Vaccination in Children

Having your child immunized against crippling or deadly preventable diseases is very important. Vaccinations protect people against catching viral infections that can devastate a family, and doctors recommend a schedule of immunization for all children. During the early months, babies receive their vaccinations with nearly no complaint, and the slight, temporary pain of the needle's prick causes hardly any discomfort. But as a child grows, sometimes so do their fears, and having your child immunized when they begin to be more aware of situations and are of age to protest can turn into quite a struggle. If you're a parent of a child who's developed a fear of vaccinations, you need to help them deal with their emotions while still making sure they're protected against deadly diseases.

If we are to eradicate crippling and deadly diseases from the world, it's important that every child be immunized. But how does a parent cope with a child who has developed a fear of needles and vaccinations? Things were easy when your child was a baby and the pinprick of a needle was really nothing, the pain and trauma passing in mere seconds. Now, as your child ages, anxiety sets in and by the time you need to sit your child down to be vaccinated, he or she is screaming in fear or crying hysterically.

One of the most difficult things we face as parents is bring our child to be vaccinated, simply because we know that needles can hurt and the experience may be frightening. Immunization is important if we want our children protected against devastating or deadly diseases, and we shouldn't avoid having our children receive their vaccinations, but the last thing we want for our children is to purposely make them cry. Some parents may wonder if they can help to make a trip to the doctor's for vaccinations easier on their children and ensure they don't develop a lasting fear of needles.

There are many reasons why children develop fears in the first place. Perhaps they've lived through a traumatizing event and remain marked by the upset, or they may have witnessed someone else going through a traumatizing experience. Even television can end up providing children with their fears, by the child having glimpsed a show where a traumatizing event was going on. Whatever the reason your child, understand and recognized that the feelings of anxiety and paranoia attached to fears are very real and should not be dismissed.

Many parents use a 'speak no evil' method when they need to have their children go through an event that is less than pleasant or that they know will bring about anxiety. Not speaking of the reason for the doctor's appointment will help ensure that children don't worry or stress over the situation before even arriving there. The trick is to alleviate anxiety, not create it. Telling a child ahead of time that they're going to receive a vaccination will only allow the child to think up all sorts of horrible scenarios. By the time you arrive at the doctor's office, your child will already be terrified and upset, having predicted every second of the 'traumatic' event.

One tried-and-true method some parents use is to inform the child of the doctor's appointment, but not the reason why. Telling a child that the doctor wants to make sure they are healthy is a good way around giving out too much information about the impending vaccination. The child will have no extended time to create horrific scenarios in their head before even arriving at the doctors' and fears won't be able to feed on themselves, becoming larger than they need to be. Often the fear is more of the impending 'doom' of the needle and not the needle or the pain itself.

Try to avoid giving children more information than they need. Telling your son or daughter that they're going to be vaccinated when you're not even at the doctor's office yet is only going to give them time to blow the idea out of proportion. Anxiety tends to feed upon fear and vice versa, so you want to eliminate as many stressors as possible for your child. Once at the doctors, there may be upset and protests, but they will be far less than if the child has had three hours to make mountains out of molehills.

Children will take their cues from you, so if you are calm and collected, they will be too. After all, if Mommy or Daddy is smiling and is accepting of the doctor and what he has to do, the child will process that information. While it may not make them feel the situation is pleasant, your outward expression and tone of voice goes a long way to reassuring your child that everything is alright.

At the same time, be honest about the situation, but don't exaggerate. Telling children 'this won't hurt' isn't true - a needle piercing skin does hurt and they'll feel betrayed by your well-intentioned lies. As a result, everything you say becomes subject to question and scrutiny, so never break your child's trust in your word. Do keep the words you use at their level and don't confuse children with terms they don't understand. Explain why they need the vaccination, and what happens if they don't have it. Also, explain that it's okay to be a little bit afraid (but at the same time, make sure not to give them a hidden message that there's something to be afraid of!) and it's alright to feel like crying. The point is, they don't have to enjoy vaccinations, but they do have to have them.

There's no point in telling children that needles don't hurt or that it's really nothing. To them, their fears are very real, so downplaying them shows your child that you're not hearing his or her concerns. Most of the time, fears come from the even bigger fear of the unknown, so take the time to explain to your child, in words and analogies he or she can understand, that a vaccination can keep them from becoming very sick or paralyzed. The trick is to take away their fears about the vaccination, but not to put even worse fears of death or crippling into their heads - no easy feat for a parent. Try to be honest as much as possible, and be careful which words you do choose while talking things out with your child.

Above all, never lie to your children, even with good intentions. Trust is a fragile thing and a child has to have a phenomenal amount of it. It's counterproductive to trust to tell your child that a vaccination won't hurt, because the sting of the needle and the burn of the vaccine itself contradict your words. What you can do to help alleviate your child's fears is to tell them what to expect, by explaining the temporary pinch of the needle and how it only lasts as long as it takes to sing old 'McDonald had a farm.' Explain that, while a vaccination may hurt, getting sicker hurts more. Even young children can understand that sometimes they have to do something, whether they like it or not, because the results can be worse.