Today was not a fun day at the doctor's office. First we waited an hour to be seen (so the girls were pretty tired), then each of my girls got shots. Peanut got 4 shots and Pumpkin had 5. It's a hard thing for me to see them cry especially when it's inflicted. I prepared them by talking about what was going to happen and what it might feel like. Peanut is still sore in both legs tonight. I was grateful for a tip I learned last week and I think it helped.
A study was done with children and babies who were given shots in a doctor's office. One group of the children were sitting on the table with their parents on the side and the other group of patients were being held by their parents. The children who were being held by the parents cried just as long but their levels of cortisol were significantly lower. Cortisol is the stress hormone in our body. I believe this indicates that children being held by their parents have a less stressful experience. It made sense to me so we tried it. I just sat up on the patients table and held them on my lap. I held their arms in a hug and my legs helped keep their legs still. It went pretty slick and we didn't have any kicking or screaming just the normal shock of "Owwie, that hurt and I can't believe you just poked me cry." So next time your kids have shots you may want to try it. If anything I felt like I was more part of the process and was helping, rather then just being a bystander watching.
I've always held my kids. Except when they have their kindergarten shots then they feel like they are big enough to do it themselves. I'm not sure Jacob will be the same way, I might have to hold him. He freaked out with his flu shot this year.
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