow she'll receive Varicella. The others will be given either together at a visit 4 weeks from tomorrow or, once again, split up so that she gets one each visit. Anyway, the background info is somewhat relevant to my question, which is...

Should I say anything to DD about the purpose of tomorrow's trip to the doctor's office? It sort of seems like everything I think I could say would just sort of emphasize the worst. I want to make our subsequent vax visits as easy *as possible*, but I'm really at a loss. We've never gone in strictly for a shot before. Does anyone have any advice? I guess I'm looking for any information on how to make the visit better in any possible way. Is that possible??

[ett]

Is she excited about going to preschool? You could emphasize on the fact that she's getting the shots so she can go to preschool. That's what we did with DS with his 3 year checkup since he dislikes the doctor's appointments. Of course, after the appt. he thought we were going to preschool immediately and was very disappointed to find out that he would have to wait for several more weeks. :)

[kaylinsmommy2]

I emphasized the pretty bandaid that she'd be getting when they were done. We prepped for weeks before she went to her 2 year old check up (which happened about 2 months late) by reading a book about doctors, playing with a stethescope, etc. She knew that a shot would pinch (and we pretended to pinch each other for a "shot"). But she was most excited about the baindaids (we also pretended to give each other bandaids afterwards). I brought a couple Elmo bandaids of our own which I showed her and she got extras as rewards (one before the shots for getting measured, and one after all the shots). After the shots, we counted and showed off her bandaids. I was so proud of her - she didn't cry! Actually, DH taugth her to say "shot, please" to the nurse, which was really cute, too.

May not work for everyone, but preschool kids often really like bandaids. :)

Caroline
mommy to Kaylin 6/5/04

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/bunbunadb20040605_-9_Kaylin+is+now.png[/img][/url]

and one on the way, due 2/26/07

[kristenk]

DD seemed a little off this morning and I checked her temp. It was a little above her normal, but not much. The morning continued and I checked again and it was 99.4 degrees. Not much, but I'm not doing shots if she's not completely normal. I called the ped's office and they had her appt. written down as Thursday anyway. We'll try tomorrow if she's doing better. Thanks for the advice. I mentioned that we were going to go to the doctor's and she'd get a shot (I mentioned that it would pinch - thanks for that wording!) so she could go to school. She seemed fine with it. Of course, the true test will be when we do this again in about 4 weeks. Thanks!