My kids don’t get nervous about the doctor. Probably because everyone at the office knows them and up until recently we were there a couple times a month, at least. Still, they are afraid of shots and such. I don’t sugar coat it, but instead try and talk about why they are important then promise them I will be right there before, during and after.

We don’t sugar coat things either. When you go to the doctor as much as they do (and trust me, it’s decreased!) we have to be honest. It’s part of that trust we have as parent/caregiver + child. We do try to do something special like grab a bagel or biscuit on the way, which always gets them to jump out of bed for 8am hospital visits! Also? I have to admit I wish someone would get ME ready for the appt sometimes.

We talk about what we’re going to do and why. When we’re there, we very clearly point out what things are “just touching” or “just listening” or “just looking” and which things will hurt. We distract with movies, and have debated a post-visit treat, although even for his flu shot, my son was more upset that I was holding his hands than about the shot itself.

Astacia, I have a friend who was allowed to give her son versed because he was having the same problems, so she gave it 15-20 before they’d walk in. Helped a lot. They basically finally agreed that he had PTSD at 17 months!

we always prep him ahead of time even for shots and he has actually learned to love the doctors especially the bllod pressure and temp part

We LOVE Buzzy for any kind of poke, and we do a lot of medical play at home, especially if we know there’s a specific procedure coming up. Google comes up with pretty accurate descriptions of most medical procedures, so we do lots of pretending of me having the procedure and J (3, almost 4) being the doctor then trading places when she’s ready. We do x-rays, MRI’s, CT scans, and even surgery. I have oral syringes that we do pretend shots with. We talk about how with blood draws and IVs the phlebotomist has a button that they push that pops the needle out of their arm as soon as they’re done, and it’s a flexible little tube in their arm. If you ask, they are usually happy to do a demonstration (some labs and docs offices even keep expired ones on hand just for this purpose). Would you believe that my 64 year old father thought the needle remained in his arm until I specifically told him last year??? That’s a scary thought for a kid!

Don’t get me wrong, my kids still get stressed about doctor visits, but it’s getting better.

Dawn, I got the idea from Julia, I think. LOL