4yr old and blood tests

Hiya, it's been awhile since I've posted or visited, sorry to just pop up when needing advice!

DD has been pretty sick lately and was hospitalised before Christmas for a stint, she's on the mend but is having a recurring prob since.

The next step is blood tests, which I'm dreading and I wondered if anyone had advice on how to make it easier for her? She will totally freak. When we were in the ED the night she was really sick, she was on heaps of pain relief, could hardly move from pain but it still took wrapping her in a sheet and 4 nurses to hold her down and 2 paed docs to take blood and insert the cannula. The emla cream made no difference to her reaction. Taking it out a few days later was pretty full on too.

No amount of discussion seems to help. She has a full on fear and anxiety about any kind of medical procedure, she freaks just for blood pressure readings :-( I don't know why as both of us as parents are really chilled about anything doctor/dentist wise and have never made a fuss. Otherwise she's a happy bubbly child.

Any tips or is it really just a matter of dealing with it (I think it will be)

Cheers.

Hey hun

Sorry no advice just lots of hugs.

I had a huge fear of needles when i was younger even until teenage years! My mum had to chase me down the street when I bolted from my doc surgery.

I am not sure about how to curb your dd's anxiety but my advice would be to take her to a pathology centre and ask for a childrens pathologist.

Dd was 5 when she had to get bloods done and the doc couldnt draw any blood from her on BOTH arms.

It was highly traumatic.

In the end we went to the pathology centre and although dd was full of anxiety she finally got her blood test done.

Goodluck

Perhaps also find some you tube clips of calm children having blood taken and watch them together and listen about her worries. Talk positively about it and work through your own feelings so she doesn't pick up on your distress.

Can you get bloods taken for something so she can see you being all calm and might help her be less scared about getting them done? Mine have had a couple of tests, but have always seen me getting some taken for various issues (pregnancy, thyroid, iron etc) so mine never freaked out.

Having said that - my sister still freaks out and she is over 40! I remember a few years ago taking her for a blood test and I had to hold her down - luckily I'm much bigger than her LOL

I'm attaching a link for a PDF which I found online specifically for children with autism, but I don't think it matters it'd just a great resource for any child. I'm pretty sure the link is okay to be published here. There is a similar one for professionals as well. I just googled " autism relaxation blood test" to find it again.

It's useful for lots of different reasons children might be anxious, but had been specifically written for taking blood :)

http://sutter.networkofcare.org/libr...raw-parent.pdf

Emla! It's a numbing cream... She won't feel a thing.
You can get it for the chemist, just apply it at least 1 hour before the blood test.

I have a major fear of needles and I used Emla throughout my pregnancy - I didn't feel a thing! :)

Another thing is find a pathology who has technicians who are brilliant at taking kids blood tests. Make an appointment too so you don't have to wait.

Like liviam, I'd suggest going to someone experienced with kids, I'd recommend your local childrens hospital pathology department xxx

One of my girls had her first blood test recently though a bit younger at 2 1/2. We made sure we had someone confident in taking blood from little arms, DD sat on my knee and as soon as I sat down with her I distracted her with her favourite YouTube video on my phone and the needle and blood draw side of things was over before she even realise that something was happening

Thanks everyone for your advice - thankfully they have decided to hold off on bloods for the moment as she's doing well. We have monthly blood pressure and urine checks for 6 months and she's stopped freaking out about the BP checks so baby steps baby steps :-)

The recommendation to watch you tube clips was great thankyou! Thanks everyone have taken it all on board :-)

Good to hear she is doing better. It is heart wrenching watching your child having to be dealt with this way but knowing it needs to be done for them to get better.

A word of advice from someone who has dealt with the needle issue with their child.
Letting whoever is giving the needle know in advance helps as we have had to change appointments for when an experienced technician was on
Any needles needing to be done at school, don't, get them done through your GP. Hearing others cry cause 'it hurt' undoes them.
Find a dentist who will let you do small visits, eg, just sit in the chair, put the bib on and get them to open their mouth etc

It took many years for her to sort of overcome her fear and she still tells professionals she is scared.

Great tips thanks Rivlas :-)