Transcription:
Tips to Help Children Cope with Needle Phobia

Melanie Cole (Host): If you’re like me, you’re a parent, you’re taking your kids to their annual well visit and you know there’s vaccinations involved; you wonder to yourself, do I tell them, do I let them know what to expect? I remember times with my kids where they were terrified. What do you do if your kids have a bit of a needle phobia as so many do? My guest today is Leslie Dempsey. She’s a Senior Certified Child Life Specialist at BayCare Health. Leslie, first biggest question. Do we tell them in advance? I mean sometimes now that my kids are older, teenagers, I’ll say oh, lots of vaccinations coming, you know just to mess with them. But when they are little, I would never make that joke. Do we tell them or do we not?

Leslie Dempsey, BS, CCLS (Guest): You absolutely want to tell them. Parents are often scared of how their child’s going to respond when they are informed of that information, so, oftentimes they make the mistake of avoiding telling them or lying about critical information that the child is going to experience. That is very common but avoiding the information from your child all together can cause major distress between you and your child or your child and the medical team. So, we have often seen this resulting in further stress for future medical experiences. The children are less able to use coping strategies. They are less cooperative. So, children really fear the unknown and they are going to respond accordingly if they are not informed of what will be happening.

So, the best practice is always, we encourage parents to always be honest but really the amount of information you share and kind of when varies depending on the age of your child, if they’ve had past medical experiences that were traumatic and really just their overall personality.

Host: Well that is so true what you said about it increasing their stress and maybe they don’t want to go. I remember that with my kids. So, how do we prepare them for what to expect and that it doesn’t hurt, and a flu shot doesn’t hurt and how can we tell them these things?

Leslie: Absolutely. Preparing them really gives the child an opportunity to process the upcoming visit. It gives them an opportunity to ask questions and express how they feel beforehand. So, for younger kids, toddlers, preschoolers, even some young school agers, you can really use play to role play and talk about the visit and what they will experience ahead of time. For toddlers about like one to three; you want to tell your child a day or two before. So, at this age, they are not really able to understand the concept of time and if they are told too soon; they may begin to worry more.

Preschoolers about three to five you can kind of start telling them about three to five days before the scheduled appointment. So, this timeframe really allows children at this age who are very curious, enough time to really play out and prepare for that experience. Elementary school about six to 12; you want to tell you child about a week possibly even two weeks for some kids in advance to allow more time to process, develop and ask questions. And then teens really involving them in all aspects of the appointment, giving them control in preferring or picking when the appointment will be and that sort of thing.

But for those younger kids, really using play is going to help them understand how to cope with the shots or with the needle stick procedures that they are having. So, incorporating the five senses of what they are going to hear, see, feel, taste and touch is important. Play is really how kids learn and process. So, getting a medical play kit and just allowing the child to play doctor and give their stuffed animals shots can really help them process and understand but also give insight to you as a parent into how they are feeling about the shots and can give you insight into any misconceptions they might have as well.

So, younger ages, their imaginations are very active and a lot of times, we see kids with misconceptions such as thinking that they have to get a shot because of something they did wrong. So, we really recommend never telling your child that they are going to get a shot if they don’t listen or don’t cooperate because that’s going to create distrust in the medical staff and give the perception that they are there to hurt them. So, we really want children to see medical professionals as helpers so being able to clarify those misconceptions during play can make a big difference in how they perceive shots.

Play is also an opportunity for children to express their feelings in a safe environment and develop coping strategies that they can practice at home in preparation. So, having that time ahead of time to play, process, ask questions, can really increase their cooperation and help them feel more in control versus not being told and not having that time to process. So, you are going to see more distress when they don’t know what to expect or how to cope with those big feelings.

Host: So, when we’re talking about vaccinations, things that happen at the pediatrician’s office; can we ask the staff if they can sit in our laps, should we bring a toy and one of the things Leslie, that my pediatrician did that I loved was if the child needed more than one vaccination; she brought in two nurses, so they did it at the same time. One, two, three, boom. So it was only one stick and it takes the child just a few minutes to process and then the screaming begins, but then they are like oh, wait, it’s over. So, can we ask our pediatricians, can they do those sorts of things? Can we sit them in our lap? What should we be doing as parents?

Leslie: Absolutely. As parents, we are our child’s advocate. So, we can ask for things that we know are going to help our child in that moment. So, we really want to give our child as much control over the situation as possible. So, they don’t have control over needing to get the shot, right, that’s going to keep them healthy and prevent diseases and illnesses. So, they don’t have control over that, but we can find ways to give them that control and help them cope more effectively.

So, asking the nurse or the pediatrician, heh, can my child sit in my lap upright and giving me a hug and that’s going to help them feel more in control, more comforted, safer, rather that being restrained. Asking the nurse heh, can my child help you in any way with holding supplies or being able to pick out their Band-Aid at the end. Can we bring a comfort item or a distraction item to engage the child in while they are getting a shot to help keep their mind off of that. All of those things are things that we encourage parents to ask and advocate for their child so that those experiences are more positive.

Host: So, that’s vaccinations and in the pediatrician’s office, now sometimes unfortunately, our kids have to have procedures, hernia surgery, anything like that. So, then there is an IV set up or there is pain management. Tell us what we can do for those kinds of situations because that’s really quite different and do we prepare them just about the same way?

Leslie: Absolutely. The preparation is going to be the same for sure. The difference there obviously is some things are unexpected and you don’t have the luxury of having that time to help your child process that. So, the same rules goes for unexpected situations of you definitely always want to be honest with your child and letting them know what’s going to happen, what they are going to experience, what they are going to feel and really giving your child an opportunity to express how they feel and normalizing and validating that.

So, if your child says they’re scared, tell them it’s okay to be afraid. We are going to work together to get through that. Crying is normal. It’s a normal expression of emotion and something that we encourage and validate in kids. So, the same rules go for if you have time and if you don’t, you definitely want to inform your child of what’s going to happen and really empower them with that knowledge and with the tools to kind of cope with that. So, saying I know you’re scared right now, and this is very scary and it’s okay to be scared but you can hold my hand, you can look away, you can take deep breaths.

So, giving them tangible ways to cope with those feelings can really help make the experience more positive for them. And if it’s in a healthcare setting, there are child life specialists that may be available that can kind of help assist you in helping your child cope with those experiences. So, asking is a child life specialist available to come and help my child cope with this experience is also something that parents can do.

Host: Wow. What great advice for parents. So, much usable information. Leslie, wrap it up for us. What would you like parents to know in advance if their children are afraid as so many millions of children are and adults for that matter of needles and how we can get out children ready for vaccinations or procedures so they’re not quite as afraid?

Leslie: Absolutely. I think what I want parents to know is just know that fear is normal, and it’s expected in children. And it’s okay and preparing them and being honest for what they’re going to experience is going to set them up for success for future medical experiences. So, I can’t stress that enough. Really just informing your child of what’s going to be happening is extremely important and not doing that can cause psychological distress and make it more difficult for them in the future.

So, as scary as it might be for parents to want to avoid telling their child and how they’re going to respond; it really is going to be best for that child. So, always be honest.

Host: Great advice Leslie. Thank you so much for coming on today and helping parents through something that so many of us go through all the time whenever we have to take our children to the doctor. So, thank you for giving us really great advice.

That wraps up this episode of BayCare HealthChat. Head on over to our website at www.baycare.org for more information and to get connected with one of our providers. If you found this podcast as informative as I did, please share on your social media, share with other parents you know and be sure to check out all the other interesting podcasts in our library. I’m Melanie Cole.