Babies and Shots: Ease the Stress of Vaccinations for Your Baby

This past weekend my wife and I took our 2 month old baby girl to get her first round of immunization shots. I had been dreading this moment since we scheduled the visit a month prior. Just the thought of my little girl getting stuck with needles in her tiny little legs made me wish I could get the shots in her place...and I hate shots! But my wife and I both feel getting vaccinated is important for our baby (I know, there is the debate about the safety of vaccines. But we won't go into that here). So I had to watch as she got her first shots.

I will say that my daughter was a trooper...she got 3 shots in her tiny legs and she cried for just a couple of minutes! That was definitely less than I expected. But I must admit that seeing her cute little face turn sad and tear up each time the needle went in just broke my heart. I guess I'm just a softy for my little girl. As they say, it was probably more traumatic for me than it was for her.

Anyway, I started looking around for information on how to make getting shots less traumatic for our baby. I want to be more prepared for the next round of vaccinations. And if I can make it less traumatic for her, why not? I found some information about medications you can give a baby to lessen the pain, but I don't think we're at the point of wanting to medicate her. Like I said, she seemed to be ok fairly soon afterwards. But if your little one has a bit more difficulty with the pain of shots, there is a topical anesthetic cream called EMLA that can be prescribed. I've also heard that a dose of Tylenol can be given prior to getting the shots.

Some of the non-medication tips I've found are things like distracting her from the pain. I've read about people having success with ringing a bell or shaking a favorite toy.

One idea I really like is to hold the baby on your lap instead of laying her down on the exam table. The idea here is that it will be more comforting for the baby to be held in a cuddling position on your lap rather than to be laid down on a table. This makes sense to me.

Massaging the injection area right after the shots are given is also a good idea. This should help to minimize the pain, swelling and redness. This is what they tell me to do for my arm when I get my flu shot every year, so it must work for babies too.

Our baby's next round of shots will be a couple of months from now, and I plan on using some or all of these tips. If anything, it'll help me feel better about putting her through this!

If you have any other ideas for helping to make shots less traumatic for baby (and parents), please share them in the comments.